With Christmas coming up, let me give you a "heads up," on a really cook
cooking tool at Williams and Sonoma. I got one and liked it so well I
got one for my son, down in TX. It's a combination garlic crusher and
garlic slicer, for about $23, as I recall. As a stand alone garlic
crusher, it's fine, but right behind the crusher are parallel blades
that another anvil with teeth will force a clove of garlic through,
giving you very nice parallel slices. If you do the "stab and insert
garlic" method on roasts, the little slices are perfect. They also are
terrific in soups, chili and other dishes where you want garlic with a
bit more of a visual presence than just the flavor of crushed.

I've also tried my little slicer with whole button mushrooms and olives
with great success. If you spend time with a knife and cutting board to
do any of the above, you might really enjoy this kitchen toy.
--
---Nonnymus---
In the periodic table, as in politics,
the unstable elements tend to hang out on
the far left, with some to the right as well.

Steve Wertz wrote:
>
> And I use the Zyliss garlic press, which jas alseted me for almost
> 8 years now. I've busted all other brands within 50 cloves, or 6
> months - whichever came first.
>

50 cloves might be right for 1 month at my home, maybe we stink.
I crush and slice with a cleaver that won't wear out until long after I
do.

Cam

Cam wrote:
> Steve Wertz wrote:
>> And I use the Zyliss garlic press, which jas alseted me for almost
>> 8 years now. I've busted all other brands within 50 cloves, or 6
>> months - whichever came first.
>>
>
> 50 cloves might be right for 1 month at my home, maybe we stink.
> I crush and slice with a cleaver that won't wear out until long after I
> do.

WIth that volume, you might want to at least stop by Williams and Sonoma
and take a peek at what I'm talking about.

http://tinyurl.com/yjrfdd

It's made of cast metal and seems to be quite sturdy.


--
---Nonnymus---
In the periodic table, as in politics,
the unstable elements tend to hang out on
the far left, with some to the right as well.

BTW- what isn't mentioned in the ad is that there's a cleaning tool that
is stored under the handle. It has pegs that will clean out the holes
of the press and a flat section that works on the knives.

The actual garlic press I generally grab, and have had for a long while,
is also of cast metal. However, it has the ability to fold back on
itself so that cast in pegs dislodge the trapped garlic particles. It's
a snap to clean and is easier to clean than the Williams and Sonoma one.
However, it doesn't also slice.

BTW- one of my favorite "sauces" to serve with grilled tuna steak is a
hollandaise that is infused with crushed pickled ginger. I use my
garlic press to squoosh the pickled ginger pieces, rather than mince it,
and either of the garlic presses are swell for this.

The lazy man's Hollandaise
Mixtu 2 egg yolks in cup with vertical sides. (Coffee mug works
great) Eggs at room temperature.
Dissolve 1 tsp corn starch with 2 tbsp cold lemon juice and bring to
hard boil in microwave
Microwave 1/4 stick of butter to boil, pour in lemon juice/corn starch
and bring back to hard boil

Very, very slowly, trickle the really hot butter/lemon mix into the cup
holding the egg yolks, while whipping the yolks like mad with a fork.
Really bring up a froth and go slow as heck. If you go too fast, you'll
cook the yolks and get a glop. If you go slow, you'll have a velvety
sauce. It can be frozen and stored. I freeze mine in spoon-sized
servings so that I can put one on each plate and let them soften while
cooking food,

In the case of the sauce for Tuna, I then drain and pat dry about 2
heaping Tbsp of pickled ginger, crushing it into the Hollandaise and
giving it a stir. It's incredibly good over plain old grilled tuna, and
folks think that you went to a lot of trouble or are some kind of
gourmet. <grin> In fact, I can knock out a darned good Hollandaise
sauce or the ginger sauce in a couple minutes while other things are
cooking.

By the way, if you make the Hollandaise I mentioned and then toss in
some dried or fresh Tarragon, it's a darned good sauce to serve on the
side with a steak.

Nonny

Steve Wertz wrote:
> On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:02:09 -0800, Nonnymus wrote:
>
>> WIth that volume, you might want to at least stop by Williams and Sonoma
>> and take a peek at what I'm talking about.
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/yjrfdd
>>
>> It's made of cast metal and seems to be quite sturdy.
>
> I was going to look it up earlier, but now that I see it - yeah,
> it's pretty cool. And since it's cast alumninum like the Zyliss,
> I have more faith in it than any other material. I've broken at
> least 5 different presses, but never the aluminum one.
>
> I'll have to add that to my Christmas Registry.
>
> -sw

--
---Nonnymus---
In the periodic table, as in politics,
the unstable elements tend to hang out on
the far left, with some to the right as well.

On 14-Dec-2006, Nonnymus > wrote:

> With Christmas coming up, let me give you a "heads up," on a really cook
> cooking tool at Williams and Sonoma. I got one and liked it so well I
> got one for my son, down in TX. It's a combination garlic crusher and
> garlic slicer, for about $23, as I recall. As a stand alone garlic
> crusher, it's fine, but right behind the crusher are parallel blades
> that another anvil with teeth will force a clove of garlic through,
> giving you very nice parallel slices. If you do the "stab and insert
> garlic" method on roasts, the little slices are perfect. They also are
> terrific in soups, chili and other dishes where you want garlic with a
> bit more of a visual presence than just the flavor of crushed.
>
> I've also tried my little slicer with whole button mushrooms and olives
> with great success. If you spend time with a knife and cutting board to
> do any of the above, you might really enjoy this kitchen toy.
> --
> ---Nonnymus---

Take a pic and get it over to ABF Nonny. I'm a sucker for useless stuff
like that. I have a juicer that I never use, just gave away a pasta machine.
There's a brand new Atlas pasta roller/cutter around here someplace. I
have a french fry cutter somewhere and I know there's a garlic press in
a drawer someplace. Don't even get me started on how many knives
never get used anymore. I thank Fosco though for bringing my grinder
back to life. It was mfg'd by Rival 20 years ago. It's a hefty worm drive
machine capable of 25# batches without complaint. It was down for
dull knife and plates until Fosco told me that his employer would be
proud to sharpen them for me. Voila! My grinder lives. I take back most
of the nasty things I've said about you Fos.

--
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)

On 14-Dec-2006, Steve Wertz > wrote:

> On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 09:43:39 -0800, Nonnymus wrote:
>
> > With Christmas coming up, let me give you a "heads up," on a really cook
> >
> > cooking tool at Williams and Sonoma. I got one and liked it so well I
> > got one for my son, down in TX. It's a combination garlic crusher and
> > garlic slicer, for about $23, as I recall.
>
> I use this little garlic mandoline for when I need more than 2
> cloves of garlic sliced. It also slices/shreds other smaller
> items. Cost me $4 bucks a couple years ago.
>
> And I use the Zyliss garlic press, which jas alseted me for almost
> 8 years now. I've busted all other brands within 50 cloves, or 6
> months - whichever came first.
>
> -sw

I have one by SUSI, a Swiss company. It's all cast aluminum. It came
with a plastic cleaning tool to help clean the die of debris. I've had it
for too many years to remember. I haven't used it in ages. I slice and
dice garlic on my butcher top with a Santoku knife. I typically do five
or more cloves in about a minute with no cleanup required. I'm fairly
fast with a knife, but not up to Tyler Florence or Bobby Flay.

--
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)

"Steve Wertz" > wrote in message
...

>>> but never the aluminum one<<<

I have broken some cast aluminum (they looked like aluminum but were
probably pot metal) ones but not a Zyliss. I recently picked up a very old
Zyliss at an estate sale that comes completely apart for cleaning. It looks
very sturdy, time will tell. RM~

Steve Wertz wrote:
> But to properly smash garlic for maximum flavor, you really need
> a press or be able to grind it down with the side of your knife
> and some abrasive - usually salt.
>
> For slicing, I usually don't like the smell lingering on my
> fingers, which is why I use the mandoline-gadget.
>
> I has a Susi, and it was one of the ones that broke. It looked
> like aluminum, but one of the levers snapped right in half. Must
> have been cheap aluminum.
>
> -sw

I dunno about that, I can mash and get an extremely fine
pulp pretty quick with my knives so I threw out every press.
Pain the the butt to clean anyhow. Now, the slicing part of
the gadget in the op was kind of intriguing but I have no
problem with slicing either. Granted, if you were doing
resteraunt volumes it may be handy but for what I do around
the house I can slice pretty quickly with my knives as well.

I don't mind the smell. ;-)

But, then again (not bragging) I've got pretty good knife
skills. I'm not super fast like to see some people on tv,
but I can hold my own.

--
Steve