Who uses just one clove of garlic? I find I usually have to use at least 3. And I have big hands, making it easy to cut myself trying to cut those little suckers.
Years ago, I participated in a biweekly potluck in which we had two rules/responses about the amount of garlic in the dishes.
“How much garlic is in that?” “response #1: not enough.”
“How much garlic do you need?” “response #2: more.”
But yea, it was always fresh. I’ve used the jarred stuff, and it’s just not…garlic. It’s a garlic-like substance to me.
Is dinner over - did I miss it?
3 apples? My wife’s Mile High Apple Pie uses 4 pounds of apples!
More nifty than guilty, but here’s a favorite shortcut: For garlic, keep a supply of freezer-type ziplock bags on hand. Throw a few cloves into a bag, push all the air out and close it. Then smash the garlic with a can of tomatoes. (Any can will do, but tomatoes are generally what I’m serving with the garlic.) Use the edge of the can to cut through any stubborn pieces.
Pick out the peels and you’ve got perfectly smushed garlic in seconds. Pop any leftovers into the freezer so they don’t turn sour.
ETA: I once made an entire apple pie with a single honeycrisp apple. I wish I’d taken a picture of it, that sucker was huge! Oh, and that’s a great one - honeycrisp peels don’t turn chalky when baked, so you can make apple pie without peeling them. Score! Nutrition and laziness in one fell swoop!
Until my big glass dutch oven broke (with dinner in it, graagh) I often made chicken and dumplings in the microwave, with leftover rotisserie chicken, canned broth, and Bisquick dumplings. That’s at least four cheats right there. (The recipe also contains onions and carrots and fresh sage, which isn’t cheating.)
Now I have to do it on the stove, so I cheat slightly less.
Canned tomatoes.
The difference in my experience is in the knife. Ever since I got a good Sabatier, chopping goes a lot faster. I’ll have an onion roughly chopped in about 20 seconds, finely in about 40. If you count in the cleaning time, I think I come up on top 
How and when to use garlic is up to the application if you ask. In a soup or a sauce where the garlic is well cooked, I’d venture that the taste difference between jarred, crushed or chopped garlic is trivial. On the other hand, where the taste of the garlic is far more pronounced, such as in an aioli or when mixed with minced pork in gyoza, the way the garlic is chopped and even what type of garlic used makes all the difference.
The solution to garlic fingers, btw: rub your hands on something made out of stainless steel such as your knife or the faucet. I don’t know how or why it works, but empirical evidence supports that it does.
I buy peeled fresh garlic that comes in a plastic tub, fill the container with white vinegar and put it in the refrigerator. Keeps for months. Chopping is no big deal.
Me too! That’s when I decided to stop using it and go for the good stuff.
Share the recipe, please?
I used jarred garlic since it lasts so long. I don’t use garlic enough to make it through a fresh clove. I’d only use a few pieces and the rest goes bad.
I sometimes chop a bunch of garlic, then store it in a jar with olive oil. The oil preserves it indefinitely.
Can you define “indefinitely” in this instance? I might give this a try.
My brother, who has worked in the hotel/restaurant industry his whole life, claims that no restaurant, apart from 5-star restaurants, uses anything BUT jarred garlic in their foods. NONE. Not a one in America, says he. (Five-star establishments, as I understand it, must prepare everything on-site, including butter!) Feel free to correct this if anyone has a cite of a higher authority than Ellen’s Brother.™
Canned tomato products? Try Dei Fratelli. Even the pizza sauce is fantastic!
Deja vu… This just came up in another thread. What about botulism?
Be careful with that: From wikipedia:
“[W]hen preparing and storing garlic-infused oil at home, there is a risk of botulism if the product is not stored properly. To reduce this risk, the oil should be refrigerated and used within one week. Manufacturers add acids and/or other chemicals to eliminate the risk of botulism in their products.”
Cecil’s thoughts on the matter: “in 1989 the FDA banned certain garlic-in-oil mixes for that reason. The problem is that when you chop up fresh produce and cover it in oil, you’re giving anaerobic Clostridium botulinum bacteria a good growing environment. Some claim roasting the garlic first eliminates this danger, but I’ve seen conflicting arguments on that score–better not to risk it.”
Yes, this is Not A Very Good Idea. Chances are low that it’ll kill you, but enough that anybody who learns about home canning/preserving/pickling immediately learns this rule. I pack my garlic in kosher salt, but the vinegar idea sounds reasonable, too (but then you end up getting pickled garlic, don’t you?)
Uh, yikes! Mr. Beetle always roasts and peels garlic and stores the cloves in a jar of oil. We eat that garlic spread on flatbread probably a couple times a week. However, that article makes it seem as if the chopping is the problem. What if it’s just whole cloves?
From the Oregon State University Extension Service (PDF):