Recommend an industrial garlic press

In My Humble Opinion
1

I like garlic. I eat entire garlic cloves raw. I love straight-up roasted garlic appetizers in Mexican restaurants. If I can find garlic-stuffed olives, I’ll bet I can fit the entire jar in my mouth at once.* I eat garlic like Count Dracula just moved in next door.

I like garlic so much that I have yet to find a garlic press that loves garlic as much as I do. **

Normal garlic presses are made for housewives who think that squeezing things too hard will get their husbands horny and besides, too much garlic makes them smell “unfeminine.” Normal garlic presses are for the milkbloods who dilute mild salsa. Normal garlic presses snap themselves when I touch them rather than face the rigors I will put them through.

Previously, the best ones I found were at Ikea. They weren’t easy to clean, but dam did they spray the garlic all over the place. They mashed it up good so I only had to pull the husk off and reload it.

But they broke after a couple weeks of garlic love.

So, now, I’m looking for a garlic press that will break the garlic up into nice little chunks that will blend with the flavors of my world famous hummus and on top of pizza, salads, hamburgers, tacos, steamed peas and, depending on how much love the woman’s showing me, in my pants.

While it impresses the ladies, the Chicago Cutlery cleaver doesn’t quite fite my lifestyle. Any garlic press afficionados out there? If they have a mechanical version that’s really loud and makes the entire kitchen vibrate (and has to be bolted to the floor), that’s probably ideal. If there really aren’t any of those (or if the cost too much, let’s face it, I’m cheap as hell), then a hand-press will work too.

  • That is, all of the olives, not the jar itself.

** Hey, sometimes, you need to put garlic in things, not just on them.

2

I never use garlic presses, I just mince the garlic. If it needs to be smaller than minced, I mash it with a fork. I learned this from Chef Anthony Bourdain, who says; “I don’t know what comes out of a garlic press, but it sure ain’t garlic.”

3

Assuming you are serious about “industrial” search ebay for “buffalo chopper.” Be prepared for sticker shock though.

So what’s the matter with the old “smash it flat with the side of a knife then chop” method? Takes seconds and works great for me and I eat a lot of garlic.

4

Zyliss Susi DeLuxe Garlic Press

5

I agree. I have found it to be usually a bad idea to peel and process more garlic than I need immediately, and an 8" knife with a slightly rounded blade makes short work of any quantity I normally use cooking for five. If I need a very large amount I use a plastic bag and a mallet. If I need the garlic to be invisible, I use a mortar and pestle, and if I need a smooth paste I roast the garlic in the husk first and just squeeze. Happy eating.

6

The Susi is the gold standard. Oxo makes a nice one as well.

However, my favorite tool for garlic is a dough scraper. It smashes and scoops better that a chef’s knife, and chops just about as well if it has a sharp edge. I will occasionally have a night when I make a gallon or so of red sauce and a bunch of chili-garlic oil, and I can make short work of five or six heads of garlic this way in no time.

Anthony Bourdain says in his book Kitchen Confidential that the stuff that comes out of a garlic press just doesn’t taste like garlic. I stopped using mine and I found that he was right–dishes do seem to taste more garlicky if I just mince it.

7

I can vouche for the Zyliss, It has only three solid aluminum alloy parts and seems indestructible. It is easy to mantain and has a plastic, press hole, cleaner that conveniently slides and locks into the ergonomic handle. Swiss design and quality, last garlic press you will ever buy.

8

Thanks for the recommendations.

I bought a mortar and pestle some time ago and never found a use for it. I’ll give that a go and if that doesn’t work, I’ll try the Solis. The reason I wanted a press instead of mincing on my own is that sadly the other people who occasionally eat crap I’ve made don’t like garlic as much as I do. But since I never can tell if someone’s going to come over and start eating my damn hummus, I have to be prepared.

One would then ask why I don’t just use less garlic. I have no answer for that.

Thinking about it, it appears that the garlic press doesn’t shoot out so much of the…husk…as the juice from the garlic and so it is more readily absorbed by the food and diappears into it. I imagine that the minced garlic still holds together and makes the garlic more…together than the other methods. Hmmm.

9

I used garlic presses years ago and always had problems finding a decent one as well. Anthony Bourdain converted me too. If there was a press that was sharp inside and thus basically julienne the garlic, I might go for that, but the presses that I’ve seen all manage to leave a lot of garlic behind, and produce a little soft pulp and some juice.