The garlic bulbs that we get in our local grocery stores typically have very small cloves. I have taken to automatically doubling the number of garlic cloves that recipes call for. I never know what size clove the recipe author means, but I always assume that the cloves we have are much smaller than the ones where the food authors live. We love garlic, so even if I add more than was intended, it turns out fine. I refuse to grow garlic, as it is an awful lot of work, and what do you do to keep dozens of garlic cloves good until you can use them.
I am liking more and more recipes that come with weights for ingredients as well as volume. A cup of flour may differ depending on the brand of measuring cup, the humidity, and the condition of the flour. Knowing how many grams or ounces as well as the volume is sure helpful. Our kitchen scale measures in both grams and ounces. We use it all the time. Both Husband and I are left brained cooks, needing to measure instead of going by instinct. I haven’t gone so far as to compare the relative volumes of the two sets of dry measuring cups that we have, but I have sometimes been tempted. They just don’t look the same size!
Are you a left or right brained cook? Use a kitchen scale very much? How do you feel about garlic?
Trail Baboon 
I’m not left-brained the way you and your husband are left-brained. I measure some things, when I think it matters, and approximate others. I certainly don’t worry about the humidity of my ingredients and often use a wet measure for dry ingredients though I know there’s a difference. I rarely use a scale for the simple reason that few of the recipes I use offer weight measures. I hate it, though, when a recipe calls for, say, 1 onion, when onions can vary widely.
I can and do get garlic with large cloves. I still add at least twice the amount called for in a recipe. What good is one clove of garlic?
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Our son has fine motor problems with his fingers and always buys refrigerated pre-peeled garlic cloves in bags. His dishes always taste good, but I am not sure the pre-peeled garlic compares to the ones from the bulbs.
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Several years ago I bought a big jar of minced garlic – you’ve probably seen them in the grocery store. I thought “hey, time saver”. But it was very not-garlicky and tripling the amount called for didn’t help. I never even finished the jar before I went back to fresh garlic. I also routinely double or triple the garlic in a recipe. Like Bill says – what good is one garlic clove?
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Rise and Shine, Baboons,
What Bill said is my opinion, too.
It will be a busy day here. I have to grocery shop. The lists contains garlic–the large garlic with large cloves. I do grow garlic intermittantly. I planted some in the fall in my cold frame. After this spell of warmth it may have sprouted. This blog post is a reminder to go look at it.
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I’m somewhere between right and left brain cooking, and usually follow measurement directions just the first time… I have noticed that my measuring cups aren’t all exactly the same, and glad to know there’s a possible reason.
I use the kitchen scale occasionally, and like recipes including cheese when they give the # of ounces – easier to measure that before grating than in a cup after. But a lot of things don’t have to be that exact, either.
I like just a little garlic, so you wouldn’t find me doubling it no matter the size…
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I love garlic too and I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to how much the recipe calls for. I cook mostly for myself, so I don’t always follow recipes at all. Sometimes I treat a recipe as a general guide. I have used a scale in the past and I don’t mind the recipes that have weights given. I agree that the measuring cups in my drawer don’t all appear to be the same but I’ve never checked them for accuracy in weight. Does all of this make me a right-brained cook? I’ve never really considered myself any kind of cook at all!
I bought a new car yesterday!
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Ooh, congratulations. What did you get?
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I wanted a Toyota Corolla hatchback but I would have to order one or accept one I didn’t like. The wait would have been 6-10 months! So I drove about 500 feet south of the Toyota dealership and found a 2023 Honda Civic hatchback that I like a lot. It only had 2400 miles on it. It has all kinds of new tech features that I have only begun to learn about. I don’t know why they had me apply for credit, pulling a credit report on me and taking hours. I paid cash and traded my beloved Toyota RAV4. I got what I wanted for my Rav as a trade-in though. It’s been time to do it for awhile. I need a more fuel efficient car. In the spring I’ll find out if it’s easier to load my kayak on the roof. It should be.
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Great. What color is it?
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Kind of a stormy bluish-gray color. I like it.
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Oooh, congratulations! What did you get?
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You can say that again…
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She did!
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It took two minutes for the first post to show up. I assumed it had gone into the spam folder.
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I’m a fairly experienced and confident cook, though not necessarily a sophisticated one. I know what I like to eat, and I also know how much effort I’m willing to put into it. If I’m going to make something that’s labor intensive, it had better be worth the effort. I view most recipes as inspirational and not prescriptions that must be strictly adhered to. I substitute ingredients freely and approximate most measurement. But, I don’t really think of this as a result of right brain vs left brain orientation, it’s more a matter of temperament. It’s also a result of years and years of painstaking experimentation and knowing what works and what doesn’t.
I’m a garlic lover. The more the merrier.
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I got the bill for license plate tabs by email. The state says it is worth $17,674. I wanted to tell them I would knock 30% off if they wanted it.
Clyde
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Are you sure it’s from the state, Clyde, and not an attempted scam?
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Haha. The bill for my tabs was only $40. The actual blue book on my car is $6000.
I am having a battle again with my drug insurance company.this time over when I paid what.
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40 years ago I belong to a paperback book club that sold all sorts of quirky books or hard to find books. I got Beard on Bread and Beard on Pasta from there. Very poorly bound. I put them in 3-ring binders and still wore them out. One fun book was Rules of Thumb. They survey people in different jobs or categories for rules of thumb they used. Often they were contradictory. The cooks section was like that.but many of them had rules like above. Many said they doubled or tripled the spices in all recipes and then said they cut the salt in half.they contradicted, not that the knew each other, about raising and lowering heat and cooking times. Traveling tips they agreed about such a show much to pack and how much to buy to bring home. Most common was bring nothing home. Engineers were funniet
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HI- I’m a left brain cook after the first time.
And making friendship bread, one time I weighed the flour vs tapping and wiping with knife. It didn’t seem to amount to enough to matter.
We love garlic! The more the merrier!
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Happy Groundhog Day!
XXXpresident Donny saw his shadow.
9 more months of Trumpian trials.
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Most of the time I regard recipes as frameworks. Funny considering how many cookbooks I own. I usually stay on track but it’s probably rare that I follow a recipe to it’s very letter.
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pure right brain
i have measuring cups but they’re for my son who uses grams and has an interest in accuracy
garlic is a thing i do lots of
in olive oil in a bowl in the oven
minced in a pan for toppings
added at the end of the onions for just about everything
i’m gonna grow it this spring
i’ve never had too much
i like the peeled garlic costco is big aldi is not
it’s fine compared to cloves
i start out with an idea of what i’m cooking and am often surprised with what i’ve cooked
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I used to tend to buy garlic and then not use it up. When it’s dried out, they say you can re-hydrate it, but then, that’s probably not any better than using Penzey’s minced garlic. Or granulated garlic from the coop. So I usually just do that. Buying really fresh garlic and then throwing half of it out doesn’t feel tenable.
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