Originally, garlic was smoked to preserve it. Firstly, because when the garlic cloves are exposed to smoke, it protects them from insects in a lasting way, and also because smoking dries and therefore prevents mould.
There is no secret to this Smoked Garlic Recipe. There are two ways of smoking garlic. In the first, garlic is roasted in oil and salt and smoked for 2 ½ hours. Here you end up with a soft garlic you can make into a paste. The other option is to cold smoke for 2 ½ hours. In this case, they will shrink about 50% and they will be dry.
The last ones I did, I peeled them first and they came out a little better. And note that when cold smoking, we add no oil or salt.
Large cloves may take up to 4 hours to cold smoke.
For smoking, we used apple and hickory bisquettes.
How to preserve the garlic
Store the garlic in a cool, well-aired place, as you would normal garlic. Don´t forget that smoked garlic has a smooth taste, but a pungent smoky odour.
What garlic should I use?
In Arleux, they use Northern garlic, but you can smoke any good quality garlic. Why not opt for garlic that has a certified origin: Pink Lautrec garlic, Lomagne white, Cadours purple or from the Drôme. These protected place names are your guarantee of desirable quality.
Storage: I freeze them on a cookie sheet first, then put two or three cloves in a vacuumed sealed bag, and back to the freezer.
Ingredients
Ingredients hot smoke Garlic Cloves as needed ½ teaspoon olive oil for each clove ¼ teaspoon sea salt for each clove
Directions
Method Cut about a ¼ inch off each clove head, drizzle olive oil and add salt. Put them in a foil pan, then into the smoker. Method for cold smoke Cut about a ¼ inch off each clove head. Take the cut tops, make a foil pocket, add some olive oil in them and put all in the smoker.
