I am a scientist who loves to cook because there are many similarities between working in a lab and cooking in a kitchen. I love to share my cooking experience with you and to inspire others to cook.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Garlic Confit and Kale Chips



There isn't much in common between these two things. Funny that they should appear in the same post.

Oh wait, I do find one thing in common between garlic and kale. They both taste bad, to my own taste bud, when it is raw; but they taste amazing when roasted properly. There is also a fine line between toasted-yummy and toasted-not-so-yummy-anymore. 

Garlic confit is nothing but whole garlic cooked in oil under low heat until the garlic turned golden brown. There is some weird chemistry inside that, if explained, can fill pages in a chemistry article. Maybe there is already one out there. Whether it is garlic cooked in oil, roasted in the oven or pan-grilled. there is only one outcome, when done right, and that is golden goodness. 

Kale, was and probably still is, a "super food" according to organic-"foodista". The problem is, kale taste horrible when it is raw. Kale, when roasted, turns into something else. Again, this merits a chemistry textbook explanation.

The problem with kale chips is that it is very expensive. I have always wanted to make kale chips when I first had it many years ago.  This was my first try and I learned two things - 1) the kale must be very fresh when you roast it, 2) don't over-roast it. When it turns a bit black-ish like mine, it taste bitter. 

Kale is very expensive. I tried to make lettuce chips a while ago, which didn't turn out well. There must be some cheaper vegetable out there that would undergo similar transformation like kale. Let the hunt begins. Maybe I should start with vegetable that taste absolutely bad when raw. I know where I should start.

To many trials and failures!