5 ms·

See this is why people die. I had no idea of this danger and was just thinking the other day of making a garlic-infuses oil.

tptacek 9y ago
You absolutely can make garlic oil; you just shouldn't hold it for very long. There are techniques you can use to make long-holding garlic oil, too. The simplest is to make mojo, which is garlic oil acidified with lime juice. But there are also techniques to directly acidify the garlic without drastically modifying the flavor. Garlic infuses fast, so an even simpler strategy is just to make it the day you're planning to use it.
- m_mueller 9y ago
  I often made garlic/oil/chili pepper spaghetti in the past. IMO doing anything fancy with the oil is completely unnecessary as you can infuse tons of flavour right at the cooking stage that happens 10min before eating: Use four garlic cloves per person, slice as thinly as you can (think Good Fellas), boil together with chili at the lowest heat in a high quality olive oil just until soft, take off the heat. Add pasta water, salt, fresh italian flat parsley, almost cooked spaghetti and heat/soak for another minute, serve with parmesan. I also like to add sun dried oil tomatoes (commercial of course) together with the parsley. There, I don't understand how you need more garlic flavour.
  - tptacek 9y ago
    I do sort of the opposite thing: I dump a whole mess of whole cloves --- sometimes even the supermarket jugs of peeled garlic (which are for any other application pretty gross) --- into a saucier, cover with oil (cheap oil is fine, I think, because cooking is going to destroy the subtle flavors), and cook in a very slow oven until the garlic is soft.
  - porlune 9y ago
    Slightly off topic: I want to take a moment to point out something else that is completely unnecessary: Flambé. If anything I think that adding alcohol and immediately burning it off will only remove the subtle flavors the food already has.
    - magnetic 9y ago
      Sorry, I can't agree. "Crêpes Suzette" are delicious...
      - porlune 9y ago
        I agree that Crepes are amazing - I make them often (Nutella and banana mostly, sometimes just sugar), but I disagree that Flambe improves the flavor at all.. There is no need to Flambe the dish prior to serving it. Almost all flavor is in the aroma. Flambe does nothing to add flavor - at best it is removing those precious aromatic compounds and at worst an inexperienced cook is going to burn down their kitchen. Flambe is all for show. If you want to add flavor from alcohol (like Grand Marnier), you should just render it down into a syrup. Anyway, that's the advice I got from a better chef than myself, just passing along the knowledge.
pmoriarty 9y ago
Yeah, food safety is a bit of a mine field. Other common foods to watch out for are improperly cooked beans and green potatoes.
- slackingoff2017 9y ago
  Undercooked shitake mushrooms are also sometimes poisonous.
- DanBC 9y ago
  Cooked and chilled rice used to be the leading cause of food poisoning in the UK, which is saying something when you consider how many chickens are infected with salmonella and campylobacter. (campylobacter has recently taken the lead in number of food poisoning cases).
  - pmoriarty 9y ago
    What is it about cooked and chilled rice that makes it a leading source of food poisoning?
    - DanBC 9y ago
      http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-poisoning.aspx?CategoryID=51 http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-po... > Yes, you can get food poisoning from eating reheated rice. However, it's not the reheating that causes the problem, but the way the rice has been stored before it is reheated. > How does reheated rice cause food poisoning? > Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that can cause food poisoning. The spores can survive when rice is cooked. > If rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores can grow into bacteria. These bacteria will multiply and may produce toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea. > The longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that the bacteria or toxins could make the rice unsafe to eat. Reheating the rice will kill the bacteria, but will not remove the toxin. It also puts the rice at bacteria breeding temperature again.
    - morsch 9y ago

tptacek 9y ago

You absolutely can make garlic oil; you just shouldn't hold it for very long. There are techniques you can use to make long-holding garlic oil, too. The simplest is to make mojo, which is garlic oil acidified with lime juice. But there are also techniques to directly acidify the garlic without drastically modifying the flavor. Garlic infuses fast, so an even simpler strategy is just to make it the day you're planning to use it.

m_mueller 9y ago
I often made garlic/oil/chili pepper spaghetti in the past. IMO doing anything fancy with the oil is completely unnecessary as you can infuse tons of flavour right at the cooking stage that happens 10min before eating: Use four garlic cloves per person, slice as thinly as you can (think Good Fellas), boil together with chili at the lowest heat in a high quality olive oil just until soft, take off the heat. Add pasta water, salt, fresh italian flat parsley, almost cooked spaghetti and heat/soak for another minute, serve with parmesan. I also like to add sun dried oil tomatoes (commercial of course) together with the parsley. There, I don't understand how you need more garlic flavour.
- tptacek 9y ago
  I do sort of the opposite thing: I dump a whole mess of whole cloves --- sometimes even the supermarket jugs of peeled garlic (which are for any other application pretty gross) --- into a saucier, cover with oil (cheap oil is fine, I think, because cooking is going to destroy the subtle flavors), and cook in a very slow oven until the garlic is soft.
- porlune 9y ago
  Slightly off topic: I want to take a moment to point out something else that is completely unnecessary: Flambé. If anything I think that adding alcohol and immediately burning it off will only remove the subtle flavors the food already has.
  - magnetic 9y ago
    Sorry, I can't agree. "Crêpes Suzette" are delicious...
    - porlune 9y ago
      I agree that Crepes are amazing - I make them often (Nutella and banana mostly, sometimes just sugar), but I disagree that Flambe improves the flavor at all.. There is no need to Flambe the dish prior to serving it. Almost all flavor is in the aroma. Flambe does nothing to add flavor - at best it is removing those precious aromatic compounds and at worst an inexperienced cook is going to burn down their kitchen. Flambe is all for show. If you want to add flavor from alcohol (like Grand Marnier), you should just render it down into a syrup. Anyway, that's the advice I got from a better chef than myself, just passing along the knowledge.

pmoriarty 9y ago

Yeah, food safety is a bit of a mine field. Other common foods to watch out for are improperly cooked beans and green potatoes.

slackingoff2017 9y ago
Undercooked shitake mushrooms are also sometimes poisonous.
DanBC 9y ago
Cooked and chilled rice used to be the leading cause of food poisoning in the UK, which is saying something when you consider how many chickens are infected with salmonella and campylobacter. (campylobacter has recently taken the lead in number of food poisoning cases).
- pmoriarty 9y ago
  What is it about cooked and chilled rice that makes it a leading source of food poisoning?
  - DanBC 9y ago
    http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-poisoning.aspx?CategoryID=51 http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-po... > Yes, you can get food poisoning from eating reheated rice. However, it's not the reheating that causes the problem, but the way the rice has been stored before it is reheated. > How does reheated rice cause food poisoning? > Uncooked rice can contain spores of Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that can cause food poisoning. The spores can survive when rice is cooked. > If rice is left standing at room temperature, the spores can grow into bacteria. These bacteria will multiply and may produce toxins (poisons) that cause vomiting or diarrhoea. > The longer cooked rice is left at room temperature, the more likely it is that the bacteria or toxins could make the rice unsafe to eat. Reheating the rice will kill the bacteria, but will not remove the toxin. It also puts the rice at bacteria breeding temperature again.
  - morsch 9y ago