Just to give a bit of background, I love cooking but am completely self trained. I generally don't use recipes and [have] taken part in a bunch of local cooking competitions (mainly just to refine my palate). I recently picked up some spicy pickled garlic and have just been snacking on it or putting it on some bread; but would really like to turn it into a finished dish. It has such a strong and distinct taste though, that I can't think of any way to make it the spotlight of a dish, while also leaving it mellow enough to give depth to the dish. Any ideas?

tl;dr - What refined dish could I create with spicy pickled garlic?

Not sure what that spicy pickled garlic tastes like, but theres prob a couple of things you can do with it...
Chop em and put em in mashed potatoes? In rosted potatoes or oven roasted veggies...
Maybe you could make an oil out of it too if you simply want to flavor your meals/salad... just blend them with some sunflower/grapeseed or whatever veg oil you have, let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days...
You could also use em to infuse the garlic taste in meat... like a pork roast, make small holes in it and fill it with garlic?
You could prob do lots of things with it, but yeah not too sure what it tastes like so im not sure about the rest
Edit : I don't think you wanna make garlic the "star" of the dish (unless youre libanese lol), but you can certainly use the flavour profile to the max...

This post was edited by hofx2 on Sep 28 2011 09:59pm

I'd think it would go well with Chinese stir-fry dishes. I'd probably use pork or beef. Maybe add some black bean paste for a little depth of flavor.

halibit or salmon or any fish lol

The problem with many of those suggestions is the overwhelming vinegar taste that the garlic has. The garlic itself is only very very mild. Mostly what you get is vinegar and spice with a garlic undertone. As for making it the star of the dish, anytime you say that about a spice it's not like you add an overwhelming amount of that spice to where that's all you taste, but more about highlighting an interesting ingredient. I think I may try throwing some of the garlic into a red sauce with some Thai basil. The Thai basil should highlight the spiciness of the garlic very nicely and the slight sweetness should help to tone down the vinegar (along with some sugar obviously).



That's actually a really good idea.

This post was edited by Furthur on Sep 29 2011 02:57pm