Brad Makes Black Garlic

Andy, great shirt bud.

[Andy] Why do you like this shirt so much?

It's just a nice color.

[Andy] I just never wear colors.

We got our pink pastels going.

[Andy] I like yours.

Yours gives me. Yeah, mine's cool as hell.

Sexual healing baby!

[metal bowl clanging]

Today on It's Alive,

we're making black garlic and what else?

Yeah, you nailed it.

Black garlic essentially it's

fermenting at a very slow,

climate-controlled, temperature-controlled,

humidity-controlled environment.

It takes about 6 to 8 weeks.

As it ferments, it slowly, the cloves,

the skin starts to get a little darker, a little brown,

and then the internal cloves get

this beautiful jet black

and they get real soft so you can smush it.

It's spreadable.

And the whole flavor profile changes.

It's fine.

No really, it's fine.

And the whole, is it fine?

It's not a caramelization.

It's more that, how do you pronounce it?

The Maillard.

The Maillard effect.

Or reaction.

The Maillard, Mallaird.

It's French.

Oui.

Oui chef.

Big umami flavor.

It's very versatile to use and

we'll just leave it at that.

Lalalalalalalala!

First step,

garlic.

You don't wanna go peeling the garlic.

You wanna keep all of the paper outside.

You want that to be all intact.

And what that does it kinda insulates it,

protects it, and it ferments internally.

[electricity buzzing]

And yeah, so yeah.

Definitely want to keep it whole.

So what I like to do,

I just got a little sake here.

You could probably use water.

I like to use sake.

I just give it a little rinsey-poo.

A little rinsey-poo and a little toss-y toss.

You just wanna get the,

introduce a little more moisture to the party,

and just lightly, lightly kinda dampen the outside.

And then next, I mean that's almost it.

Now I'm just gonna prep the little vacuum sealer bag.

If you don't have one these lil guys, they're fantastic.

I love them.

Especially for storing stuff, freezing meat.

Great for fermentation projects.

Oh Gabby, what do you got around your neck there?

Oh, I know I liked you.

You keeping the vampires away?

Yes.

Did you ever hear my theory about that?

No.

Well I'll tell you later.

So great, look.

Pay attention, things get a little complicated here.

Everyone get your notebook.

You're gonna take the garlic and just place it in the bag.

Alright?

Look at those happy little guys.

Little piggies.

[pig oinking]

Alright, this goes in like so, nice nice.

And we're just gonna do a nice little light vacuum.

Alright, oh, get ready.

[vacuum whirrs]

Boom, that's it.

Now we're making a nice closed atmosphere.

For the garlic to get happy, to ferment,

to have that Maillard reaction take place.

So there you have it.

You got your nice little, nice little satchel.

Like I said, I have the dehydrator.

I can set the temperature.

I'm gonna set the temperature to 130 degrees.

You know people have used use rice cookers,

where you take the bowl,

you put a little towel down or something.

But you wanna make sure -

If it goes too warm, it will turn into black garlic,

but it won't be soft and smearable.

It actually turns like rock hard.

If that does happen, don't go throwing it away.

It's still very valuable.

That turns into a fantastic powder.

[lips smack]

We're great.

Also,

[fast forward talking]

Let's stick to the old dehydrator, Vinny, c'mon.

Yeah, I love this thing.

Yeah, so we got this nice, it's alright.

So look, I got my little,

my little thermometer set up in there.

Alright?

So I can just, you know, we have a low and high.

I mean we're a little more scientific than that.

Alright?

You can't be having these kinds of variables.

We really have to up our game here with our gear.

If anyone knows a great dehydrator,

please put it in the comments.

I'd love to know which one to get.

So yeah, we're at 134, 130-140 seems to be

a pretty good safe spot.

You really don't want to go too much higher.

A little bit lower might be fine.

It will probably just take more time.

What are you looking at, my cactus?

This was a rescue.

Someone left it in the hallway to die,

and it was a little shorter and it was sad, okay?

And I brought it back to life and whenever

Bon Appétit fires me, I'm bringing it home with me.

Alright, great.

So we're back to the dehydrator,

and we're gonna go ahead and place my little bag.

Alright, there you go, come on.

[lullaby playing]

Tuck them in the bed, alright, nite nite.

So this is a low and slow game, okay?

I know it's very exciting,

but you gotta wait 6 to 8 weeks.

[chipper hold music]

Oof!

6 to 8 weeks later.

I don't have many clothes, okay?

No, we're going to do a little swap.

So I set a couple up about 6 to 8 weeks ago.

The Maillard reaction.

How many times do I gotta say that, I love it.

The Maillard.

Maillard.

The Maillard reaction took place

and we created black garlic.

Check it out, bud.

Boom!

Oh, look at that, huh?

Let's go examine our science experiment.

Whammo Bammo.

Oh, you smell that?

No, of course you can't.

It smells delightful.

Great, so our,

our Maillard reaction

definitely seemed to take place.

Let's crack one of these babies open.

Just from the outside, it looks dry and hard cause it is.

But on the inside, it's soft.

Ooh, look at that, like a little present, a little bundle.

Oh yeah, wow.

It shrinks in size, obviously, because of moisture,

and there you have it.

So it's soft too, you can, like, crush it,

and it's almost pasty.

It almost turns into a smearable product

which is quite nice,

especially if you're gonna mix that into a vinegarette.

It would be great if you

kinda rubbed it into a compound butter.

I love that.

And into braises, vinegarettes, stews, I mean-

Let's just taste it by itself real quick.

Yup, I mean, it's not really something that you'd eat by,

on it's own

[electricity zapping]

Um, but man, it needs a little salt, you know.

But it's got that toastedy kind of,

I don't want to say caramel-y,

but in a way, more like tamarind.

It's certainly sweet, and every type of garlic you use

is gonna react a little differently.

This one, the end result, it's pretty,

it's pretty mild.

You can use a lot more black garlic and not have it become

overwhelmed like fresh garlic would.

It's still a very potent and pungent ingredient,

but very different than raw garlic.

We're gonna make a little thing I like to use with it.

We're gonna make real quick fresh pasta.

And then I knead it into the dough, nice, nice.

And then we run it through the little

pasta machine maker here and it just kinda

gets these nice speckles of black garlic

throughout the pasta.

I'm gonna cut it into some pieces.

Whatever pieces you are not working,

we just wanna toss them under the plastic.

Keep the oxygen, keep the air off of them.

There's one thing we learned.

It's allicin in garlic and oxygen kills us all.

Alright, I don't know if you guys ever used these,

but I usually start.

Right Morocco, you don't just skipping steps.

That's what Grandma Morocco always would say.

She knows.

Yeah, I like to go slow here because

sometimes it can start to split on you a little..

This is nice if you got someone to help ya.

Someone rolls, someone catches.

Great thing to do with the family.

Oh, it's Sunday.

Oh I made black garlic.

Oh, you know what?

Let's make some fresh pasta together, you know?

Gabby, sorry, can you give me a hand Gabby?

Let me wash--

You don't have to, that's fine.

[Gabby] Okay.

Can you just catch it? I'm gonna feed it.

Alright, it's gonna be fine.

Here we go Gabby, coming at ya.

Keep em nice and separated.

Catchin a baby, catchin a baby!

You know, treat it like hair.

Where you wanna hang it?

Right on the cutting board.

But Vinny's there.

Oh, look at that!

Beautiful!

[Gabby] There you go.

Oh, look at these babies.

Keep it nice.

There's one in the middle that got stuck.

You see how that this piece?

You're not holding.

It went through, it's fine.

Uno mas.

[speaking foreign language]

It's just like making pasta with my grandma.

Lotta yelling.

[Andy] Lotta yelling.

Yelling's the first ingredient.

Wait, did she ever- Gabby, pay attention!

Aye!

[Gabby] I look online why vampires don't like garlic.

[Andy] Why?

[Gabby] It's because of the smell.

That's all the explanation they have.

Oh.

You fold it back.

Who did they ask, a vampire?

[Gabby] Gentle.

Ohh, beautiful!

Nice job there Gabriella.

[Gabby] You have one here.

You can keep that one.

[Gabby] Nice job.

Thank you Gabby.

[Gabby] Welcome.

So cool, I got some nice water going here.

Already salted.

No big deal.

I'm gonna keep this bad boy right in it

and we're gonna use some of the water.

Do a nice little butter, a little Parmesan cheese,

a little salt, a little pepper, and that's it.

Maybe I'll go get that.

Maybe a little olive oil too, huh?

[Sad piano music]

Oh, so sorry.

No that's cool, just grabbing some cheese.

Oh, I was looking at the cilantro

[people talking]

I always wanted to play tennis.

Alright, first do this one.

Oh wait, backhand!

Ooh!

Point!

Sixteen-love.

Alright, back to pasta, quit fooling around.

Water came to a boil.

We got a little cheese, we got some butter.

I minced up some of that other black garlic

we had and add it to the butter.

What the hell, right?

And let's cook the pasta, yeah?

Alright Vinny, cooked, pulled it out.

You get back in there.

And we're just gonna add it to this.

A little bit of this, okay?

Add a little bit of that pasta water.

Help us build the sauce.

Everybody knows that, right?

A little mix-y mix, a little toss-y toss.

Where's Andy when you need him?

He's the master plater.

And time!

Oh yeah, great.

Alright, Let's try it.

Alright Gabriella.

Am I bleeding already?

What the hell Gabby?

You're getting weirder and weirder, I like it.

You first. Alright, let's go.

We'll do like Lady and The Tramp, huh?

Oh, no thank you.

I need a spoon, you know?

You don't need a spoon.

Yes you do.

Ooo, it's bouncy.

[slurping]

Mmmm.

I like it.

That black garlic, right?

It's subtle, it's there, gives a big nice flavor.

Much different than raw garlic.

I like this.

It's super easy.

It's fun to make with your family,

or your friends.

The hardest part is just waitin'.

Chris, you wanna try?

[Gabby] You wanna try that.

[Chris] Sure, yeah. Yeah, come on, pasta.

Just say it's great, it's fine.

I'm not an easy buy, you know?

That's okay, we're not paying ya.

[laughter].

It's good, the black garlic is mellow actually.

Very mellow, and there's three cloves in that.

This is yours?

Yeah.

The one you had going for two months?

Yeah.

The fire hazard?

Yeah, 6 to 8 weeks.

Yeah, don't worry about that.

Did you have to vacuum seal it?

Yes, otherwise, it would be bone dry.

So in the vacuum seal,

you kinda create a nice little perfect chamber,

atmosphere, for that, what's it called?

That Maillard reaction to take place.

Maillard?

Maillard, yeah.

Oh, so that's considered Maillard reaction?

100 %

Something new everyday man.

That's why we do it. Alright.

Well folks, thanks for joining.

I'd love to see what you guys like to do

with black garlic or different techniques for making it.

Let me know in the comments below

and it lasts for a very long time.

You just throw it in the fridge for

weeks, months.

Probably you can freeze it, turn it into powder.

That's it, black garlic.

Glad you guys could join us.

Bon Appétit!

Vinny I'll save some for you.

[Gabby] Alright, tell me your theory.

So, you know, well,

you know, back in the day,

you don't see no vampires, you know.

And one thing that keeps vampires away is death.

I'm sorry, it's garlic.

Right.

Right, you hang garlic all over your house yada yada.

Right.

My theory

is that vampires are just

a metaphor for death, and garlic being

so good for you, helps keep death away.

I never thought about it that way.

Just stick with me Gab.

That's my theory.

If anyone else has-

[shock sound]

another one, I'd like to hear it.

[jaunty electronic music]