Preparing Garlic

1. Separate the garlic into cloves, then lay one clove on a chopping board.
2. Take a broad-bladed knife or cleaver, lay it sideways on the clove and pound it once with your fist. The garlic skin will easily pull away.
3. Continue chopping, mashing or crushing as required. If the garlic clove has a green shoot inside, you should remove it before preparing any further, as it has a bitter taste.

Whether you chop the cloves, mash them under the flat of a knife, or crush them in a garlic press is a matter of taste: the finer the result, the more of the pungent oils are released. In this way, crushing the garlic clove will give a more intense flavour than slicing.