The Science of Garlic and How to Make the Best Garlic Bread | Garlic Bread | What's Eating Dan?

(music)

Remember Alice in Wonderland
when Alice eats a cookie

and grows about the size of a house?

And then she eats a little piece of carrot
and shrinks down about three inches tall.

Finally, she gets her hand on a mushroom,

eats a little bit of that,
and comes back to her normal size.

Well, that --

That's garlic flavor.

Stick with me here.

Garlic flavor can be huge
and overpowering.

It can also be tiny and muted,

but with careful calibration,

it can be just right.

As cooks, we hold all of the power
of the garlic flavor.

Power is great, but only
if you know how to yield it.

So, let's get into it

and figure out how to make
some insanely good garlic bread.

Close your eyes and smell
an intact clove of garlic

and you won't smell anything.

But smash that same clove
and it comes to life.

The potent flavor of garlic
is only created

when garlic cells are damaged.

Either by chewing, chopping or crushing.

Here's how that works:

When garlic's cells are damaged

an enzyme called alliinase is released.

Alliinase acts on

its sulfur-containing molecule
called alliin

converting it to a totally new compound
called alliicin,

--that's Elvis Costello's song,
but spelled totally differently.