It’s the gadget people love to hate – but maybe it does have a place in the kitchen?

Why are garlic presses suddenly a no-no? Recipes now stipulate grating instead, but who wants lumps of garlic in their dinner?
Sally, by email

People sure do love to hate on the garlic press, not that that’s anything new: in her aptly titled essay Garlic Presses Are Utterly Useless, Elizabeth David called them “both ridiculous and pathetic”, while Anthony Bourdain wrote in Kitchen Confidential: “I don’t know what that junk is that squeezes out the ends of those things, but it ain’t garlic.” Fighting talk, indeed.

Christina Soteriou, recipe writer at Ottolenghi Inc and author of Big Veg Energy, however, takes a more balanced approach: “A garlic press is not necessarily a no-no, and there can definitely be a time and a place for it,” she says. “It’s definitely quicker [than chopping], but I’d use it only when said garlic is going into a sauce, stew or braise.” Which is to say, in a dish where those lumps that concern Sally will cook down and dissolve almost entirely.

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