"In a clip shared by Food Network on YouTube, Flay shows fellow chef Ina Garten his favorite trick for getting raw garlic to a texture where it will simply dissolve into the food, lending immense flavor without adding any texture. In the video, Flay shows Garten how he makes garlic paste. Flay roughly chops a few cloves of peeled garlic, then begins to press down and crush the chopped cloves with the side of his knife blade (although he refers to it as the "back" of his knife)."
"He follows this by sprinkling a bit of kosher salt on top of the garlic, then continues by dragging the side of the blade across the mixture with a bit of pressure. He repeats this crushing and sliding motion until a paste forms. 'I want the garlic to kind of melt away into the pan,' says Flay. Breaking down the garlic from small, minced chunks into a smooth paste will help it cook more quickly and almost dissolve into the food as it cooks, and you won't ever find a small piece of garlic that's noticeable. 'You don't want to bite into the garlic, you just want to have the flavor of it,' guesses Garten correctly. The small grains of salt help to crush the garlic more finely, and will also extract a bit of moisture coming from the garlic, which helps it emulsify slightly into a homogenous paste."
Garlic paste is produced by roughly chopping peeled cloves, crushing them under the side or back of a knife blade, and adding kosher salt while dragging the blade until a smooth paste forms. The paste cooks more quickly and can dissolve into food so that only the garlic flavor remains without noticeable pieces. Kosher salt aids in breaking down the garlic, extracting moisture, and helping the mixture emulsify into a homogeneous paste. For larger quantities, a food processor or mini food processor can pulse garlic to a fine mince and then be processed further into a paste.
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