Stove Top Smoker Whole Garlic Bulbs

If you've ever enjoyed roasted garlic, you know that slow-cooking tames the beast in raw garlic. Long, slow smoking also softens the cloves to a buttery consistency-handy for whipping into mashed potatoes, or spreading on bruschetta-and adds that unmistakable flavor that only smoking can. Choose heads of garlic with small cloves-they will be easier to smoke until tender. Sometimes they are fine right out of the smoker and sometimes they need a little stint in the oven. From the cookbook, "Smokin"

• Ready In: 1 hr 5 mins
• Serves: 12
• Yields: 1 pound

Ingredients

• 12  medium heads of garlic (about 1 pound)
• 1 1⁄2-2  tablespoons  wood chips
•  olive oil
•  kosher salt
•  fresh ground black pepper

Directions

1. Trim the pointy tops of the garlic bulbs, about a half-inch or so to expose the individual cloves. Gently rub off as much of the papery outer layers as possible without breaking off the cloves. This will allow the smoky flavor to penetrate the cloves more fully.
2. Choose your wood: Just about anything goes with garlic-from the subtle smoke of 1 1/2 tablespoons of alder or cherry to the kick of 2 tablespoons mesquite or hickory.
3. Start the trimmed heads of garlic on the smoker rack cut side up and season them by drizzling a little olive oil in between the cloves and sprinkling them with salt and pepper.
4. Smoke until the innermost cloves of garlic are soft when you poke them with a paring knife;.
5. about 45 minutes over medium heat, and 15 minutes off the heat with the smoker lid closed.
6. If the innermost cloves of garlic aren't tender after 45 minutes of smoking and 15 minutes of resting, preheat the oven to 300ºF. Transfer the garlic heads to a small baking dish or
7. glass pie plate and pour in enough water to fill the dish 1/2-inch. Cover the dish tightly with.
8. aluminum foil and bake until tender. After smoking, this shouldn't be longer than 20 minutes.
9. Serve whole heads of garlic to garlic-loving friends as a side dish at anything from a backyard barbecue to a sit-down dinner. Guests can pluck off the cloves one at a time and
10. squeeze the marvelous butter-smooth clove from its papery wrapper. Give each person a tiny plate with some fruity olive oil and let them dunk their bread then spread it with the.
11. garlic. You can extract pulp from any leftover cloves and put it to any number of delicious uses, like seasoning soups, salad dressings, or sauteed vegetables. Or squeeze the pulp from.
12. about a half a head's worth and beat it into a stick of softened butter. Season the butter.
13. with salt, pepper, and if you like, a squirt of lemon juice. (Delicious on grilled steak) In short, you can use smoked garlic cloves just about anywhere you use regular garlic.
14. Note: To Smoke Garlic Cloves.
15. This is a very handy thing to know if you don't plan to serve whole heads of garlic, especially if your market sells jars of peeled garlic. Before you set up the smoker, bring a small saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add up to 8 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) peeled garlic cloves and cook 1 1/2 minutes. Drain, rinse briefly under cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Put the garlic cloves in a perforated aluminum pan and rub them lightly.
16. with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and smoke until tender, about 35-40 minutes, using the wood chips of your choice.