Cooking with Garlic

No seasoning in the Italian kitchen has as much to say as garlic, nor can any other match an expressive reach that extends from tantalizing whisper to clarion call. Garlic also has a strident top register that too often emerges in misguided interpretations of Italian cooking. To modulate its flavor in harmony with the style of the dish, it is sufficient to bear in mind this simple principle: the finer garlic is chopped and the darker it is allowed to become in cooking, the sharper it will taste. In no instance must garlic ever be cooked to a dark brown, or it will become offensively pungent, even bitter, and indigestible.