An easy way to peel a lot of garlic

One of the most cumbersome tasks of cooking with garlic is extracting the cloves from their tough, dried skins. Here's a quick trick: Separate a head of garlic into individual cloves and put them in a small bowl. Run very hot tap water over the cloves and vigorously stir them with a metal whisk. The hot water will soften the garlic skin while the stirring will loosen it. Now you can easily slip the skins off with a paring knife.

Photos: Scott Phillips