Skip The Powder: Add This To Potato Salad For A Richer Garlic Flavor

Different households have different interpretations of potato salad. Some prefer a touch of garlic, whereas some don't. If you're the former, add garlic confit, a versatile mixture of garlic simmered in oil at a low temperature that's enjoyed together as its own condiment. When added to potato salad, it introduces a mild sweetness with a robust garlic flavor that transforms a classic potato salad recipe. Add the cloves to the potatoes before you add the dressing, and mix the garlic-infused oil with said dressing before tossing it into the dish.

Compared to garlic powder, the confit solution is bolder, and better if you want a more pronounced flavor. While roasted garlic gives potato salad a tasty upgrade, this method can be overpowering, whereas garlic confit is a pleasantly subtle middle ground. Confit is also more uniform in outcome, creates less mess, and it's easy to make consistently for future batches. While you can buy garlic confit from some grocery stores, it's not always available, plus it's easy to make at home.

The key to making garlic confit is using low heat for a long period of time because the temperature allows for softer cloves, making it easy to mix and apply. When preparing your cloves, remove the stem and skin, and let them swim in oil to help promote a consistent outcome. Settle on a neutral oil to avoid contributing strong flavors. Vegetable oils are a wise choice, such as grapeseed oil.

You can cook the oil and garlic combo on your stovetop, preferably in a vessel that lets you check on the brew from time to time. Look for signs that the cloves have softened, with light browning, which can be achieved in one to two hours. If you need another flavor boost, you can always add more herbs before making your garlic confit. Thyme can give it that herbaceous quality, whereas rosemary can give it an aromatic character, so you're catering to different senses.

Other ways you can introduce garlic confit into a classic potato salad include keeping the garlic cloves whole, which can make the aromatics front and center. Chopping them after taking them out of the oil also works if you want to spread the flavor more evenly. Alternatively, mashing them to achieve a paste-like consistency lets the garlic fully integrate into the salad. It's easy, tempting even, to make a big batch of garlic confit. If you have some leftovers, but don't want them to go to waste, you can even turn garlic confit into a creamy whipped spread. Like we said, it's versatile.