I was helping a group of teenagers prepare a meal as part of a cooking lesson.  When I asked who could mince the garlic, one sweet girl happily volunteered.  I handed her a knife, the garlic, and a cutting board.  Holding the knife in one hand, she paused to stare at the garlic for a minute, and then said “So…..wait. Where’s the Magic Bullet? What am I supposed to do?”  My response was “What’s a Magic Bullet?”  Apparently we both learned something new that evening. 🙂
 

Preparing garlic, whether it’s peeling, crushing, slicing, mincing, etc. is SO much easier than many realize.  AND using fresh garlic cloves that haven’t been pre-peeled/pre-minced makes such a HUGE difference to flavor!  Trust me – as you practice prepping garlic by hand, it will become second nature.

Lucky for me, professionals have already made tutorials about this on youtube so I don’t have to!  Here’s a good one I found by Jamie Oliver showing different ways to work your garlic: