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There is grim purpose in all I do; and I warn you that you do not thwart me.’” Readers, and eventually, filmgoers, were hooked on the mythology built by Stoker, and riffs on vampires and garlic have been playing out now for over a century on cam- era. There's 1987’s The Lost Boys , in which a particularly bejeweled punk vampire yells, “Garlic don’t work, boys!” as he is splashed with a skin-singeing, garlic-and-holy-water combo, and a series of nine garlic-tinged Dracula films ( Brides of Dracula , anyone?) created by the British production company Hammer. There’s Leslie Nielsen covering his nose and lamenting, “Ah! Ew! Garlic!” in Mel Brook’s goofy 1995 film, Dracula: Dead and Loving It , and even spooky, gar- licky teen flicks like Rockula , which features a mopey young vampire (and rock star wan- nabe) who actually—twist!— loves garlic. (Alas, garlic doesn’t play a major role in the Twilight series, but as long as the author is still writing prequels and sequels, I say there’s still time for a little hat tip to the pun- gent bulb.) Garlic finds its way into the spotlight (and Sunday dinner) frequently in Martin Scors- ese movies, including starring in one of the most culinarily reverent scenes ever commit- ted to film: the Goodfellas prison cooking montage. “In prison, dinner was always a big thing. We had a pasta course and then we had a meat or fish. Paulie...was doing a year for contempt, and he had this won- derful system for doing the garlic. He used a razor and sliced it so thin it would liquefy in the pan with just a little oil. It was a very good system.” says narrator Henry Hill in a voiceover, as garlic is cut with all the ten- derness and finesse of a five-star chef—in the confines of a jail cell that puts most first apartments to shame. Not to be outdone, the extended family of television’s most complicated mob boss, Tony Soprano, also demonstrate time and again that they know their way around a garlic clove, and in 2002’s The Sopranos Family Cookbook , there’s even an entire sec- tion devoted to how to properly cut garlic— complete with Goodfellas reference. But it’s documentarian Les Blank who wins the prize for the most garlicky of all garlic films: 1980’s Garlic is as Good as Ten Moth- ers . The title (which is taken from the old say- ing, “Garlic is as good as ten mothers for

In his infamous autobiography, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Un- derbelly , Anthony Bourdain writes, “Garlic is divine. Few food items can taste so many distinct ways, handled correctly. Misuse of garlic is a crime.... Please, treat your garlic with respect.” With so much weight and heady reverence given to garlic outside the kitchen—through medicinal uses, as a spiritual talisman and a focal point of literature—appreciating the in- trinsic value of garlic as an ingredient when preparing a meal is critical. Always buy garlic bulbs whole and keep store-bought cloves at room temperature in a dark, dry place like a pantry or cupboard. If you get your hands on ultra-fresh garlic at the farm- er’s market, that should go in the refrigerator and be eaten within a week. Using a garlic press might seem like an ultra-easy shortcut if you’re adding crushed garlic to a dish, but mincing by hand always produces a mellow- er flavor. Bonus? The hand-cut garlic is much less likely to burn when cooking. And speak- ing of burning, avoid charring your garlic by always toasting it over low heat—turning it up a notch, unfortunately, isn’t going to result in the fragrant aroma you seek. And whether you’re stir-frying Cantonese- style greens, whipping up an aioli or mak- ing a Provençal pistou , reflecting on the profound ways in which garlic has shaped global cuisine, history and lifestyle while cooking will bring a deeper level of appre- ciation for this ingredient that’s long been, rightfully, placed upon a pedestal. After all, it’s no wonder that in Cajun cook- ing, the Holy Trinity is onion, celery and bell pepper, but garlic is “the pope.”

keeping the girls away”) was filmed at the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, Cali- fornia in the late 1970s and features more bulbs-per-frame than have ever been seen before or since on the silver screen. Blank, who is better known regionally for his legendary work capturing the heart of both New Orleans and Cajun culture through films like Always for Pleasure (1978), Dry Wood (1973) and Hot Pepper (1973), turned his thoughtful lens on the culture surrounding garlic’s rise to prominence in Northern California during a time when get- ting back in touch with nature through gar- dening, organic ingredients and a deeper appreciation for local foodways was on the rise. Humor abounds in the documentary, and from giant, floppy garlic-shaped hats, to “fight mouthwash, eat garlic” bumper stickers, to a social club known as the Order of the Stinking Rose, the film captures garlic’s role in a larger social movement with levity and wit. Blank even suggested that when the movie was shown, the projectionist should start roasting garlic in the back of the theater when the movie began so that by the middle of the film, the audience would have the fragrant scent of garlic wafting through the aisles. (Smell-o-vision at its finest!) And if all this talk of garlic festivals has you worried you have missed out on the fun, nev- er fear. Gilroy’s garlic festival is one of sev- eral each year in North America, including other odiferous events in Toronto, Minnesota, Cleveland, South Florida and Mystic, Con- necticut. There’s sure to be a garlic-lover’s celebration somewhere (relatively) nearby. GARLIC IN CUISINE Last—but certainly not least—is garlic’s role as a culinary dynamo: peeled, smashed, roasted, and sautéed into meals the world over and at the very core of flavoring dishes from Italian-American pomodoro sauce to Mexican sopa de ajo (garlic soup).

We get our garlic from Spice World, which was founded in New Orleans over 70 years ago by Andy "Pops" Caneza. Today three generations of his family grow, harvest and package the garlic we sell at Rouses.​

28 ROUSES MARCH AP R I L 2021