There's a brand of feta cheese salad cheese, (only feta cheese made in Greece can be called that these days) that does these little tubs that have cheese cubes, garlic cloves and olives in oil sold at a ludicrous markup. The thing is that the garlic cloves in those tubs are :chefs-kiss:. They're slightly softer than actual raw garlic but still crunchy and have an amazing mellow garlic taste to them.
You can find jars of pickled garlic in supermarkets but those are made with a vinegary brine that makes the cloves soft and mushy and gives them a tangy pungent flavour.
I tried peeling a bunch of garlic cloves and putting them in a jar with herbs and spices and filled it with rapeseed oil, but even after marinating in the fridge for a week they still just taste and feel like raw garlic. Got any tips?
I think a light poaching would be the simplest solution.
Just some softly boiling water and drop them in. But how long? I don't know...if it was me, I would fish one out every 30 seconds and drain, let cool and taste.
Also, it may be that some ice water to drop in after poaching to hard stop the cooking, that would definitely give you total control.
✍
Would steaming do the job?
I bet it would, good idea!