So, what’s Alton Brown’s secret garlic-chopping wonder gadget? An egg cutter. Via an Instagram post, the chef writes, “When you need chopped garlic fast… reach for the egg cutter.”
Egg cutters, like this one from Williams Sonoma, are a useful little handheld tool not unlike an apple slicer. To use it, a circular arrangement of fine blades is gently pressed through a hard-boiled egg, neatly slicing it into even pieces. The garlic press is a similar tool that works in much the same way, using pressure to force a fresh garlic clove through a grid of blades and dicing it.
Home cooks in the comments section seem to approve: “How smart,” “What a good idea,” and “Genius!!!”
However, it seems that garlic purist Anthony Bourdain would beg to differ. “Misuse of garlic is a crime,” the chef wrote. “[G]arlic that has been tragically smashed through one of those abominations, the garlic press, are all disgusting. Please treat your garlic with respect… don’t put it through a press. I don’t know what that junk is that squeezes out the end of those things, but it ain’t garlic.”
Whichever side of the debate you fall on, if you happen to find yourself in a hurry at dinnertime, that egg cutter can get the job done.
