Garlic Chili Oil
What are Infused Oils?
Infused oils, also know as macerated oils, are neutral flavoured carrier oils (like cannola) that have been infused/permeated with the flavours of herbs. It’s a great way to get a bold, punchy flavour into your dish to enhance or balance what you’re cooking. Some people infuse oils for medicinal reasons, such as massage oils or lotions, but in this case we are only talking about infused oils used for cooking.
Depending on what you’re infusing, these oils can be stored anywhere from 5 days to 3 months! In this case, we’re using fresh garlic and dried red chili flakes we have to be careful. Garlic is a low acid food and can be a source of a spore called Clostridium Botulinum. This is the spore that can grow into the botulism toxin that is odorless, tasteless, and colourless that can cause serious illness or even death if allowed to sit for too long.
To make sure we’re being safe, there are some things you need to do.
Make sure the jar you’re using for storage is clean and food grade
Make a new batch around once a month, or acidify your garlic using citric acid
Use olive oil or canola oil as a carrier oil because it contains fewer polyunsaturated fatty acids and stay good longer than many other vegetable oils
Keep refrigerated, C. Botulinum spores have difficultly growing in low acid environments
What’s It Used For?
Infused Oils are incredibly versatile, being used as anything from a condiment to a base. Some of these uses include:
Noodle toppings
Dipping oil (for dipping bread, etc)
Adding some spice
Drizzled over creamy soups
Roasting vegetables
Salad dressing
Egg topping
Pizza glaze
Many, many more!
Here are some of the ways we use this Garlic Chili Oil:
Garlic Chilli Oil
Simone Peironnet | 8/2/2021
prep time: 30 seconds
cook time: 2 minutes
- total time: 2.5 minutes
Servings: 1 Cup
Ingredients:
1 Cup Cannola Oil, or other nuetral flavoured oil
3 Tbsp Red Chili Flakes
3 Cloves Garlic OR Whole Discarded Roasted Garlic Head Skin
Instructions:
- In your small pan over medium low heat, add in your cannola oil. Using the flat of your knife, carefully crush your garlic cloves, keeping the skin on. Removing the skin will cause your garlic cloves to burn instead of flavouring the oil. Add your skin-on, curshed cloves into your oil.
- As your oil heats up, let your garlic sit for 45 seconds to 2 minutes, pulling it off the heat just before your garlic starts to brown. When you pull off the heat, wait 30 seconds and add in your chili flakes.
- After your oil comes down to room temperature, bottle it and store in the fridge. It can be used immediately, or allowed to sit overnight to 2 weeks to deepen the flavour.
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