The smell in Gourmet Alley just got a little more pungent.
The Gilroy Garlic Festival will add a garlic fries station to
the main food concession area.
Gilroy – The smell in Gourmet Alley just got a little more pungent.
The Gilroy Garlic Festival will add a garlic fries station to the main food concession area. The station will replace the booth operated by Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, which did not submit a vendor application for the first time in four years. After expenses, the booth is expected to generate more than $15,000 for local nonprofits. The fries have never before been available in Gourmet Alley.
“Garlic fries in the alley is something that has been considered for many years,” said Peter Ciccarelli, festival director of media relations. “We would consider this the equivalent of taking communion at the Vatican.”
When Gordon Biersch failed to submit a vendor application by March 15, co-chairs of the Gourmet Alley committee, Alan Heinzen and Ken Fry, began developing a recipe for the new dish. They started by researching recipes for garlic fries and soliciting opinions from people who had eaten garlic fries at past festivals or during baseball games at AT&T Park or McAfee Coliseum.
“One of the biggest things they complained about (was) that they were so soggy,” Fry said. He added, laughing, “And of course they don’t use enough garlic.”
Searching for a lighter, more garlicky alternative, Heinzen and Fry found inspiration in a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dip for bread served up by Majid Bahriny, owner of Mama Mia’s. The trio took the dip, minus the vinegar, tossed it in with a batch of freshly made plain fries and found what they were looking for.
“Basically, you have comfort food here,” Heinzen said.
The chefs spent the next two months tweaking the recipe to get it just right. They tried one-quarter-inch-diameter fries, crinkle cut fries and steak fries. They tried frying them for different lengths of times at different temperatures. And they packed as much garlic as possible into the recipe as they could.
“Garlic fries seem like a simple thing to do but when you really get down to it, there’s a lot to it,” Fry said.
The final recipe, which they firmed up in late June, starts with flash frozen, three-quarter-inch, straight-cut fries dropped in 375-degree vegetable oil for four minutes. Then, after the fries have drained for a few minutes, they are thrown in a bowl and tossed with a splash of olive oil, a heaping tablespoon of minced garlic, salt, parmesan cheese, parsley, oregano and a bit of dried red chili pepper for some kick. They are dished out one pound at a time in waxed paper boats, which allow gourmands to sop up the spices using the last few fries.
The dish is served up as a pile of golden brown potatoes, speckled with an Italian flag of red, green and white spices. The initial crunch of the fry is salty and garlicky, but what remains on the tongue is the tingling of the red pepper and raw garlic.
In the end, the fry, like the festival, is meant to be just another vehicle for garlic – characteristic smell and all – Heinzen said.
“We’re trying to get the flavor of garlic to hit you in the face,” he said. “When you leave the festival, you want to know you’ve been there.”
