Mince

There are a lot of kitchen instructions that people who cook a lot just take for granted.  I cook a lot, so I'm often guilty of this.  I recently learned (as I worked with someone else from a recipe card I had written) that not everyone knows that T is tablespoon and t is teaspoon; perhaps I'll cover kitchen abbreviations and conversions someday.  In any case, as you spend more time in kitchens, and experiment more with food and cooking, you will also start to take a lot of things for granted and eventually forget that there was a time when you didn't know them.  I will try to remember that I've also forgotten, and because I'd like this guide to be accessible to everyone, I'll occasionally post tips on how to do those things that any cook should know.  If it sounds too patronizing, understand that is not my goal--it probably just means that you didn't need that particular lesson.  If I get it wrong, let me know.  We're all learning here.

How to mince garlic cloves:
Break a clove of garlic from the bulb.  You can easily do this by holding the bulb in one hand and rolling your thumb against a clove.  If you're starting a new bulb of garlic, you may have to peel off some of the paper first to expose a bulb.

Peel the paper off the individual clove.  There's a knack to it, but once you figure it out, you're set.  It usually helps to work from the bottom of the clove, where the papery skin is thicker.

Use a big, sturdy kitchen knife for this part.  Put the clove on a cutting board, under the side of the blade.  Press down (carefully--after all, knives are made to be sharp, and the palm of your hand is a nasty place to get cut) on the blade using the heel of your palm to crush the garlic clove a little.  You don't have to flatten it--just smoosh it a little.  The picture shows me using a finger, but that's because I only have two hands, and couldn't get a shot of me using my palm while holding the knife and the camera.  Zaphod Beeblebrox might be able to manage, but he's a barely-functional drunk, and not to be trusted with your food.

Slightly smashed.  Unlike Zaphod Beeblebrox.

minced!

Next, chop up your slightly smashed garlic clove into even smaller bits.  I usually go at it from a couple different angles to get all the pieces nice and small, but maybe you want big chunks of garlic.  Who am I to judge?