How hot does garlic need to get to lose its sharpness? Inspired by the recent questions here, I made manicotti over the weekend. The recipe I used called for minced garlic in the filling. I love garlic and usually put in at least double recipe-prescribed dosage.

After baking for about half an hour the cheese was completely melted and the filling was set to my satisfaction. The garlic, however, was not sufficiently cooked and, although minced fine, was still caused some bites to be unpleasantly sharp. I wish that I had roasted the garlic in advance.

The question is twofold:


How hot does garlic need to get to be
cooked? That is, sweet and not sharp.
Is there a better way besides
pre-roasting to ensure that garlic in
such a dish does not distract?
My favourite way to remove the sting (which I love, but doesn't always work) is to poach in milk. Generally I do this when making macaroni &amp; cheese; I poach the garlic in the milk which I then use for making the Mornay.

Poaching in water also works, mincing and then sauteeing... anything that cooks it all the way through. Bear in mind that how you cut your garlic will have an effect; smaller cuts (mincing, crushing) break more cell walls, releasing more of the sulfur compounds that provide the flavour.