How to tone down garlic taste?

I didn’t know there was such thing as too much garlic, But I found out today that there is :/
I made pernil overnight in my crockpot. The recipe called for 16 cloves of garlic, mashed up with spices and olive oil. Since 16 sounded like an awful lot of garlic to me, I used only 14.
Well, today I have a fork tender pernil but it positively REEKS of garlic! I was going to invite some friends over, but now I’m afraid they wouldn’t really like it. I’m hoping it might taste better after it cools.

Didn't know that to much garlic was posdiable

You can significantly reduce garlic’s intensity by neutralizing alliinase. The way to do this is with heat. By cooking garlic at temperatures above 140 degrees Fahrenheit, you can deactivate alliinase and mellow out an overpowering garlic flavor.

Mr Royal - You'll find a lot of recommendations in the answers you get for how to reduce the strong garlic flavor the Next time you make this. Let me offer several suggestions for how to "fix" your food This time!
1) Since you have made a batch of chili stew already, the easiest way to reduce the over-powering flavor of garlic is to simply make another batch without ANY garlic, then mix the two together. In effect you are reducing the proportion of garlic in the final product. Yes, you will have a lot more chili stew than you had expected, but you can give some away to your guests or you can freeze the left over chili and pull it out and re-heat it later on to enjoy it.
2) Add a bit of sweetness to your chili by putting in some brown sugar - a little at a time. The sweetness of the sugar and the added cooking can help to reduce the bite of the garlic. Just keep testing so you don't over-sweeten and know that the sweet flavor may become a little more pronounced as it starts to cool - so do not add a lot of sugar.
3) Salt also can help reduce the bite from the garlic, but like both the garlic itself and the brown sugar, salt can quickly overpower a dish. So taste your chili first to see if it could stand a little more saltiness. Don't ruin an already tricky dish by making it so salty no one can eat it - a little may be ok.
4) Add some citric juice to your stew to cut the garlic and to add a little zest. Try lime juice or lemon juice in the chili and you may find it helps (or even orange juice, though it could make your chili a little "soupy"). If you don't have either, you could add small amounts of vinegar (how about some balsamic?) to help cut the garlic flavor.
5) Try adding some various herbs to "absorb" the garlic flavor. It doesn't really absorb it, but it could help cover it by giving your mouth something else to taste. Fresh parsley would be my first choice - and since it doesn't provide a huge change to the chili taste you could add a good amount. For a slightly different & stronger flavor, try cilantro (same family) in the chili. Use the leaves and stems cut into small pieces. Other herbs to consider could be basil, thyme and oregano, but these are stronger so less should be added since you don't want to overpower the garlic chili with any of these.
6) Another suggestion is to keep cooking the chili on low heat. The heat will continue to cook the garlic and may reduce it's impact on the dish (slightly) as it continues to cook. Don't burn your chili though, so keep an eye on it and be sure to mix it often. This won't reduce the garlic flavor a lot but it may reduce the bite you get when you eat it.
7) Ok, now my final thought on this… If the dish is still too strong for your liking and you do not need to eat it right now, put it in the refrigerator or even freeze the whole thing in a large freezer bag. chili can be re-heated to eat later on. Often times, time itself will reduce the over powering of the garlic flavor you have right now. Give the chili 24 -48 hours in the refrigerator, and you may find it has mellowed a good deal and all the flavors have combined into a great tasting dish.
Hope these offer you some suggestions that will work for this dish!

Mr Royal, so glad it worked out without having to undertake major changes.

I would simmer the chili longer, the more you simmer, the mellower the garlic will become as it cooks in.

thank you all .. i just let it simmer longer and next day it was just right

See what fun things people talk about at Thanksgiving? ;-)

My father has a theory: people genetically close to impoverished lines have very strong gag reflexes. Food was not plentiful, and life and successful procreation were tough in every regard. So if you wanted to survive in the tribe, you couldn't afford to eat food that was spoiled and might kill you, your mate or your baby. So your nose/body rejected anything suspicious pretty quickly. And you passed that trait along.

Interesting. I have often read how Asians are repelled by the smell of Westerners who eat meat. Obviously what we eat is partly excreted through our pores but I guess you become immune to the smells most familiar to you. Now, kimchi is one thing I love the idea of, but I gotta say... oh boy, who's got a handkerchief?

After eating all that raw garlic, I understood why raw garlic keeps vampires away. It certainly sent my friends running. The weird thing is that I couldn't smell it on myself, or taste it in my mouth, at all.

Raw garlic taste can be umpleasent to some people...I love garlic but not raw,and maybe that's your problem.Just let it boil until the garlic you added is cooked and it will taste great!

Good question. Mr. Royal, have you had time to let the chili rest and taste again to see if the garlic is still a big issue?

I wonder if the flavors will settle a little after it's chilled and reheated a day after cooking.

Alas, yes, there is such a thing as too much garlic. As you know, Pierino and the many cooks here, it depends on how the garlic is cooked. You can have 40 Clove of Garlic Chicken and it will be more mellow and softer than a tablespoon of pistou.

I once bought a jar of vinaigrette-marinated wild mushrooms from a local farm. They were so delicious, I ate them all in one sitting and then used the reserved vinegar juice to cook a few other things. Within a week, every single one of my friends was complaining, "You stink! Ewww! Whatever it is, stop it!" One must count on one's friends.

Is there such a thing as too much garlic?

I'd add aromatic fresh herbs, specifically, finely chopped cilantro stems and parsley stems (which I'd cook for 5 - 10 minutes at a brisk simmer), and then dump in the chopped leaves before serving. The aroma will help counter the strongly aromatic excess garlic. I might also up some of the ground spices already in the dish, but judiciously. ;o)

If it seems to get too watery after adding more tomatoes or tomato sauce, and you don't have more beans or beef to also add, just try simmering it on low for a while to allow some of the extra liquid to reduce.

The easiest thing to do is dilute it. If you can, make another batch with no garlic, then combine 1/2 garlic batch with 1/2 no-garlic batch. At least you'll have an extra batch to freeze for another time! You could also monkey around with diluting the garlic batch by adding more tomato sauce and/or beef broth or water, beans and ideally beef. Add a little at a time and keep tasting until it seems OK to you. I don't know of any herbs that are great for chili that might also help subdue the garlic taste.