Choosing and using herbs
- Generally, herbs are used to add fragrance and flavor rather than to provide the dominant taste. The light flavors of dill, parsley, and chervil are good with fish and seafood; the more pungent rosemary, oregano, and garlic will flavor braised or baked lamb or roasted pork beautifully.
- Root vegetables respond well to thyme and rosemary, eggplant to Provençal herbs, green peas to chives, tomatoes to basil and parsley. It is important always to balance delicate and hearty flavors, and to use herbs judiciously. The wealth of fresh herbs now available has had the beneficial effect of banishing from many kitchens a lot of small packets of stale dried herbs.
- Some herbs that are sold dried, such as basil and parsley, are never worth having; their aroma is musty at best, and their taste insipid. Such herbs are meant to be eaten fresh.
- The clean, herbaceous notes of fresh parsley, and the complex, sweet scent of anise and clove wafting from a bunch of basil, beguile first the sense of smell and later also the tastebuds. Unlike many herbs, these two are not overwhelming if used in large quantities—as they are in the basil sauce pesto and the parsley salad tabbouleh.
- Robust herbs, such as oregano, thyme, sage, savory, mint, and rosemary, respond well to drying, which preserves and often concentrates their flavor.
- Whether fresh or dried, these herbs should be used sparingly or they will overwhelm other flavors in the food instead of complementing them. Herbs added early in cooking will release their flavors into the dish.
- Dried herbs should always be put in at the beginning, and herbs with tough leaves, such as rosemary, lavender, winter savory, thyme, and bay, will withstand long cooking.
- If you add sprigs of herbs to a dish, remove them before serving. To restore the aroma of herbs used in a slow-cooked dish, stir a few finely chopped leaves into the pan toward the end of the cooking process.
- Strongly flavored herbs, such as mint, tarragon, fennel, marjoram, and lovage, can be added at any stage during cooking. The essential oils of delicate herbs, like basil, chervil, chives, dill, cilantro, perilla, and lemon balm, soon dissipate when heated. To keep them fresh in taste, texture, and color, add them just before a dish is served.
