(Excerpted
from Herbs Every Day, by Mona Lundstrom, available in the
Giftshop - Herb Book)
Cooking
with herbs is not a mystifying art. If you cook, you already are using
herbs in many of your recipes. The same principles that apply to using
parsley, onion, and poultry seasoning apply to many other herbs as well.
To go beyond the basic, all that is needed is the herb, and an adventurous
spirit.
Most
herbs, not only delight the taste buds, but also aid the digestive process.
They also aid the cook, which is what this section is about. Cooking with
herbs allows you to create endless variations of the same foods. A sprinkle
of this or that can turn the simplest of foods into gourmet cuisine. At
the end of this section is a description of easily obtainable herbs and
food with which they go, some herbal blends, and a few basic recipes and
tips that can be easily incorporated into your current cooking repertoire.
Here
are some guidelines for expanding your herbal horizons:
- Keep
in mind that seasoning and flavoring with herbs is a matter of personal
taste. There is no right or wrong. If it tastes good to you, it is right.
- Use
herbs sparingly when you begin. A little goes a long way. As you gain
experience, you may wish to add more, particularly of the potherbs. Potherbs
are those that may also be cooked and served as a vegetable such as borage,
chervil, lovage, and chicory.
- Be
selective, use taste and smell to guide you in choosing harmonious flavors.
- When
using an herb for the first time, use it alone. Chicken is a good food
for herb testing because of its versatility. Poach the chicken, using
a poaching liquid of white wine or chicken broth with a little of the
herb added.
- When
identifying the herbs, mentally classify them into groups, much like a
mixed bouquet. Some provide background, some are filler, some work best
when in combination with others, some are the star, and some prefer to
work alone.
- Keep
these adjectives in mind when identifying herbs: aromatic, sweet, pungent,
bitter delicate, cooling, warming.
- One
or two dominant-herb dishes or sauces is enough if the balance of dishes
supplies background r companion flavors. Too great a variety will overwhelm
your palate.
Remember that not everyone like the same herbs. There are cultural as
well as personal favorites.
- Use
approximately /2 teaspoon of dried herbs as the equivalent of one tablespoon
of fresh herbs. This will depend on the age of the dried herbs. As the
essential oils in dried herbs slowly dissipate, the flavor diminishes.
- Crushing
the herbs either with your fingers or with a mortar and pestle will release
more of the herb's flavor.
- Some
herbs can withstand long cooking while others either lose their flavor
or become bitter with cooking. These are best added at the last minute.
- Dried
herbs work better if they are allows to "sit a spell" in either
the cooking stock or other liquid before being added to the dish. Wine
or cooking oil works great for freshening dried herbs.
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