4 Best Herbs You Haven't Tried - Page 2

Quote:
Growing up in a Vietnamese kitchen we use many herbs, but in a totally different category.  I have recently branched out and tried cooking some basic American favorite type dishes and recently tried parsley, thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, and bay leaf.

Kaffir lime leaves are usually associated with chicken in Vietnamese cooking.  My little brother in high school did it for a final and got praise from his teacher.  It's kind of similar to ceviche, but with shredded boiled chicken, lime juice, onion, Vietnamese coriander, kaffier lime leaves, salt and pepper.

Tarragon    -   Now it is very strange but regarding Tarragon, love it dried not fresh as to me it tastes of licquorice - takes on a completely diferent flavour dried, simply gorgeous !!

Sage sort of OK  good on roasted potatoes and onions.

Marjoram used to use it cannot now remember the taste.

Dill   I am not fond of at all.

Kaffir Lime is lovely if I dont have any I use dried lime peel.  (use it in Thai green curry)

For dinner tonight I did some poached red snapper in a sour cream sauce.  The two major spices used were dill and marjoram, along with a slight bit of salt.  Turned out pretty well.  Could have used some black pepper, but there was a goodly amount of that on the french fries which accompanied the dish.

mjb.

Teamfat: Fresh herbs or dried?

Speaking of mint, I'm a fan of spearmint in some things, but not peppermint. My favorite use is a spearmint pesto sauce to go with lamb.

Kaffir lime leaves, I've never cooked with, but I had some type of Thai curry with them in it and the flavor was yummmmm.

I'll have to try using fresh dill.

Koukouvagia - there are 2 kinds of savory, summer is an annual and winter is a perrenial. They taste similar, but winter has more stamina and can last a long time on the heat. I had both last summer in the garden. 

 

I've been trying to find Mexican oregano for years and haven't been able to. The best I did was to find it dried in a Mexican grocery, and it was pallid. It's a desert shrub that is supposed to taste kind of like oregano, and from what I've heard and read, is a traditional salsa  ingredient. I've been making do with the regular stuff. Anyone ever seen it?

 

I love dill in a bean salad with feta and lemon. I love fried sage leaves on gnocchi in brown butter. KYHeirloomer, I love tarragon in bernaise, but it is also great with a fish pan sauce. And Marjoram, as has been noted, is boring oregano.

 

-Matt

I think one of the big mistakes people make who didn't grow up with herbs is that they put too much and too many in everything.  If i eat "Italian" anything abroad, it's often so full of herbs they cover the taste of the food itself.  I like herbs used very judiciously.  subtle, so you hardly know what it is.  If you use lots of garlic, you can use lots of oregano - (by the way, in italian it's pronounced "oreegano" and spelled origano - that must have been Julia Child's version)

 

Sage - i grew up with it - it was used on roast beef, chicken and liver when i was a kid.  If you want a special treat, try sauteeing liver with garlic, sage and plenty of black pepper in olive oil.  I stopped using it on chicken because i find it overpowering for the mildness of chicken.  But with stronger foods it holds its own and sometimes i get a thin slice of beef and cook it like liver, with sage and garlic and pepper, liver style.  yum.  I discovered it also in sage butters and other seasonings that give a surprising touch to dishes. 

 

Marjoram - I guess i'm one of the few who love it - precisely because it's subtle.  I like subtle.  It goes very well in broth - you don't want your broth to taste of thyme, but the slight hint of thyme is nice,.  I can use marjoram more easily without overpowering it.

 

Dill - i love dill but they don't sell it here anywhere fresh, and i've tried to grow it year after year and only just a couple of years ago did i get a plant that would last more than two weeks. 

 

Tarragon - never liked it.  I don't use it.  I guess it;s the liquoriceness of it that i don't like.  I don;t have a revulsion to it like i do to cilantro, but i prefer not to find it in my food.  Strange how tastes are. 

 

 

I use these quite a lot, apart from Marjoram, in fact I dont think I have ever been served butter etc with it in it, but now you mention it it could be a good one to try! I like Dill with fish and it is good in a potato salad. I dont use Sage too much - what does everyone have it with? I have a bit of a coking with basil addiction, I rarely find a dish it doesnt go great with, chive also is great for dishes with eggs and creams

I got Marjoram in my garden and it grows well here. I tried Oregano, but for some reason or another it doesn't want to perform. So Marjoram it is for me!

I quite often put some on a toasted cheese, onion, tomato sandwich.

 

Tarragon: Don't really like it, same for Sage. There is just something in the taste I don't like.

 

I like Dill, but it is difficult to grow here and next to impossible to get fresh.

 

I use a lot of Basil and Coriander (sorry Cilantro) in my cooking. The different types of Basil can handle the climate although purple basil loses it's colour easily. Coriander is a different matter, certain times of the year, it just bolts. In Thailand I ran into a herb that tastes just like Coriander, but grows totally different so now I'm trying to grow it (Saw tooth herb, aka Mexican Coriander (Eryngium Foetidum))

 

I got lots of Mint as well. It grows easy. It even survived being under water for 3 months last year!

I use it mainly for Asian food, combined with Basil, Coriander and chives.

 

I'm looking for a Kaffir lime. Those leaves just add an amazing flavour to dishes!

We got a type of lime here that looks like it although the fruit is a bit bigger and the leaves more elongated. I tried using the leaves, but it's not the same (not nearly as intense). So I'll have to keep on looking.

 

Besides the above I grow lemongrass and a bit of bird's eye chili's and scotch bonnet.

No vegetables as they will be eaten by the wildlife around here