Culinary Arts

These LA Restaurants Are Serving Dine-In and Takeout Thanksgiving Dinners

ajohnson — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 21:40:31 +0000

These LA Restaurants Are Serving Dine-In and Takeout Thanksgiving Dinners ajohnson Tue, 11/19/2024 - 16:40 No dishes, no hosting, and no headaches – just your favorite Thanksgiving dinner flavors! November 19, 2024

By Olivia Jebrine

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. (How can it be?) If you’re not as prepared as you’d hoped — and if the thought of cooking an entire turkey makes your head spin — you’ve come to the right place.

Below is a list of select Southern California restaurants serving Thanksgiving dinner this year. We’ve also included a few spots that are offering pre-fixe catering options, in case you’d like to enjoy your meal at home in your stretchy pants. (Because let’s be real, that’s what the holidays are all about.)

From California farm-to-table menus to classic steakhouse cuisine — and everything in between — there’s something for every palate and preference. So treat yourself this holiday season to the luxury of dining out on Thanksgiving.

West LA Restaurants Serving Thanksgiving Dinner

The Little Door (dine-in)
8164 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048

On bustling West 3rd street, this romantic French-Mediterranean hideaway will transport you to Europe. The Little Door is serving a multi-course Thanksgiving menu for $95 per person. Keeping Thanksgiving classics at the core, it includes a red kuri squash soup, chermoula steak tartare, turkey roulade, roasted cauliflower steak and desserts like pumpkin pie and apple pie à la mode with tarragon ice cream. An extensive wine list and wonderful atmosphere are additional attributes. You can search for and make reservations via The Little Door's website.

Fig (dine-in + takeout)
101 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401

This all-day cafe in Santa Monica’s Fairmont Hotel is known for its coastal California ambiance and refined modern American cuisine. This Thanksgiving, Fig is offering two pre-fixe menus: a traditional meal and a vegan option, both for $90 per person.

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Highlights include a duck confit with poached persimmon, leek and potato soup with truffle, and of course, roasted turkey with apple and sage stuffing. To secure your spot this Thanksgiving, make a reservation via Resy. Details on Fig’s catered offering (8 guests for $475) are here.

Pasjoli (takeout)
2732 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405

This critically-acclaimed French contemporary staple is offering catered “Thanksgiving at Home” dinners this season. Pre-orders are available through this order form for multi-course, ready-to-heat Thanksgiving feasts that include dishes like roasted turkey, black truffle gravy and pumpkin burnt Basque cheesecake. Pickup & delivery will be available Wednesday, 11/27.

East LA Restaurants Serving Thanksgiving Dinner

The Arbour (dine-in)
527 S. Lake Ave #120, Pasadena, CA 91101

We all know Thanksgiving’s quintessential ingredients: fresh sage, apples and fennel come to mind. The Arbour, a farm-to-table restaurant focused on seasonal produce is, thus, a natural fit for our “Thanksgiving dinner from a restaurant” list.

Its three-course tasting menu includes dishes like oysters, butternut squash soup, cambozola blue cheese and fig toast, butter poached turkey, pot roast, mushroom and truffle risotto and various pies and tarts for dessert. The pre-fixe dinner costs $112 per person. Reservations can be made via OpenTable.

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Sendero (dine-in)
900 West Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015

Sendero, a “collection of independent dining experiences” in the Ritz Carlton Downtown, has two unique menu options this Thanksgiving. Both are worth checking out (as are Sendero’s spectacular LA skyline views).

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For an upscale experience, Leña is serving a four-course menu with multiple variations of turkey, côte de boeuf bone-in ribeye and more for $155 per person. On the more casual and experimental side, Corteza is serving a three-course menu whose savory highlights include cheddar biscuits, garlic whipped potatoes, cornbread chorizo stuffing and more for $105 per person. Make reservations for both locations on Resy.

The Tam O’Shanter (dine in + takeout)
2980 Los Feliz Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90039

From November 25th to 28th, this Scottish steakhouse, whose Los Feliz roots date back to 1922, will serve a special menu in-house and a catered Thanksgiving dinner to go.

The dine-in menu features classics like turkey gravy, veggies, mashed potatoes and stuffing for a shockingly priced $36 per person. (As a bonus, you can add a slice of prime rib for $16 per person.) The catered option, whose order form is here, is a turkey feast that includes mashed potatoes, creamed spinach and more. Additional customization is available in an a-la-carte takeout dinner.

Little Doms (takeout)
2128 Hillhurst Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

If you’re looking for help in the kitchen, this historic Los Feliz staple is accepting orders for catered meals that serve 6 to 8 people. More information and the order form are here.

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Orange County Restaurants Serving Thanksgiving Dinner

Water Grill (dine-in)
3300 Bristol St, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

The Water Grill is a timeless seafood restaurant in Orange County that — lucky for you — is serving a three-course Thanksgiving dinner this year. While their regular menu is seafood-centric, their Thanksgiving recipes include sourdough apple-celery stuffing, Yukon Gold mashed potatoes and roasted turkey straight from the Diestel Family Ranch. Reservations can be made here.

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The Winery Newport Beach (dine-in)
3131 West Coast Hwy, Newport Beach, CA 92663

What could be better than dinner with a gorgeous waterfront view? A traditional Thanksgiving pre-fixe menu with a waterfront view! That’s what The Winery is serving this year for $95+ per person (with a $30 version for the little ones).

It’s worth noting, however, that traditional isn’t quite the right word. Though the flavors are familiar, they’ll be rendered in The Winery’s unique way: a maple glazed bird will be served alongside restaurant favorites like pumpkin-ricotta ravioli and an orange-honey glazed pork chop.

To make a reservation, go to OpenTable.

Thanksgiving Holidays Los Angeles

Thanksgiving

Submitted by Amy Rutledge on November 20, 2024 8:44am

So helpful! So many options - why cook?

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Culinary Arts Swirl Orange On

Orange, Black, and Brainy: 3 Best Cheeses for a Haunting Halloween Charcuterie

ajohnson — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 00:05:34 +0000

Orange, Black, and Brainy: 3 Best Cheeses for a Haunting Halloween Charcuterie ajohnson Tue, 10/29/2024 - 20:05 These spooky-looking cheeses are perfect for a Halloween-themed spread. October 29, 2024

By Pamela Vachon

When you think about it, cheese has a lot of spooky sensibilities going for it.

“Cheese is milk’s leap toward immortality” — a quote from American poet John Updike — more eloquently expresses an idea that, at its essence, cheese is just milk in a suspended state of slow decay. Microorganisms are harnessed by cheesemakers, and mold is effectively farmed in caves to turn milk from something with only brief staying power into something preserved for a longer lifespan. Vampires, zombies, mummies, cheese: all things that represent the possibility of life after death.

Just ahead of the official holiday entertaining season, the end of October is teeming with hosting potential, and cheese is a perfect, naturally thematic element for any spooky celebrations. While a case can be made for just about any cheese to attend your costume party, certain cheeses are just more ripe for the occasion.

The orange, the black, and the brainy: here are the best cheeses to consider for your Halloween cheese board.

Annatto-Tinted Cheeses: Orange

While many of us are introduced to cheese in the form of bright orange cheddars or American singles, orange-hued cheeses do not represent the vast majority of artisanal cheeses. There is precedent for cheeses that are this color, however, that goes beyond American industrial production. Using annatto seed, a carotenoid that comes from the Central American achiote tree, cheesemakers in certain regions have been dying their cheeses orange for centuries.

Red Rock Cheese, a traditionally-orange colored cheddar.

There are numerous reasons why cheesemakers began using annatto to alter cheese's natural color. One theory is that cheesemakers began adding annatto to batches of milk that were collected in the winter, to approximate the beta carotene that would be naturally present in cheese made during the summer months when herds graze on fresh grasses. Another theory is that unscrupulous cheesemakers may have been skimming some of the butterfat from their batches of milk to use in other products. In order to make the resulting skimmed-milk cheeses look richer, annatto was added. It’s also possible that in places where numerous makers were creating the same style of cheese — the village of Cheddar in England, for example — wheels were dyed just as a point of differentiation.

Related: Culinary Uses of Firm Cheeses

Annatto seed is natural, but relatively flavorless, and is considered a valid ingredient in cheese. Similar to turmeric or saffron in character, a little bit imparts a tremendous amount of color. You don’t need to turn to industrially-produced blocks for your Halloween-themed cheese board, as many artisanal or traditional cheese makers still use annatto in the making of cheeses in a variety of styles.

Cheeses to try:

Mimolette
Shropshire Blue
Roelli Cheese Haus Red Rock
Sparkenhoe Mature Red Leicester
Cosanella
Brebirousse d’Argental

Ash-Ripened Cheeses: Black

Long before activated charcoal cocktails and squid ink linguini became popular, cheesemakers were employing ash in the making of various cheeses, resulting in wheels with a distinctly goth, haunted appearance. While black mold is a sign of something gone wrong in cheese, a halo of black vegetable ash indicates other characteristics.

Most commonly found in French or French-inspired goat’s milk cheeses, the primary function of vegetable ash in cheesemaking is to raise the pH on the surface of the cheese to allow beneficial microbes to grow. Ash can also lower the moisture content on the surface of the cheese, to inhibit the growth of undesirable organisms.

Selles-Sur-Cher, a French goat's milk cheese.

Cheeses such as Morbier or Humboldt Fog that have a black ash stripe in the center of the cheese represent historical styles. Many cheeses are made with numerous batches of milk, collected both in the morning and in the evening. Curds that were made in the morning were sprinkled with ash as a preservative and insect repellent to await the addition of the evening milking, hence the center stripe.

Cheeses to try:

Sottocenere
Firefly Farms Mountain Top
Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog
Selles-Sur-Cher
Valencay
Sainte-Maure
Morbier

Geo-Rind Cheese: Brainy

The world of bloomy rind or soft-ripened cheeses is varied, with a number of different microbial cultures applied that can create delicate, toothsome rinds that contribute both flavor and texture to cheeses. While traditional bloomy wheels such as brie and camembert can effectively be carved into Halloween-friendly shapes, other soft cheeses can take on brain-like appearances.

Vermont Creamery's coupoule cheese, an aged soft goat's milk cheese.

Cheeses with soft, mottled exteriors that resemble brain matter have a strain in common: geotrichum candidum. Geo-rind for short, this culture is actually a yeast-like fungus that develops on the surfaces of cheeses, reducing bitterness, promoting earthy aromas, and developing into brainy folds that make it another ideal candidate for a Halloween cheese platter.

Pro tip: brush any of the following geo-rind cheeses with a red fruit preserve for a distinctly bloody effect.

Cheeses to try:

Perrystead Dairy Intergalactic
Chabichou
Blakesville Creamery Shabby Shoe
Vermont Creamery Coupole
La Tur
Langres

Expand Your Cheesy Horizons: Understanding Fresh Cheeses and Their Culinary Uses

Ingredient Exploration Cheese & Dairy Halloween

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Culinary Arts

ICE’s 2024 Student Cooking Competition

csale — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 21:07:07 +0000

ICE’s 2024 Student Cooking Competition csale Wed, 10/02/2024 - 17:07 October 4, 2024

By Cory Sale

Cory Sale is the Senior Public Relations Manager at ICE and an alumna (Culinary Arts '22). She enjoys writing about seasonal produce almost as much as visiting NYC’s greenmarkets, where she finds new flavors to add to ice cream. When she’s not cooking (or eating), you can find her on the frisbee field chasing down a piece of plastic.

Many Ģ��Ƶ students are familiar with "Chopped," "Hell's Kitchen," "Top Chef," and the myriad other cooking competition shows on TV. But, this year at ICE, students themselves got to compete in order to win some huge prizes.

On September 25, ICE hosted its first Student Culinary Competition in over five years at the New York City campus. There, three students competed in a live cook-off event in front of a panel of esteemed judges and fellow students.

This year's event was created and run by Chef Barry Tonkinson, Vice President of Culinary Operations at ICE. Chef Barry says cooking competitions such as this one can help students practice and prepare for their professional careers.

“Getting used to the pressure of the competition emulates the restaurant world. Competitions were the first time I experienced that pressure,” he says.

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Competitions also reinforce the importance of time management, organization, and quick decision-making – all skills that can help staff succeed when working in a fast-paced kitchen. The time crunch of a competition mimics the rush before and during service. Students needed to stay calm and composed while cooking efficiently — skills that may come in handy in many kitchen environments.

In order to be considered for the competition, students at ICE's New York campus were invited to submit:

An original recipe
A detailed description of the recipe
The recipe's prep and plating methods
A photo of the final dish

The submissions were evaluated by a group of ICE judges. The recipes could not be an imitation of another recipe, contain ingredients derived from endangered animals, nor exceed an ingredient budget of $175.

Out of 35 submissions, three finalists cleared the first round and were selected to compete in the live cook-off.

Meet the Finalists

Natthawat “Peter” Kasamvila was one student chosen to move on to the final competition for his dish of Poached Lobster, Tom Yum Sauce, Coconut Foam, and Carrots.

Though he is a Pastry & Baking Arts student, Peter chose to make this savory dish as a take on Tom Yum Goong, a hot and sour Thai soup. He says he was inspired by his grandmother’s cooking.

“The spicy and sour taste of the soup paired with the lemongrass, galangal, and fresh prawn would always remind me of her cooking. I wanted to make a refined, modern, and new dish that was also traditional and elegant,” he says.

Finalist Angelo Quan's dish was also rooted in his family’s cooking. Centering on Vietnamese and Thai flavors, he made Poached and Fried Quail with Chili Lime Glaze, Vietnamese Salad, and Rice Paper.

Angelo elevated the dish for the competition in two ways: toasting the spices and using quail instead of chicken, which is the more traditional protein. The chili lime glaze was something he learned while trailing at Wayan, a Cedric Vongerichten restaurant with a French-accented Indonesian menu.

Alumni Highlight: Luisa Caicedo, the Executive Chef at Wayan, is an ICE graduate (Culinary, '10). Take a look behind the scenes at Wayan with Chef Luisa here.

The third competitor was Connor McPeak. Her dish, Sake Poached Seabass with Sweet and Sour Butternut Squash and Citrus Cream, was partially inspired by Maltaise sauce, which is a hollandaise sauce with added blood orange juice and zest.

“The flavors of this dish are delicate with strokes of tang and spice,” she says. “For the protein, Chilean sea bass is easily accessible year-round, and yields a mild, sweet and buttery flavor.”

Competitors: Angelo Quan, Connor McPeak, and Natthawat “Peter” Kasamvila

Competition Day

As the students got to work, Chef Barry asked each contestant questions about the vision for their dish, the ingredients, and the culinary techniques used. This added another layer to the challenge – articulating answers while concentrating on cooking.

The students had exactly two hours to produce five entrée-portioned plates, after which they presented their dishes to the judging panel.

The esteemed judges were Helen Nguyen, Executive Chef and Owner of Saigon Social (also an ICE alumna), Shari Bayer, author and founder of Bayer Public Relations, and Ottavio Gnazzo, Chef de Cuisine at Rezdôra, a Michelin-starred, rustic Italian restaurant highlighting the cuisine of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.

The criteria used to evaluate each contestant focused on the student’s original vision for the dish, creativity, and technical execution. They also judged each dish's plating style and overall flavor.

As each competitor entered the final minutes of the cook-off, Chef Barry stressed the importance of the presentation.

“The last five to ten minutes of your time need to be focused on the plate,” he said.

The Winner

Though all three competitors fiercely designed, prepped, cooked and plated beautiful dishes, Peter Kasamvila's lobster came out on top.

“The winning dish had a wonderful balance of flavor and texture, with all components working in harmony,” Chef Barry says. “Peter displayed excellent technical ability whilst cooking, using all parts of his lobster to create a sauce. He elevated the humble carrot in multiple applications to provide contrast to the lobster. This was a well thought out and executed dish."

The winning dish: Poached Lobster, Tom Yum Sauce, Coconut Foam, Carrots.

As the winner, Peter won $1,000 towards a dining experience at Le Bernardin, Chef Eric Ripert and Maguy Le Coze’s three-Michelin-starred seafood tasting menu restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. He also won the opportunity to stage in the Le Bernardin kitchen with Chef Eric Ripert's team, including ICE graduate Orlando Soto.

“I was a little nervous on the day of the competition and a little anxious right before the competition started,” Peter says. "But I managed my time well and executed all the components exactly how I wanted.”

Connor finished in second place and received a $500 certificate to Rezdôra, as well a stage with Chef Stefano Secchi's team in the restaurant's kitchen. Angelo placed third and won a Japanese chef's knife.

"The stress, the heat and seeing my friends in the crowd helped me to remember why I wanted to become a chef in the first place,” Connor says.

For Peter, the first place spot is a reflection of the tireless work he put into his dish.

“I practiced four times in my home kitchen to get the timing and recipe just right,” he says. “I learned that during the competition, the most important thing is timing. You need to break down all the components of the dish into minutes and execute each component one by one. I had to also be very organized on my station in order to have a clean space for plating."

Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the culinary competition!

Students Culinary Arts

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Culinary Arts

Why Do Flavors Pair Well?

ajohnson — Sat, 31 Aug 2024 07:41:06 +0000

Why Do Flavors Pair Well? ajohnson Sat, 08/31/2024 - 03:41 September 9, 2024

By Pamela Vachon

When different flavors come together harmoniously in a dish as a perfect pairing, it can be a thrilling culinary sensation, but one that may be difficult to describe.

Peanut butter and grape jelly, for example, is a very familiar and comforting flavor combination to Americans, but how does the magic actually happen between a roasted, savory legume and a sweet, fruity compote? Kidney beans, another legume, and watermelon, for example, hardly come together in quite the same way.

As a more complex case, I recall my first experience with a Thai food recipe. Before takeout pad thai noodles became ubiquitous in America, I couldn’t fathom how ingredients such as peanut butter, mint, lime, and bell peppers could possibly get on the same page — but they absolutely did.

ICE Los Angeles Senior Chef-Instructor Stephen Chavez shares one of his favorite, unexpected flavor pairings: “One of my favorites has always been shellfish and vanilla,” he says. “It does seem kind of weird, but they really complement each other, and the vanilla almost makes the shellfish taste smoother and creamier.”

The art and science behind why flavors pair well is complex and fascinating, with roots in biology, culture, tradition, and chemistry.

Balance in Flavor Pairing

Taste and flavor aren’t necessarily the same thing, but are both important to consider when it comes to flavor pairing. The taste buds on your tongue can detect about six sensations: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami, and spicy. Everything else is a result of olfactory sensations that come from aromas. While those aromas are critical to understanding certain flavor pairings, you can begin with taste to understand why some things work well together.

“Things taste better when there’s balance,” Chef Stephen says, “and certain tastes tend to complement each other."

Some examples of those complimentary tastes are spicy and sweet, sweet and sour, and spicy and bitter.

Cocktails are an excellent example for understanding this type of balance in flavor combinations. While sweet and sour elements have been the hallmarks of well-crafted cocktails historically, “now every cocktail has bitters, and almost every cocktail has a few drops of saline in it,” Chef Stephen says, offering a broader sense of balance and a more intriguing taste sensation.

When it comes to developing a new dish, consulting a recipe, or even deciding what to order in a restaurant, chefs can use the balance principle to consider what functions each individual component might serve. This allows for a whole, finished dish that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Cultural Connotations of Pairing Flavors

Food combinations also taste good to us when we are exposed to them repeatedly, and our taste buds become accustomed to having them together, as with peanut butter and jelly, for example. There’s an adage about flavor pairing: “what grows together, goes together” which also brings in an element of terroir, or sense of place, to the pairing conversation.

Many classic dishes from around the world, which predate industrial food cultivation or even refrigeration, demonstrate how components that share an agricultural pedigree often come together harmoniously. A Thai curry demonstrates this, but so does a French cassoulet. People in those cultures have different experiences of certain flavor pairings, given repeated exposure and a sense of familiarity.

There are also certain cultural cuisines that especially highlight the idea of balance. In these cuisines, different elements interact to create well-paired flavors. In this way, certain flavors can become well-known allies because they are frequently used together.

Before I was a full time culinary student, one of the first classes I took at ICE was Fundamentals of Thai Cooking, which was my introduction to this idea.

“Southeast Asian food is a perfect balance of spicy, sweet, sour, and salty,” Chef Stephen says.

No matter whether you’re talking about a noodle dish, a curry, or a soup, you’ll notice a spectrum of ingredients in Thai cuisine that each brings a different element of balance to the table. Palm sugar or tamarind paste are typical components used for sweetness, kafir lime provides a sour element, various chilies are incorporated for spice, and fish sauce contains both umami and salty sensations. While one or two of these elements may come forward more prominently in a given dish, all these sensations are typically accounted for.

Scientific Properties of Flavor Pairing

While a lot of favorable flavor pairings can be attributed to trial and error, balance, or repeated exposure, as described above, certain ingredients actually pair well together because they are scientifically prone to do so. There are numerous, distinct categories when it comes to various aromas that are built upon chemistry. Chemical compounds that are released into the air that trigger the olfactory system include those such as esters, terpenes, pyrazines, aldehydes, etc. Components that share multiple similar aroma compounds can also make for favorable pairings.

For example, “there are actually a lot of things that are hidden within chocolate and coffee that we don't necessarily know are there,” Chef Stephen says, “but they are there.”

This explains why they work so well together, beyond the fact that they are both prone to bitterness, and may come from the same region. They also share pyrazines, a compound that gives them both similar, earthy tasting notes.

While chocolate and coffee are familiar pairing partners, consider that chocolate and blue cheese also share these same compounds, and also make for a favorable pairing.

Flavor Pairing Resources

You don’t need to have a degree in chemistry, however, to experiment with different pairings, nor do aspiring chefs and recipe developers have to rely entirely on trial and error. Compiled by both chefs and food scientists, there are a number of resources that cooks can use to stoke inspiration when creating a new dish, whether they are new to recipe development or have already had a career as a professional chef.

“I have a copy of Culinary Artistry that I've had for beyond 20 years,” Chef Stephen says. “It's wrapped in plastic wrap, and the pages are coming out, but it's my favorite resource."

Authored by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, the text examines the creative process of culinary composition through interviews with leading American chefs, and includes top 10 lists of ingredients chefs can’t live without.

Another resource by the same duo, “The Flavor Bible,” works as a simple reference manual. Looking up any ingredient, the book provides a list of the most common pairing elements for that ingredient, as named by chefs. “The Flavor Thesaurus” by Niki Segnit is built on a similar principle, breaking down ingredients into four aromatic themes: meaty, cheesy, woodland, and floral/fruity. These themes help delineate what kinds of foods might pair well together.

Ingredient Exploration

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Culinary Arts

Understanding Herbs: A Culinary Deep Dive

ajohnson — Sat, 17 Aug 2024 01:30:11 +0000

Understanding Herbs: A Culinary Deep Dive ajohnson Fri, 08/16/2024 - 21:30 August 16, 2024

By Pamela Vachon

Herbs are one of the most versatile ingredients that chefs and culinary students can use, providing big doses of flavor in small packages.

Students at the Ģ��Ƶ have access to a hydroponic garden, where many varieties of herbs may be snipped directly for maximum freshness.

“Herbs belong everywhere,” Chef-Instructor Ann Ziata says. “Yogurt sauces, salad dressings, and pestos add a fantastic freshness to so many dishes thanks to their generous usage of herbs. Anything that gets roasted in the oven will gain a lovely, savory aroma with the addition of a few sage leaves and rosemary sprigs.” Even baked goods such as certain breads or scones can also benefit from the intense flavor of herbs.

Related: The Hydroponic Garden

Not all herbs are created equal, however, and have a variety of different uses depending on their biological structure and flavor profile.

Here, we dive deeper into what qualifies as an herb, how different herbs are used in culinary preparations, and take a closer look at some of the most popular herbs used in cooking.

What Are Herbs?

The difference between that which we call herbs and that which we call spices can be nuanced, especially because variations can come from different parts of the same plant. Cilantro, for example, is understood in this country to be the leaf part of a certain plant, whereas ground coriander comes from the seed part of the same plant. In different parts of the world, however, coriander may refer to both the leaves and seeds.

"An herb is any leaf of a plant that is used primarily for its pronounced flavor,” Chef Ann says.

Herbs get their flavors from a high concentration of volatile aromatic compounds in the form of essential oils, which differentiates them from other edible leaves such as lettuces.

Types of Herbs and Their Culinary Uses

While the herb category is mainly comprised of leaves whose aromas and flavors are especially powerful, herbs can further be broken down into two major categories, which also governs their culinary uses.

“We generally sort herbs into two categories: soft and woody,” says Chef Ann. “Soft herbs have delicate stems that can be eaten, and woody herbs have tougher stems that are typically not eaten. As with most culinary ingredients, it’s more of a spectrum than a black and white system.”

Consider the difference between soft herbs like dill and basil, where the entire plant can be chopped and easily consumed, and rosemary, whose leaves are separated from the stems, as the woody stems aren’t meant for consumption.

Traditional Flavor Profiles: French Herbs and Spices

Whether or not the stem can be consumed plays into how different herbs can function in recipes and culinary preparations.

How to Cook with Woody Herbs

“Woody herbs can be picked, stems discarded, and then chopped finely,” says Chef Ann, “or they can be used whole in the dish and removed later. Because they are fibrous and strong, they are added early on in the cooking process to give the herb time to soften and release its flavor.”

Herbs such as rosemary and thyme, for example, are often bound into a sachet, which may be used in braises or sautés to aromatize a dish while it cooks. The sachet is then removed prior to serving. Even if they are removed and chopped, the leaves of woody herbs also tend to be sturdier than their soft herb counterparts, and are appropriate to add early in the cooking process, or to use in high heat cooking.

How to Cook with Soft Herbs

As their name implies, soft herbs are more delicate in character, and aren’t necessarily suited for the same treatment as woody herbs.

“Herbs, like basil, cilantro, and dill are lightly chopped and then added toward the end of cooking,” Chef Ann says. “Over-mincing and overcooking will cause them to bruise, turning them a drab green and causing them to taste more bitter. Fresh sprigs can also be kept whole for infusing into light broths and pickling brines."

Soft herbs are typically more suitable for raw preparations than woody herbs, such as in pestos, dressings, or even added as additional greens in salads. They are also often used as garnishes.

Fresh Herbs Versus Dried Herbs

The aromatic leaves of those plants which we refer to as herbs may also be dried, minced, and stored for later usage. (Good news for those of us who don’t have access to an herb garden, or notice a lack of fresh grocery store herbs during the winter months.)

Dried herbs are also used differently than their fresh counterparts, regardless of whether you’re using soft herbs or woody herbs.

“Dried herbs are more concentrated, so you can usually substitute one teaspoon of dried herbs for every tablespoon of fresh chopped herbs. The flavor of dried herbs is pretty dormant and needs time and heat to bloom again,” Chef Ann says.

According to Chef Ann, oil or cooking fat will also help intensify the flavor of dried herbs.

“You can add them early on in the cooking process, usually right after sweating the other, larger aromatic ingredients like onions and garlic,” she says.

Because of their naturally sturdy leaves, woody herbs will tend to have more pronounced flavor in their dried form than soft herbs.

You can usually substitute one teaspoon of dried herbs for every tablespoon of fresh chopped herbs.

Common Herbs for Cooking

There are dozens of different types of herbs, many of which have very specific uses or are most commonly found in certain cultural cuisines. Here are some of the most common types of herbs used in cooking.

Basil

Fresh basil

Basil is a soft herb that belongs to the mint family. Several varieties of basil are used in cooking such as sweet basil, Thai basil, and opal basil. Typically used in Italian and Southeast Asian cuisine, basil has a pungent, slightly spicy character that is reminiscent of fennel or licorice.

Bay Leaf

Bay leaves come from many varieties of laurel trees, and are unique herbs. Unlike most herbs, bay leaves themselves aren’t meant for consumption. Bay leaves are savory and floral, and are typically added whole, whether fresh or dried, to sauces or braises and removed before serving.

Chervil

Chervil is one of the most important herbs in French cuisine, as one part of an herb blend known as “fine herbs” which consists of parsley, chervil, chives, and tarragon, used to season everything. These "fine herbs" are often found seasoning omelets, potatoes, vegetables, poultry and seafood. A relative of parsley, chervil has delicate, lacy leaves. Less pungent than other soft herbs, chervil’s flavor has been likened to licorice or anise.

Two springs of fresh rosemary

Rosemary

Rosemary is actually an evergreen shrub with woody stems. Rosemary's leaves are some of the most bold and aromatic in the field of herbs. Native to the Mediterranean, it has wide culinary uses, and its complex, woodsy and earthy flavor is often used for various meats, potatoes, and stuffings.

Cilantro

Strong in flavor, with an almost tangy or citrus aroma, cilantro is a soft herb that is used in many cuisines such as Mexican, Indian, and Southeast Asian. Cilantro, it must be said, is also one of the most polarizing herbs: people with a specific genetic code will often find its flavor to be soapy and off-putting.

Dill

Dill is a soft herb whose flavor is very dynamic when fresh, but much more subtle when dried, and has been described as grassy and lemony. Dill is most commonly used in Central and Northern Europe and the Baltics, where it is used to flavor seafood, potatoes, and vegetables, and is also common in various pickled preparations.

Mint

Mint is a soft herb with many variations, which has a warm, sweet flavor and a cool aftertaste. Mint is extremely versatile in culinary preparations. It is frequently served as a jelly with lamb, in sauces, as a tea, in dessert, and even in cocktails.

Oregano

Oregano is a woody plant with stems that may be soft enough (when young) for consumption. Unlike herbs such as dill, oregano’s leaves are more intense when dried than when fresh. Oregano is peppery, pungent, and slightly bitter, and is used widely in Italian, Greek, Turkish, Spanish, and Latin American cuisine.

Sage

Fresh sage

Savory and peppery in nature, sage is a strong-flavored, woody herb, whose culinary uses are similar to those of rosemary. Sage’s distinctive, almost fuzzy leaves are often used with meats, sausages, beans, vegetables, pastas, and in sauces.

Parsley

Parsley is a soft herb with lacy leaves that is frequently used for garnish, though it also has many culinary uses. Parsley is widely used in Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and French cuisine, and is often used in sauces, or to season potatoes, rice, vegetables, and a wide variety of proteins. Parsley’s flavor is fresh and lightly bitter, with notes of pepper and earthiness.

Fresh tarragon

Tarragon

Similar to basil and chervil, tarragon has a flavor profile similar to anise, with floral notes, and can be used in both sweet and savory preparations. Its elongated, tender leaves are used throughout various Northern hemisphere cuisines, such as Georgian, Syrian, and French, where it is one of the herbs used in the “fine herbs” blend. Tarragon is frequently paired with chicken, fish, eggs, and cheese.

Thyme

Thyme is a Mediterranean, woody herb with a spicy, citrusy and peppery flavor. Its leaves are among the smallest of any herb, and while they may be picked and chopped, thyme is frequently used in an herb sachet to aromatize sauces, braises, soups, and stews.

Ingredient Exploration Spices