Lesson 4: Rubs, Brines, Marinades & Classic Combos
Classic Herbal Combinations
When you start delving into cookbooks or recipes, you inevitably run across some classic French ingredients. When you see the words ‘bouquet garni” or “fines herbes”, these are tried and trued herbal combinations and won’t fail you. This section will define some of these classics to help you get started to make your own combinations. For a more complete list of 25 classic herb combinations from around the world, see Spice Mixture Index at Katzer’s website.
Any good soup starts with stock or broth – whether you make it at home or buy it in a can. One standard ingredient in any stock is a “bouquet garni”, which is a bundle of herbs. The classic formula is 10 parsley stems, 1 bay leaf, 5 sprigs of fresh thyme, and 5 peppercorns. These are tied together with string (break the bay leaf in half and position the peppercorns between the two leaves) and added to the stock when the other vegetables are added. Alternatively, you can tie the herbs up in cheesecloth or a coffee filter and add that to the pot. Needless to say, this combination can be varied – especially if you would like to accent or diminish the flavor of one of the herbs. Also some common additions are fennel (especially if you’re going to use it in a fish broth), cloves, marjoram, sage, or chervil.
Once you’ve made the stock, then often a bouquet garni of some sort is added to the soup or dish in which the stock is used – it can be added as a bundle to be removed or finely crushed and left in the dish. When used like this, herb combinations are often called “aux fines herbes”. The classic French “fines herbes” is a combination of chives, chervil, parsley and tarragon. Another classic French combination, “Herbes de Provence” includes thyme, savory, oregano, and marjoram, with optional mint, lavender, rosemary, sage, or fennel. Miloradovich lists several other fine herbes combinations - one interesting one for vegetables combines dried mint, dried sage, celery seed, and white pepper.
Many other cultures have equally famous herbal combinations, although these are not as rigidly defined but vary from cook to cook. In India, for example, the term “masala” is the generic term for spice combination. Two famous kinds of masala are “garam masala” and curry powder. Garam masala is from North India. It includes 3- 8 warm spices, such as dried chiles, peppercorns, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, cloves, coriander seed, cumin seed, and cardamom. Curry power often includes turmeric, cumin, coriander, pepper, fenugreek, mustard seed, and potentially also cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom.
Chinese cooking often calls for “5-spice powder”, which usually means star anise, fennel seed, Szechuan peppercorns, cinnamon, and cloves. Ginger and/or cardomom are optional.
And of, course, here in the U.S. chile powder is ubiquitous – its formula differs among creators. It can include allspice, pepper, cayenne, ground coriander, ground cloves, ground cumin, dried oregano, turmeric, ground mustard seeds, and paprika.
