using up herbs

what is in your crisper drawer right now?

i feel bad for everyone who’s here for that social dynamics shit. this is a cooking blog now

a lot of ppl want to get better at cooking. i think a lot of ppl implicitly picture the cooking skill tree as like consisting of a series of fancier dishes. or, if they know a little more about cooking, a series of more complicated & difficult dishes. now this can work & there’s something very appealingly masculine about it. however one of the reasons that it’s masculine is that it’s showoffy & one of the reasons its showoffy is that its, inefficient.

i think a lot of ppl see the problems w that conception of the skilltree & then they’re like, “i know what fixes this–a skilltree of techniques.” the technique skilltree is better bc more generalizable BUT cooking techniques arent useful unless they get you something you want/solve a problem for you.

i think the best way to imagine a cooking skilltree is as a like emergent tree of problems & solutions & the problems created by those solutions. first big cooking problem to solve is that you’re hungry sometimes so you learn to make like rice or scrambled eggs or grilled cheese or ramen probably, that unlocks other problems like “i cant live off just this” or “i want something more exciting,” everyone’s lives are different so problem trees diverge over time. but basically i think the best bang for your buck approach to getting better at cooking is to notice your problems & try to solve them.¹ this is a big place where the recipe paradigm does us dirty. bc it encourages you to think one meal at a time. recipes dont speak to inventory management (or time management, or health management). & that is where many of your problems, & possibly even more of your solutions, will be located

does problem sound kind of negative? i thought about framing this as “desires” instead of “problems”

anyway. it might be unavoidably more difficult to share information about cooking from this perspective than from the recipe perspective. more difficult on both ends–the reader has to exercise a lot more agency in using this kind of advice than they do in following a recipe…imo the best thing that this kind of writing can do, is sort of teach you how to think about your housekeeping. like i’ve recommended an everlasting meal to a lot of you, but she is just one woman with her own restrictions & preferences & a lot of her strategies are not going to work for everyone. i wish that a lot of people were writing like her about their overall housekeeping & their decision-making processes & what’s working for them, so that readers can see how different people solve different problems with different constraints. & given that that is the writing i would like to see, i guess it’s the writing i had better write

this is kind of a lengthy preamble to a post that is ultimately a pretty basic food tips post about a single cooking problem: using up herbs 

a wilting bundle of herbs in the crisper is an all too common casualty of a recipe mindset (as is the less common, but still tragic, forgotten pot of herbs in the windowsill). bc grocery stores do not sell herbs in recipe sized quantities. & certainly herbs do not grow in recipe sized quantities. so they go unused….but they don’t have to

look in your fridge before you decide what to cook

i feel a little silly saying this. i certainly do not want to come across as insulting or condescending. but i have taught a few people to cook & i find that at some point i need to explicitly tell them this. so now i am telling you. when you are deciding what to cook, the first step should be figuring out what ingredients you already have, especially perishable ingredients, & you should try to use them up

this is obviously not herb specific. also it invites the need for a bunch of subskills. having a good repertory of meal ideas in your head, being good at coming up with meal ideas on the fly, being good at finding new recipes that fit your constraints, having a sense for which ingredients need to be used up first. but you dont really need to be *that* good at any of these things (yet) for this to pay off

just put herbs on everything you eat

you can just put herbs on everything. you can’t put *any* herb on *any* dish. but if you’re making stir fry & the recipe doesn’t call for green onions you can usually still top it with some green onions if you have a few around anyway. same for parsley and/or basil with pasta. cilantro on your scrambled eggs with salsa. you can sprinkle chopped herbs on top of a dish, or you can mix them into a sauce (including like, sour cream or mayo). you have got to have some idea of what goes together, or some way of figuring it out (great resources include the flavor bible or the flavor thesaurus, both of which ive read through like novels)

store them better

wrap herbs in a lightly damp paper towel, put the bundle in an open ziploc bag (w the date & the name of the herb written on it), put them in the crisper. they will last longer this way.

(hard herbs only) just stick them in the freezer

theoretically there are lots of things you could do with hard herbs (woody stemmed ones like thyme, rosemary, oregano). you can dry them, or you can make herb salts & oils & vinegars. & you totally should. but im not going to talk about that because i never do those things. i only ever stick them in a (labeled, dated) ziploc bag & place them in the freezer. they get a little ugly in the freezer so i usually just use them for “throw a sprig of x in a simmering pot & throw the sprig away at the end” applications. now here’s the secret. if you’ve got a pot of something simmering away you can pretty much always add a sprig of something & make it better.² again you have to sort of know what goes together

(soft herbs) mix with fat & freeze

some people freeze their herbs in water but idk i’ve never done that so i can’t recommend it

there are two basic methods here: oil & butter.

the oil method is to grind herbs in a mortar & pestle, thin out with some oil, freeze in ice cube trays, then put your herb oil cubes in a ziploc bag (labeled, dated). the same basic process works very well with more complicated herb sauces like pesto, chimichurri, salsa verde. or if you know what you’re doing you can also just add a little citrus, garlic, vinegar, grated cheese, anchovies—whatever you have around that goes together—to the herbs & oil.

the butter method is slightly more complicated but butter is so delicious. quantities: a pound of butter, a bundle-ish of herbs (i don’t buy herbs for this, i basically only do this when i’ve used some of a bundle & have no plans for the rest) & optionally but recommendedly a citrus fruit. leave the butter out to soften. when it’s soft you optionally but recommendedly zest & juice the fruit, then chop your herbs very fine. mix the zest, the herbs, & the butter with a fork, then add the citrus juice a little at a time until the butter can’t incorporate any more (unfortunately this is something you figure out by failing at it). using plastic wrap/parchment/that beeswax wrap if you’re fancy, roll the mixture into a log & refrigerate or freeze it until it’s sliceably solid. then slice it into very thin coins (they melt easier) & place them in a labeled, dated ziploc bag in the freezer.

but the hard part of this tip isn’t making the stuff, it’s getting into the habit of using it. especially if you’re a little recipebrained, bc obviously most recipes are not going to assume you have these things around. but here are some options. if you’re freezing chimichurri/pesto/salsa verde you can just use them the way you would normally use them, but give them a little more time on the hot food to melt. frozen herb pastes or butters are especially good for finishing hot foods that you can stir enough to melt the stuff & distribute it evenly. hot soups—especially instant ramen—or hot rice/pasta/mashed potatos. but far & away my favorite thing is to put a coin of frozen citrus herb butter on a plainly cooked piece of fish or steak.

green carb

this is a great way to use up a lot of soft herbs, & it doesnt matter if they’re a bit wilted. you can do this same basic thing with pasta or mashed potatoes. but i have almost always done this with rice. you take about a quarter cup of herbs per serving of rice (you can definitely do less herbs) & grind them with a little salt in a mortar & pestle (you could probably also do this with a little oil in a blender/food processor). mix the carb with the herb paste right before you serve the whole thing. delicious!

this is one that really works if you have a few different herbs to use up—a few different half-used bundles from different meals. oomf used to give me a giant tupperware full of mixed herbs from her garden every week. different proportions of mint, basil, thai basil, parsley, cilantro, sometimes chives. they went together really well in green rice & i could serve it with kind of plain protein/veggies without the meal being boring

bonus: drinks

this tip is a bonus tip bc it doesn’t really use a lot of herbs & fancy drinks are pure habrosyne

ive only tried this with basil & mint. but with soft herbs you just give them a couple of good smacks til they look bruised. & you put them in a fruity little drink. & with rosemary you smash it lightly with a muddler/pestle/the bottom of a hard cup, & put it in the bottom of a drink

btw i was just kidding earlier, about this being a cooking blog now. frankly i have no way of predicting what i will write about on here

1. ideally, easiest problem first. if you can figure out what the easiest problem is!

2. i’m realizing i should be more specific. this is worth doing when most of the simmering liquid will be consumed, & especially when the liquid is a little fatty. so like, soups, sauces, rice/pasta/whatever carb cooked by a method that doesn’t end in liquid being drained off. but if you’re making a normal pot of spaghetti, or cooking rice/other grains pasta-style in a lot of boiling water, you won’t get much out of adding herbs.