The bouquet garni (French for “garnished bouquet”) is a bundle or “faggot” of herbs that is usually tied together with string and added to a soup, stew, sauce, or poaching liquid to give flavor. The bouquet is boiled with the other ingredients, but is removed prior to consumption.
There is no generic recipe for bouquet garni, but most recipes include parsley, thyme and bay leaf. Depending on the recipe, the bouquet garni may include basil, burnet, chervil, rosemary, peppercorns, savory and tarragon. Sometimes vegetables such as carrot, celery (leaves or stem), celeriac, leek, onion and parsley root are also included in the bouquet….as I always say “You are the chef!”
Sometimes, the bouquet is not bound with string, and its ingredients are filled into a small sachet, a net, or even a tea strainer. Traditionally, the aromatics are bound within leek leaves, though a coffee filter and butcher twine can be used instead of leek leaves.
Dried bouquets garni are available in gourmet shops, or make your own from fresh herbs or a combination of fresh and dried herbs. Simply bunch a bay leaf, a few springs of thyme and parsley, (I always use rosemary in mine) then secure end with string or tie them up in cheesecloth. Et volia! You’ve got your faggot!
The size of a Bouquet Garni will depend on the size of your dish, in other words the more servings you have the bigger the faggot. That makes sense doesn’t it?
You can use the “bouquet garni” for lots of recipes I’ll be giving you in future issues…example Boeuf Bourguignon in next week’s issue.
