Rosemary in Cooking

Rosemary is very popular in the Mediterranean kitchen. For example, Italians and Frenchmen add it to a variety of dishes, from meat and fish to compotes and desserts. The French often add rosemary in Bouquet of garnishes - a bunch of spicy herbs, which are put in soups, broths, stews and sauces, taking out before serving.

Due to the high content of essential oil, rosemary possesses sweet and camphor scent with barely perceptible coniferous notes. And the taste of rosemary is spicy and spicy, with a slight bitterness. Rosemary is used in cooking both in fresh and dry form. In the course are the leaves, flowers and young shoots of the plant.

Rosemary is added to almost any dish: fish, meat (minced meat, fried meat and poultry,game), vegetable (soups, salads, dishes from a potato, other vegetable dishes), marinades, dough, casseroles. It fits well with soft cheeses, mushrooms, white and red cabbage. You can add rosemary even in fruit salads!

But best rosemary is combined yet with meat; rosemary in cooking is often used tomask a specific taste of mutton and rabbit, which is not to everyone's liking. It can be added to the marinade for meat, so that rosemary gives the roasted meat of domestic animals the scent of game (by the way, during cooking this spice does not lose its flavor). And if you fry shish kebabs or barbecue, you can put a couple of branches of rosemary on the coals, it will give the meat a delicate aroma.

Please note that rosemary has a very rich flavor, so it is used in very small quantities: for the aromatization of the dish, there are literally enough pips of dried rosemary or fresh twigs. If overdo it, there is a chance to get a dish, the aroma of which will cause persistent associations with coniferous forest.

Rosemary in cooking is often combined with other spices, the aroma of which enhances and complements the aroma of rosemary. So, rosemary combines well with parsley, black pepper, thyme, marjoram, chili.

but Do not combine it with the laurel leaf, this combination is considered not very successful,because the aromas of these two spices are too similar. And the taste of more gentle spices fragrant rosemary just "clogs." In principle, if you are not sure whether rosemary will combine well with a particular spice, you can use it in its pure form.

A few words should be said about the storage of rosemary. Because of its strong flavor, it is stored in sealed containers. Dried rosemary is best stored in a tightly closed jar of dark glass. Note that after a year of storage dried rosemary begins to lose flavor and healing properties.

Sprigs of fresh rosemary washed, well dried and put in a plastic bag. The package must be tied up and put in the refrigerator. With such storage, rosemary will retain its freshness for a long time.

And rosemary can flavor vinegar or olive oil. Just put fresh or dried rosemary inbottle, fill it with oil or vinegar, tightly clog and take it into the refrigerator. In a few days you will have a flavored oil or vinegar - the original dressing for salads. Together with rosemary, you can add other spices to aromatization, but, again, it's worth taking care of compatibility.

Rosemary can give the dishes a wonderful taste and aroma, which can not be achieved using other spices. However, it is worth remembering that rosemary - spicy capricious, even an easy "overdose" can completely ruin the dish, making it unpleasantly bitter. But if rosemary in cooking is used wisely, it allows you to create real culinary masterpieces.