The Fork Report - Technique of the Week

Technique of the Week – Thyme, Tarragon & Rosemary

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Nil Savedre.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
You're listening to KFI AM six forty the fore Report
on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Happy Saturday to you, everybody.
Neil Savedri here with you. It's the Fore Report. I
am your your well fed host, your friendly neighborhood fork reporter,
all in one, here to hang out with you today
as I do every Saturday. The rain is trying to

(00:23):
come in. Maybe it's already hit in your neighborhood. I
can see clouds out the window, the winds are going.
We sure can use this rain, so bring it on.
Do whatever dance you have to do to get it here.
But looking forward to some rain this weekend, maybe into
Monday as well. It is the twenty fifth, I know,

(00:48):
twenty five days into twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
It seems like.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
We're further along, or also seems a little like it's
going by quick. It's hard to know because so much
has happened in such a small amount of time. But
with that comes different seasonal foods and the things around them,
including herbs, fresh herbs and the like. So I want
to talk about three big ones today for Technique of

(01:17):
the week time. Terragon and Rosemary I think they're one
some that you may use, some that you're not sure
about using. Some you'd put in because it says so,
but you're not sure why. Well, let's break these down
a little bit. Cooking with fresh and dried time. So
little breakdown here, a little primmer. Time is great. It

(01:41):
is one of those herbs it packs a punch when
it comes to flavor. I like to use it in
a lot of different things if you're not familiar with
seeing it in its natural form, not its dried form.
It's like these thin woody stems, tiny little aromatic leaves,
and it's a real go to. So whether you're using

(02:03):
it fresh or dried, it's easy to find you around
most grocery stores. It's been a favorite in Mediterranean or
Southern European cooking for centuries, so it's been around for
a long time because it's substantive and it really adds
a layer of flavor. Works really well with a bunch

(02:25):
of different ingredients, perfect with meat, tomatoes, beans, It goes
with some cheeses as well. In French cooking, time is
a key part of the bouquet garnie and herbs that provence.
So these are classic herb mixes. You use them for soups, stews,

(02:48):
meat dishes in Mediterranean cuisine. You'll also find it in
lamb recipes. Oh gosh, what a great pair with lamb.
Actually sounds really good right now. It's light, it's slightly
floral in flavor, and it can battle a little bit
against that very strong taste of lamb. Some people like it,

(03:12):
some people don't. Time makes its way into or mixes
like Satar, very popular in Middle Eastern dishes. I remember
being in Israel and you can walk around and buy,
you know, bread, You just kind of get this bread.
You pull a piece off and you dip it dry
into the satar and it is delicious.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
You can also use.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
It in things like lentils, even tea, And it's great
with eggs, so the omelets, egg casseroles. Also goes really
well with poultry, which is why it's a staple in
poultry seasoning blends and stuffing recipes as well. So as
far as fresh versus dried, tiny little tip here. If

(04:03):
you're using fresh time you're gonna need to use a
bit more than dried.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Dry.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Think of it as anything that you like a reduction.
It concentrates flavor. And so because drive time is concentrated
by it drying out, it's gonna be a little more
intense when you're cooking.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
With fresh time super versatile.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Throw in sprigs, you know, with the stem if you want,
and then you can pull them out or you can
remove the leaves. There's little tools for most people. If
you just take your your pointing finger and your thumb
and kind of sort of scrape your nail along the
side of the tiny little twig, you'll get the leaves
pulled off and you can sprinkle them directly into your dish.

(04:51):
If a recipe calls for a sprig, of time, you
just keep the stem intact tossing in there. You add
the whole sprig to soups or stews. Leaves usually will
fall off during the cooking process in that situation, and
then you just pull the stem out.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
The leaves can stand.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
So to get the leaves off, like I said, you
just kind of go from the top down, pinch and
slide your finger. It's going to pull those little leaves
off very easy. They're very they're small. You don't even
need to chop them. If the stem itself is young
and tender, you can chop the whole thing up, put

(05:32):
in there.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
I'm not a fan of that personally. It's just me.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
One really cool thing about time is it holds up
incredibly well during long cook times. I mean a lot
of times, especially with fresh herbs, you want to add
them a little later in the cooking process so they
that you don't get too beat up during the process,
and then they end up don't not bringing that freshness

(05:57):
or the brightness.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Time. Man, it can hang on and it can do great.
You know.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
One of the things I like using dry time for
is a little salt, little pepper, a little dry time
in with like baked French fries. I'll bake French fries
and I'll toss them in there, or sweet potato white
sweet potato fries roasted in the oven, and it just

(06:25):
gives this small, it is kind of light, citrusy, lemony
almost flavor that brightens it up, very delicious.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Let's see, we're up against claw a little bit here.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Okay, we got another segment of Technique of the Week,
so I'll come back. We'll get more into time and
a little we're out of time to talk about time.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
It just comes to me.

Speaker 3 (06:50):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Paudy Houdy, Audy.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Happy Saturday to you as the rain rolls in the
south Land. Much needed, much welcomed. Come on, come all,
A nice time to be making some soup and relaxing
with family. Oh, we'll take it. We'll take it. As
we've gone through so much here in southern California since

(07:20):
the beginning of January, so we're looking forward to that
help the firefighters and the process everything we're talking for
Technique of the Week, starting the show with three herbs
that are.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
In season right now.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
I mean you can get them all the time, but
really time, Tarragon, rosemary come during the latter part of January,
and now's a good time to be using them.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
Finishing up with time.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
When you're buying it, buying fresh Time usually find it bunches,
little small sprigs and plastic container. Fresh Time does best
when kept in the fridge, Wrap it loosely in plastic
plastic or leave it in its original container. That's fine.
Stored properly, it'll stay fresh for about one to two weeks.

(08:10):
Dry Time, on the other hand, it's available year round.
Most grocery stores keeping an air tight container away from
heat like those are the bad guys when it comes
to freshness, and it'll stay flavorful for about a year.
The tip is if you can smell. If you open
herbs and spices and they still smell there aromatic, then

(08:32):
they're still good. If not, or it's dull down or
it doesn't seem to really capture your nose the moment
you open it up, there dye and get rid of them.
So tarragon, it's one of those herbs, adds. Sophistication is
the best word to any dish. So leafy green, pretty
strong flavor, often described as having a mild licorice taste,

(08:55):
which you know licorice is black licorices.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
What that flavor?

Speaker 3 (08:59):
Do think?

Speaker 1 (09:00):
It's like twizzlers, like red twizzlers. That's not it.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
So it brings a bit of a fresh, spring like
spring like vibe to your meals, so classic French recipes,
you'll find it super versatile in sauces, salad dressings used
a lot, especially for fish and chicken.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
It's a good partner and you can find it both
fresh and dried. So what is it like?

Speaker 2 (09:29):
It's long, it's thin, it's got shiny leaves, bold aromatic flavor.
Most common use is in and cooking is French tarragon
is the style that's mostly used staple and French kitchens.
Of course, such a big deal there that it's often

(09:50):
called the King of herbs in France, so you can
find it a lot of their mixes as well, different varieties.
There's the French arragon that I spoke about. It's the
most popular, but there's a couple of other types that
you might come across well. Spanish or Mexican tarragon also
called Mexican mint tarragon, similar flavor, a little bit richer,

(10:13):
cute little golden flowers on it. There's also Russian tarragon.
It looks a lot like the French teragon, a little stronger,
more bitter. That tracks often us in drinks, less common
in cooking. It's got fresh and dried, just like everything else.
All right, let's move on, because we're gonna run out

(10:35):
of our time on This is rosemary.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
Rosemary.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
Most of us know that, I mean, it's stiffer. So
a lot of people are like, well, how do you
use this? And I don't like biting into it?

Speaker 1 (10:50):
And I'm kind of.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
I love the flavor, but sometimes the texture bugs me.
Depending on how it's used. One of those herbs kind
of brings that big burst of flavor, that fragrant frime
migrants that we all love, kind of an evergreen vibe
to it. It is an evergreen brush as a matter
of fact. It's got those needle like leaves and flowers
that can be white, pink, blue, I think, even purple.

(11:14):
Originally from the Mediterranean, it is actually part of the
mint family, and it includes about seven thousand other species.
And it comes from the Latin word ross meaning dew
and marinas, meaning sea, so it's often called dew of

(11:35):
the sea. But it's really lovely and it holds up
well on meat. You know, it works really well with
beef when you want to use it. It is versatile,
pairs with chicken and lamb and pork. Course, steak like
I talked about, is really wonderful. It's great with oily

(11:55):
fish like salmon. It pairs with beautifully. It adds flavor
to grains, to potatoes, mushrooms, spinach, onions, toss it in stoops, sews,
and it's really lovely too. With fresh rosemary. You want
to rinse the sprigs under cold water, give them a

(12:16):
little pat dry with a towel. Most recipes call for
whole leaves and they're easy to remove from the the
woody stems. You can add the whole sprig if you
want to directly into dishes like stews or meats. That works.
You just pull them off before serving, or pull them
out rather before serving, and keep that in mind.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
You can.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Another great way to use it is to infuse olive
oil with it.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
I really love that.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
I've got a couple bottles now that are infused with rosemary,
and it's just a wonderful way to do it. All right,
Just a tiny little primer for you on some of
those herbs that you could be using right now as
hopefully the means roll in. Maybe making a stew. Doesn't
that sound good? Some potatoes? Oh, I'm hungry.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI Am sixty.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Hey, everybody, it's the Fork Report. Happy Saturday to you
all things food, beverage and beyond.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
Its very cool.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
We get to kind of shake off the heaviness of
the week. I know there's a lot of heaviness here.
In southern California and Los Angeles with the fires, and
there's just there's just not much he can say. Ain't
doing the fire coverage and stuff myself for KFI. There's

(13:41):
it's overwhelming just to read and convey this stuff, let
alone to be going through it. Everyone has someone who
is affected by these fires. So we continue. Our heart
goes out to you, continue to donate and connect. There's

(14:01):
many different locations, restaurants, groups that are doing I mean
too many for me to list. I was bombarded with
a bunch of people doing things and I applaud them.
The partner that we have with iHeart here in Los
Angeles is the Dream Center in Echo Park, the Dream Center,
and they are doing a magnificent job. My friend Damy

(14:22):
King was out there last week when I couldn't be
on the air due to illness, and I appreciate her
so much for doing that and being at the Helm.
But she did a wonderful job pointing out the great
things that they're doing there. So that is what I
recommend if you really want to donate, if you don't

(14:42):
have money, that's fine. Time they check out with them
and see if they need volunteers, which they need all
the time. Clothing seems to be less of an important
need right now. That's the first thing people give. If
you're giving canned goods, make sure they're not expired. I

(15:04):
know you just kind of take what you have, but
please don't give old stuff because it doesn't help the situation.
And know that a lot of hygiene things are needed
right now. So that means soaps, that means toothpaste, toothbrushes.
Keep in mind young children or teens are affected, so

(15:27):
makeup can be helpful. Toys still helpful, things like that.
So just check the Dream Center here in Los Angeles
has been our partners and they are doing really an
amazing job.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
All right.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
So something we'dn't always think about maybe is you know
your bowls in your house. We just replaced some recently
that I like, like the big mug style bowls. Personally,
I think they're great if you can get a big
mug because you can do soups in that stuf using
that you can put liquid in it, So I like those,
But we have all kinds of balls. Well, I saw

(16:07):
these beautiful bowls in an article on all recipes dot
com about the dollar tree, and I'm gonna describe these.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Balls to you.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
They're really lovely. They look not quite you know, homemade,
but they do have this beautiful look to it. And
it has this streak of turquoise blue, so they're ceramic.
It's got a streak of turquoise blue that goes around
and it's fingered, you know, as it goes around, so
you have the strata and little layers of the natural

(16:37):
stone color and then this and it's got it, you know,
topped with a little brown rim of sorts. They're incredibly cute.
I like the look of them, and so it struck
my eyes. I was going through stories and so the
article I think came out yesterday or something like that
on All Recipes and it's about these Dollar Tree turquoise bowls. Well,

(16:58):
this is pretty cool. We oftentimes I like to go
to you know, Dollar Trees or you know the you know,
the old ninety nine per cent only store, anything like this.
I'm also a huge fan now of have you been
to five Below? That's a fun joint.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
That's one of my favorites.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
Actually, Oh my gosh, Andrew, isn't it like can't you
just spend like forever in there?

Speaker 3 (17:21):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (17:21):
I know, like two three hours. What are you doing?
I'm in five below still.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah, it's the closest one to me is in Glendale.
It's across conveniently across from the In and Out Burger
there on brand. I think sometimes depending on where you
are and which ones you go to, you'll find items
in other ones that aren't in other ones, which is great. Yes, yes,
and I have found so I've got the app now

(17:44):
on my phone and you can order stuff, like, I'll
find things and I'll be like, oh, you know, because
I like making stuff at home or personalizing things, so
I'll find stuff. I'm like, wow, I can you know,
modify that by laser cutting you know, a logo or
do something anyway.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
So I love that.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
So I'm all down for getting deals or finding really
neat things. And it turns out these bowls originally popped
up at Walmart and they were the Royal Norfolk turquoise
swirl stoneware bowls or whatever, and they're the exact same ones.

(18:24):
Apparently they're like identical, but Walmart sells them for thirty
eight bucks for a set of four. That's about nine
to fifty apiece right there, right, So the dollar Tree
version same turquoise swirl design with the contrasting color rim
that I talked about. They're microwave and dishwasher safe, and

(18:48):
the only difference is the price. Dollar Tree bowls are
just a dollar twenty five each and they're beautiful five
and a half inch bowls. So if you're looking, you know,
if you're looking to replace some bulls, I would, you know,

(19:09):
check these beauties out.

Speaker 1 (19:11):
They're quite lovely. They just have a really cool look
to them.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
But I was blown away at that, and I guess
they're probably two manufacturers. But other than that, they're identical.
So why not save the money. Dollar twenty five is
much cheaper than nine whatever, nine point fifty, So get
yourself some of these bowls very very pretty. I just
wanted to pass that along because I thought it was

(19:36):
a great deal.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
All right, stick around.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
You've been listening to The Fork Report. You can always
hear us live on KFI AM six forty two to
five pm on Saturday and anytime on demand on the
iHeartRadio app Santuere to shake off the heaviness of what's
going on in the world or whatever is in the news,
and just celebrate food the people that make it. The

(19:59):
culture by behind it. We talked about cooking, different techniques,
We talked about the science behind cooking, things that are
going on in the world dealing with food, all of
that stuff. And for those of you who joined, my
brother Craig and I live last night with his husband
Joaquin live from there the speakeasy in their own home.

(20:21):
And I know many of you that joined were like,
where's that bar. It's actually in their home. It's a
full working, real bar. And we did a live broadcast.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
That went for gosh.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
That stream went for almost two hours. We had a
lot of fun hanging out with you. We get crazy
and nuts and talk about cocktails and everything and had
good fun. Many of you have asked if we're going
to do it again. Yeah, we want to do more.
We're just trying to get back into the swing of things.
So thanks for joining us there. It was up until

(20:56):
we kept the post up until midnight and took it
down because part of the fun.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Is to be their life.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
Really, that's the fun of it and show it's so
it's slightly ephemera. All right, You've got disney Land and
the resort there in Anaheim celebrating the twenty twenty five
Lunar New Year, and boy are they doing a great job.
It is the Year of the Snake, I believe, and
they are doing it right. And they're celebrating with food,

(21:24):
tons of different flavorful offerings and it just looks great.
So twists on classics, the Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese dishes, creative cocktails,
snake inspired desserts. You can get your sip and saber
pass and get ready to eat your way through Disneyland.

(21:45):
Their Lunar New Year celebration. A lot going on. Here's
a couple of standouts that I came across on food
beasts that looked absolutely divine, and I'm going to get
out there soon myself. They've got these porch that just
look these little points pork shakes that look delicious, gosh

(22:07):
sweet and savory. You can find them at Bamboo Blessings.
It's available from January seventeenth through the sixteen. They come
on top of a bet of rice crowned with some
pineapple chutney. Wow, that's going to be a magical combination.
A dragon fruit cocktail. It's also available there at the
Bamboo Blessings and it's it's like a fruity cocktail infusion.

(22:32):
It's got dragonberry rum, white rum lead, cheap purere which
is wonderful, dragon fruit and Chinese five spice syrup, so
lime juice, some coriander tea garnish. So that's a lot
of fun tropical coconut cooler beverage. Chocolate firecracker at the

(22:53):
Lucky eight Lantern, it's got this treat especially made for
your sweet tooth if that's your thing. Available until February sixteenth.
Chocolate fire crackers made with light chocolate mouse a chocolate
ganache filling I'm listening, chocolate almond. They've got popping candy

(23:15):
featuring dove dark chocolate a man fire chicken wings. So
if you want something with a bit of a kick,
don't look any further than the fire chicken wings at
Red Dragon Spice Traders. It's topped with sesame seaweed crunchiness.
They got some sunflow or surefire finger licking experience with that.

(23:37):
They have the spicy Gocha Jang chicken tacos at the
Red Dragon Spice Traders. Got some heat on that too,
peppery heat there, and they come dressed with tangy like
a cabbage slot on top. They've got a Fu dip.
It's wrapped with love. There you can find it wrapped

(23:58):
with love. They have this new Fa dip Sammy. It's
loaded with rice noodles, sliced beef, shaved hallapanios, pickled onions,
and this pha broth for dunking it in.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
Doesn't that sound lovely?

Speaker 2 (24:14):
And mandarin orange cream puff, Almond cookie bread pudding, Oh
my gosh, Disney's California Adventure Park. Where's this at ant
Cassa's Cafe at ant Cast Cafe. New almond cookie bread
pudding shoot, Vietnamese barbecue pork chop at the Lamplight Lounge.

(24:38):
That sounds delicious. They've got a green tea donut, strawberries
and cream roulade that is lovely. For those of you
that are like the plant based stuff they have at
Paradise Garden Grill. They have this plant based beef and
broccoli dish. So it's made with these marinated steak tips

(25:00):
in quotes and with rice, green onions, toasted sesame seeds,
Legend of the Ten Spices flat bread.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Where is this? A? Um? Oh?

Speaker 2 (25:17):
That's at the pim Test Kitchen. They're at California Adventure
in the the Avengers Campus. There moushoe pork burrito sounds delicious.
Five spice sugar doughnut holes. That's great because you have
that cinnami cinnamon nis cini on their giant brown butter

(25:41):
and lemon fortune cookie. Good Night the sketch Pad Cafe.
So what I'm saying, there's a lot of delicious things
going on there at the Disneyland Resort celebrating twenty twenty five,
the Lunar New Year celebration, and a lot of delicious
Asian inspired dishes ready for your pie hole to get

(26:04):
on them.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
So check that out when you get a chance. I'm
certainly gonna do it.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
All right, it's the Fork Report on Neil Savadra. So
much more to commonclude, including rob Ariano's gonna join us.
Coming up next, a great restaurant from Coasta Mesa has
now made its way into Los Angeles at a heritage location.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
Easy to find.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
We're going to tell you talk to him and tell
you about what they're serving up and how to get
in there and how to enjoy this new location.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
So go know where

Speaker 3 (26:36):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Neil Savadra on
demand from KFI AM six forty