Stem Or No Stem: How You Should Prepare Rosemary For Your Dishes

If you were unfamiliar with the use of rosemary as an herb, you might mistake it for a branch from a pine tree — and indeed, there's more than a hint of bracing, pine-like freshness in the herb's taste. Anyone who's used a few too many shakes of the dry stuff on a roast chicken will tell you that it can get overwhelming pretty quickly, but if you use it right, you get a wonderfully fragrant herb, perfect for Mediterranean-style dishes. But how, exactly, do you use it? Do you pluck those needles off the stem, or do you just throw it in wood and all? We asked chef Marcus Samuelsson for advice at the New York City Wine and Food Festival, and he gave us the answer. In short: It depends on what you're making.

As "rosemary can turn bitter," said Samuelsson, removing the herb from the stem and chopping it up is often the way to go. However, he cautioned that this step isn't always necessary: "It's depending on how rustic [the dish is]. So in the stock or broth scenario, no, but once you add rosemary into a sauce or something similar, you want to chop it up a little bit because it's pungent." Rosemary stems can be fine in a bouquet garni, as you're only imparting the rosemary flavor as an aromatic, but if you're actually going to be consuming it, it's best to take it off the stem.

Whether you're keeping the rosemary on the sprig or off, there are all sorts of ways you can make use of this handy herb. Since the herb originated in the Mediterranean, it comes as no surprise that it's a natural accompaniment to dishes like chicken kebabs and any sort of lamb, which goes great with fresh rosemary. (If you'd like your gamey lamb chops to be tender and savory, you can always marinate them.) And if you save up enough fresh rosemary, it's wonderful with vegetables, whether you're whipping up some red potatoes or serving some cauliflower with your dinner.

Marcus Samuelsson, on the other hand, has a couple more creative uses for the herb, including ... dessert? "We do a lot of dessert sauces with rosemary and honey, or lavender and rosemary, and it's great for that," he said. "If you would make a rosemary honey ice cream, it's great to have it in the poach and then you remove [the sprig]." Of course, you may or may not be able to make your own ice cream, but it goes to show how useful rosemary can be, stem or no stem.