When you want to season your dish but don’t want to have bits of herb remaining, a bouquet garni might be the way to go. Literally translated from the French as ‘garnished bouquet’ this little bundle of herbs is typically used in soups and sauces. Traditionally, the bouquet was bound with leek leaves, but the more modern method is to tie a bundle of herbs with kitchen string or butcher’s twine. You could also tie it in a teabag or coffee filter depending on what you are putting into it. In the two examples above, we have one bundle that could be tied and another that would need to be bound into something.

I’m not sure how these particular bouquet garni would be used. Were they intended for a sauce to garnish the meat? Possibly cooked in the meat with liquid surrounding it? There just isn’t enough information to guess.

Bouquet Garni – Lamb or Pork

2 lg bay leaves

8 springs of parsley

1 sprig of thyme

2 springs of green celery leaves

Tie up either in rag or cheesecloth

Beef Bouquet Garni

Cloves

Marjoram

Peppercorn

Salt