Great ingredients make for great meals. Whenever you can, use the highest quality supplies for your recipes. The flavor difference will always come through in your finished dish.
If there is an ingredient that you are not familiar with, check our Ingredient section. There are pages and pages of information about the ingredients used in my recipes.
Ingredient Information
Fresh vs. Dried Herbs
For most chefs and cooks the one ingredient that will distinguish a good dish from a great one is using fresh herbs. Certainly the best and least expensive way is to plant herbs for your own use but, of course, this limits availability. Most groceries have a fair choice of fresh herbs and specialty stores will carry even more.
The rule of thumb when you have no choice but to use dried herbs is: use one teaspoon of dried for each 3 teaspoons of fresh. In the off season when using dried herbs is impossible to avoid, it can help to mince about one teaspoon into a tablespoon of fresh curly parsley. This can simulate the freshness of some herbs.