Some cooks, especially
novices or those who’ve never worked in a prep
kitchen, will spend the
better part of an hour carefully removing the
individual leaves from
the stems of bunches of herbs. In fact, delicate
stems are
indistinguishable when chopped with the leaves.
• To chop bunches of
parsley, chervil, or cilantro, just cut off the
bulk of the stems—particularly
those with no leaves on them. Then
chop the leaves with
the small stems.
• Tarragon and basil
have hardier stems, which should be removed
before chopping. To
take the leaves off tarragon, pull downward along
the stem, pinching
gently with your thumb and forefinger to pull
away the leaves as you
slide down the stem. Don’t pick off the leaves
one by one. This method
also works with oily herbs such as thyme,
marjoram, rosemary, and
oregano.
• Chives require a
chopping method all their own. They can’t be
chopped randomly as you
would parsley (see entry 93). Instead, take
about 8 chive sprigs at
a time, align them carefully with one another,
and pinch them together
with the thumb and fingers of one hand and
use the
other to slice. Slice them as thin as you can.
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