How can I make herbs easy to remove from a Crock-Pot?

Question

I made a soup in a Crock-Pot and placed rosemary directly in it. Once the soup was finished the rosemary had dispersed all over the soup.

The process I used:

Lightly spray Crock-Pot with Pam
Cut up vegetables (onion,carrot,garlic,cabbage,potato,etc)
Cut up and trim chicken breast
Place ingredients in Crock-Pot
Add chicken stock
Add in rosemary (on the stick not ground)
Add in bay leaves and a few other spices
Cook on low for 8 hours

So the soup turned out pretty good, except that it had the bay leaves and the rosemary leaves scattered throughout.

How am I supposed to add in fresh spices (not ground ones) such as the rosemary stick while being able to remove them from the Crock-Pot once the cooking process is complete?

Answer 1

You are looking for what is called a bouquet garni which is essentially a bundle of herbs tied together for easy removal.

There are three basic ways to do it:

• For herbs like thyme or sage which are on twigs, simply tie together the twigs with some food-safe string.
• Wrap the bundle of herbs in cheese cloth, and and tie together
• Use a tea ball type device to hold the herbs.

When the dish is done cooking, you can then remove the herbs all in one go simply by removing the bouqet garni.