Herbs de Provence Rub

Herbs de Provence with Kosher Salt and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

There is this glass jar of Herbs de Provence that was mentioned in the post What is in your spice rack? that exists in the kitchen. Honestly, I have been skeptical of using it in my cooking. My skepticism is founded simply because I am not sure how to use this mixture.

Herb de Provence sounds French and many, but not all of the herbs included in the mixture are used in the region of Provence, France. There appears to be little consensus on what herbs should be included in the melange of herbs. Review of different sources have eleven herbs included and others only use seven with another utilizing only six. Some include Lavender where other omit this ingredient completely. There are those that include Oregano, but exclude Basil. You can see why there is some trepidation on my part for using this mixture in my cooking. The uses of Herbs de Provence appear to be endless if you believe all that you read on the internet. It can be used on poultry, fish, added to stews, included in cooking oil then used with roast vegetables and potatoes.

The other week I was going to roast a whole chicken and knew I wanted something more then just salt and black pepper to be applied to this skin of the bird. I wanted to impart some flavor. Likewise, I also knew that herbs by themselves can be a little too subtle without the inclusion of salt. Not to mention I wanted to use the drippings from the roasting in a gravy. So I took a chance and decided to make a modified rub.

Ingredients:

• 1 TSP of Herbs de Provence
• 1 TSP of Salt (I used Kosker)
• 1 TSP of Fresh Cracked Black Pepper (Ground would be fine, but I think you would short yourself on flavor)

I mixed all of the ingredients together in a small bowl and then applied them to the skin of the chicken. The result was better then I had expected., This does not mean that I will become a user of Herbs de Provence in my every day cooking, but I am willing to consider the mixture for other uses. What I will probably do after the jar of herbs has been finished is to create my own Herbs de Provence mix and tweak the ingredients to suit my own personal tastes.