Go to the Recipe: Holiday Herb Oil
Did you guys try making a mayonnaise with this oil? I think that could be interesting...
I wonder if you could do this like a thanksgiving-style chili crisp condiment by making the infused oil, straining, and then frying a whole bunch of garlic and shallots in it.
any tips on how to prepare this without a control freak system?
Pretty sure that would be tasty.
You should be able to do all of the same steps on any stove, just follow the temperature guides in the activity. You just need a thermometer.
Any guidance on how far in advance you could make this?
Hi Jack, The herb oil will last up to a month in your refrigerator.
I will be making this for sure. I have a spinzall, and use it to make fresh herb oils. Would you modify technique at all it this tool were at your disposal? Basically, he has you blitz the fresh herb (I often do basil) with oil in a vitamix, and you then 'push' the oil off the top of the rotor with water. Water and herb left behind, and oil comes off the top. https://www.dropbox.com/s/dd38y7a2ge3kyrb/SpinzallManual.Final.pdf?dl=0
Great little gift idea, too.
Is there any way to make this oil ambient shelf stable? Extra filtering processes? Higher heat treatment?
you could get a centrifuge! The spinzall is $700, useful for lots of stuff including very stable herb oils.
For the control freak did you use the oil setting or normal setting?
We just used the probe control for the temperature at 145 °C.
I did that today, it was delicious! It can handle a little extra squeeze of lemon to brighten things up, but it's super herbal.
Can use powdered buttermilk instead of powdered milk?
Hi Tom, You can use powdered buttermilk instead of powdered milk—it will add a different flavor component, but it sounds delicious. Let us know how it turns out!
Great googly moogly, I just made this today and it's sitting on the counter cooling off pre-fridge. The house smells amazeballs. Can't wait to blitz up the solids.
I sous vide'd my turkey with ~1 TBSP of this oil per bag. It really amped up the flavor of the turkey from last year. Adding to the gravy took it to the next level as well. Thank for the great recipe and ideas.
I’ve only got dried bay leaf. Is it best to include a smaller amount of it or leave it out?
Hello Mark, I would go ahead and use the dry bay leaf. You can choose to use half but some bay leaves are big and some smaller. The one bay leaf, dry or fresh will marry well with the other herbs without overpowering. I would not leave it out though. Happy cooking. Another note on bay leaves......I find the fresh ones can be overpowering and the drying process mellows the punch.
Well crap. I'm buying a spinzall now.
I’m only getting garlic and to a lesser extent onion taste and smell in mine, very little of the herbs 😞. My oil also didn't get that deep green colour as your in the video at all! It's just the same colour as the original grape seed oil, only a little bit cloudier. Any ideas where I could have gone wrong?
This oil smell phenomenal, can I multiply this recipe successfully. I want to put it on everything, I might even use it as perfume. (not kidding)
I typically create Thanksgiving gravy from a roux made with the Turkey roasting fat and four. Would I go wrong draining all the fat and substituting the Holiday Herb Oil?
I would say leave it and cut back the holiday oil roughly the amount you can estimate stayed in the gravy.
Would using whole milk powder be problematic for this recipe? Was unsure if the fat solids would burn or negatively affect the outcome.
Why keep the bay leaf separate when you add all of the herbs at the same time?
Never mind — I learned to read……
I underestimated the large pot and foamed over constantly, then could never get to 300 even in a larger pan and ended up burning the shallot / garlic as i was waiting for foam / bubbles to calm down that never did
What's the risk of botulism with this? Is 145°C high enough to destroy it?
You are cooking most all of the moisture content out, how ever we do recommend refrigerating it when you are not using it.
Hi Brian, you just want to get the oil up to that temp to start, before you drop in any of the ingredients. There is no need to make sure it comes back up that high, cook your ingredients until they are light golden brown and call it enough. Each person is going to be slightly different in time for this one, every one will slice their shallot and garlic to different thicknesses so time will vary.
Any type of milk powder will work, its more about the caramelized flavor you will get than anything.
This turned out well — delicious, and the shallot garlic bits are a lovely yummy bit for snacking….
I used my ISI cream whipper whilst the oil was still warm to help speed up the process as time was tight and I couldn't let the oil sit for 24 hours before sieving. Smells amazing!
Any reason why the cream whipper infusion method isn't mentioned as an optional step here?
Hi ChefSteps, may I ask how many servings thjis recipe is for.
How long will this keep in the fridge? Or rather, how long should I keep it in my fridge?
2-3 months.
I assume that any other high temp, neutral oil like sunflower oil would work as well as grapeseed, or is that incorrect?
Yes.
This is likely a dumb question, but could you use malted milk powder instead of nonfat milk powder? It would obviously add a toasty taste, but would it also add that buttery taste described?
