Tarragon

Fresh herbs are in season in May. Here's how to buy, store, and cook with them.

To make addictively crispy chicken skin for this cobb salad recipe, turn it often in the skillet, until it looks like bacon.

These get better with time, so don’t hesitate to make them ahead.

This also makes a tasty spritzer—use club soda in place of water.

It can be hard to gauge what’s happening under all that salt, but these times are accurate. If your fish is on the smaller side, take it out on the lower end of the range.

Stuck with too many herbs? Don’t fret! This elemental dehydrating technique we learned from the team at San Francisco’s Bar Tartine will transform them into bold, easy-to-deploy flavor boosters you can use to upgrade any meal. Try using this dried herb powder on rice to give it new life, or whisking it into salad dressings or folding it into yogurt for a bright green tzatziki. You’ll never be tempted to buy packaged powders again.

You want all of your cheese ball ingredients at room temperature to make sure the goat cheese mixture is smooth and homogenous.

How is this shortcake different from all others? Cake flour makes it extra-tender, for starters, then it’s baked in one big circle and bathed in tarragon-infused butter. You might never go back.

Chicago chef at Mott Street Edward Kim uses mild rice vinegar and a fair amount of sugar to yield a less acidic brine and a bright-tasting pickle.

If you’ve made risotto, this recipe will feel intuitive, but the combination of earthy rye berries and mushrooms will taste completely new.

Rather than fussily cutting the grapefruit into neat segments, chef Ignacio Mattos cuts them crosswise into disks; he likes the slightly bitter flavor of the membrane itself.

Most fish markets will sell you the bones you need to make the rich broth, but avoid those from oily fish like mackerel or bluefish, which will overpower the stew’s flavor.

At farmers’ markets, look for Golden Bantam or Silver Queen varieties to make this tarragon creamed corn recipe.

Muddling extracts essentail oils to deliver maximum herb impact. Tarragon flavors the boozy lemonade here, but basil makes an excellent sub.

"I like unsweetened whipped cream on top," van Boven says of this pavlova recipe, "because the fruit is sweet enough on its own."

This herbaceous aioli is also terrific spooned over simply prepared vegetables, such as boiled new potatoes or roasted ramps.

If using skin-on hazelnuts, rub them inside a clean kitchen towel after they've been toasted--the skins will slip right off. Serve the fish with a lightly dressed butter lettuce and herb salad.

Do you hate dry chicken with a vengeance? You're going to love this pan sauce, which makes each bite 100 percent juicier.

Butter lettuce, grown hydroponically, is a great way to add green to your cold-weather menus. This quick and easy salad is so tasty that you can throw some leftover roast chicken on top and call it a meal. We use store-bought walnuts here; for The Dandelion's recipe for spiced walnuts, go to bonappetit.com/go/walnuts.