Chervil
CHUR-vil
Anthriscus cerefolium
Delicate, sweet, faintly anise, fresh.
What it is
Chervil is the lacy, delicate herb Anthriscus cerefolium, a relative of parsley with a milder, sweeter flavor and a faint note of anise. It is one of the four fines herbes of French cooking, alongside parsley, tarragon, and chives, and it suits eggs, fish, light sauces, and spring vegetables. Its charm is its subtlety, which is also its weakness: chervil loses its flavor with heat and does not dry well, so it is added raw or at the last moment. It is more a finishing grace note than a workhorse herb.
What it pairs with
Goes wrong with: long-cooked dishes that destroy its delicacy.
Common in French cooking.
Whole vs ground
Chervil is a fresh herb only; drying ruins it. Use the lacy leaves raw or added at the very end of cooking to keep their subtle flavor.
How to handle it
Stir chopped chervil into sauces, eggs, and dressings just before serving. Its flavor is fragile and disappears with heat.
Storage
Keep fresh chervil wrapped and chilled for only a few days. It does not dry or freeze well.
Buying note
Buy fresh and use quickly. Dried chervil has almost no flavor, so it is rarely worth it.
Classic dishes
fines herbes, omelettes, bearnaise, spring salads.
Out of chervil? Substitutes
No substitute is exact. These are the closest by flavor behavior, with the ratio to start from and how the result will differ.
| Use instead | Ratio | How it differs |
|---|---|---|
| Parsley with a little tarragon | to taste | covers the fresh and anise notes, less delicate |
| A little tarragon | use less | stronger anise, less subtle |
One odd thing
Chervil is so delicate that it is one of the few herbs essentially useless dried; it must be used fresh.