Four top chefs reveal their favourite herb and how to use it

Fresh herbs can elevate the humdrum to the sublime, writes Joe McNamee. He asks four top chefs which herb is their favourite and how to best use it 

CELEBRATING the 50th anniversary of her Ballymaloe House Restaurant, Myrtle Allen, in an Irish Examiner interview, recalled a solitary diner of 40 years ago. As he ordered, she whispered to a staff member to run to the garden for mint. When the dish was served, the diner picked up the herb and asked, incredulously, “is this fresh mint?” As Myrtle recalled with a chuckle, she’d ‘won!’

What she meant was she had impressed her solitary diner, it being rare at the time for a restaurant, even the finest, to use fresh herbs, and she had more than a suspicion about the identity of this lone wolf. Her suspicions were correct and, not long after, Ballymaloe House was awarded a Michelin Star.