Foccacia: rosemary or?

To: herbs.teleport.com
Subject: Herbs for foccacia
From: Laurie Otto <lotto.ptialaska.net>
Date: Sun, 17 Mar 1996 19:57:59 -0800

> I hope someone is out there. I am in the middle of making a foccacia and find that every recipe calls for rosemary. That's right every recipe in the world. What can I substitute for rosemary? I have most every other herb. I also have a dead rosemary plant out on the porch. I tried grinding the leaves in the coffee grinder but no luck. Thanks in advance. Mary Curtis

You can make foccacia with any herb you want. Plain garlic, salt, and pepper is good. Onion is good. Basil pesto goes great on foccacia, as do sun-dried tomatoes. Sage is wonderful, so is thyme. Oregano plain or in combination with garlic or onions works too. Just think about focaccia as a neutral bread flavor, and you'll realize that it is a fabulous stage for almost any herb! Good luck.

From: mvinqvist.mta.ca

> I hope someone is out there. I am in the middle of making a foccacia and find that every recipe calls for rosemary.

You are right, every recipe in the world DOES call for rosemary in the foccacia...well at least in my world (whose boundaries appear to end at the edges of my kitchen). Go haywire and try anything if you don't have rosemary...if you are serving seafood, go for dill, if you are serving italian, go for basil and/or oregano. Heck, I figure if you're the one going to the work of making it, then you do what you like, they'll never know if you've changed the recipe. (I tell the spouse...you don't like it, you know where the bread and peanut butter are - which he has had reason to take me up on believe me).

From: notrinket.instanet.com (Laurie Roberts)

Mary, depending on what you plan to do with the foccacia, I would think you can substitute any herb you want! Who's to say you can't?? I don't believe that rosemary has any special qualities, such as levening, so pick an herbal flavor you like and go for it!