Certain herbs are commonly used in poultry seasoning, sage being one of them. However, if you do not favor sage or are adverse to it for any reason, you might have a hard time finding sage-free poultry seasoning in your supermarket. Fortunately, poultry seasoning techniques are not set in stone and will vary according to taste. It's easy and inexpensive to create your own seasoning at home.
Basic Poultry Herbs
The main poultry herbs are marjoram, thyme, sage and rosemary. Other flavors, herbs and spices may be added such as and garlic powder, but these four herbs are used because of their unique and pungent flavors, and because one complements the next.
Examining Each Herb
What these herbs have in common are their strong, earthy and slightly pine-like flavors. In fact rosemary and thyme are members of the pine family. Rosemary is slightly sweet, which complements the slightly bitter taste of the marjoram. Thyme also has a minty taste, and sage has an aged and bitter flavor. Since sage has such a unique flavor, it may or may not be fitting to certain taste buds.
Use
To make a batch of without sage for your own use, combine these dried and ground herbs in equal parts. In place of sage, you can add another ingredient, like the black pepper or garlic powder mentioned earlier. Dried bay leaf is also a pungent herb to use when cooking poultry. Alternately you can increase one of the original herbs to suit your taste. Store the leftovers in an airtight container.
Tags: poultry seasoning, , black , garlic powder, pepper garlic, pepper garlic powder