A bouquet garni, which is French for a "garnished bouquet"; is a bundle of more pungent or "robust" herbs which release their flavor during a slow cooking process. It is mainly used to flavour soup, stews and stock. In contrast, "fines herbes" are a combination of fresh chopped fragrant herbs, such as, parsley, chervil, tarragon, and chives. Fine herbs are ideal seasoning for delicate dishes that need a relatively short cooking period, such as fish, omelette, and white sauce.
The bouquet of herbs of your choice is added to the dish while cooking, and removed before serving. To avoid leaves spreading throughout the dish, the ingredients of the bouquet garni are often tied together with string, tied into a piece of muslin, or wrapped and stringed together in a strip of leek. If there is liquid left in the bouquet garni when you remove it, you can wring it out and add to the pot, as it is full of flavour.
We prefer to crush the herbs and place it in a reusable drawstring sachet made from cotton. Afterwards the bag is rinsed out, washed and if necessary, boiled in water before it is dried and ready to use again.
The herbs in the photo are from our garden. From left to right there are: parsley, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, a fresh bay leaf and 3 peppercorns. You might like to add a slice of orange peel or other herbs that would go well with your dish - for instance adding sage when you cook a chicken dish.