No Basting Brush? No Problem, Here's What To Use Instead

A basting brush is a useful utensil to keep in your kitchen drawer for glazing tarts and basting cuts of meat with marinades. But if you haven't got one and you need to brush an egg wash over the doughy surface of a homemade brioche to lend it an inviting sheen, we've got a solution: use produce, such as leafy greens, firm lettuce, fresh herbs, or even an old celery stalk from your crisper drawer to do the same job.

While you could use a paper towel to moonlight as a basting brush, it can become sodden and tear when dipped in an egg wash or marinade. Using your fingers can work in some instances but not in cases where you'll be glazing hot items after they've baked, such as a lemon drizzle cake, or daubing pastry latticework with sticky coatings featuring honey or maple syrup. A celery stalk, however, makes a great substitute because it has small, feathery leaves on the top that mimic the texture of the flexible hair-like fibers on a basting brush. Its delicate leaves are soft enough that they won't deflate a proved pastry and knock out all the precious air inside that's vital for eliciting that all-important high rise in a homemade batch of pain au chocolat. Moreover, if you're using it to baste a steak, its protracted length will keep your hands far away from the heat of a barbecue grill, unlike a shorter utensil, such as a metal spoon.

A basting brush made from a bunch of fresh herbs is perfect for dunking in marinades and glazes because it lends its inviting aroma to baked goods and meats. For example, hardier herbs that have a thick stalk, such as rosemary, thyme, and sage, are ideal for basting everything from roast chicken and pastry crusts to burgers and barbecue wings. Plus, they'll impart even more of their savory fragrance into your dishes if you leave them in your marinade to infuse their scent into your sauces. However, if you don't want your bakes to have a mellow herby aroma, you're better off using a piece of lettuce that has a mild taste. Select a firm variety, such as a romaine that has thick central ribs running along each leaf, so it doesn't wilt when dunked in sauce.

Just one word of warning — if you've dipped your herby brush in a marinade and used it to baste raw meat, always discard it once you're done for food safety reasons. However, if you've used it to coat a pastry in an egg-y glaze, you can simply chop it up, add it to your leftover egg, and make a little omelet with the leftovers; the perfect cook's treat. You may even be able to reuse your herb basting brush in other recipes if you've only employed it to smear melted butter on vegetables like corn on the cob.