What to use instead of fresh dill
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Raw herb stirred into a cold dairy sauce
The aroma is volatile and never sees heat here, so it perfumes yoghurt or mayonnaise directly. The feathery fronds also disappear into the sauce rather than sitting on top of it.
Fennel frondsRan out
1:1 by volume
Sweeter and more aniseed-forward, without the green pickle note. In tzatziki it reads softer and less sharp.
Fresh tarragonRan out
Half the volume
Much stronger anise with a bitter edge if you overshoot. Tartar sauce made with it tastes French rather than Nordic.
Parsley plus crushed fennel seedRan out
1/4 cup chopped parsley + 1/4 tsp crushed fennel seed per 1/4 cup dill
Gets the green colour and an echo of the anise. Grassier and blunter, and the seed needs 20 minutes in the sauce to soften.
Dried dill weedRan out
1 tsp dried per 1 tbsp fresh
Hay-like and flat next to fresh. Stir it in 20 minutes ahead so it rehydrates in the dairy, or it stays as grit.
What doesn't work: Dill seed, or a splash of pickle brine standing in for the herb. The seed is a different flavour altogether, closer to caraway and camphor, and brine dumps vinegar and salt into a sauce built on dairy, which thins the yoghurt and makes it weep.
Green top note over finished fish, soup or potatoes
Added off the heat so the aroma survives, it cuts through salmon fat and butter and reads as freshness against something rich.
Fennel frondsRan out
1:1 by volume
Sweeter anise and a touch more assertive over salmon. Wilts fast in hot soup, so scatter at the table.
ChervilRan out
1:1 by volume
Milder and more delicate, closer to parsley with a hint of anise. It collapses within a minute of hitting hot liquid.
Chives plus a pinch of crushed fennel seedRan out
2 tbsp chopped chives + a pinch of crushed fennel seed per 2 tbsp dill
Onion sweetness lands where the dill was and the anise is only an echo. Good on potatoes, thin on cured salmon.
Flat-leaf parsleyRan out
1:1 by volume
Clean and green with none of the anise. On a fish soup it reads as bare, so add lemon zest with it.
What doesn't work: Dried dill scattered over a finished plate. Nothing rehydrates it there, so it stays as brown flecks tasting of hay and does none of the lifting the fresh herb was there for.
The stems carry most of the flavour and none of the looks. Simmer them in the soup, pull them out, then finish with the fronds.