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About as necessary as a bay leaf, which I have been waging a war against for years…
by tmountain 4y ago
About as necessary as a bay leaf, which I have been waging a war against for years…
- wahnfrieden 4y agotry with a large handful of fresh ones... not sad dry ones. you can also taste its tea to learn
- tmountain 4y agoI believe that a large handful of fresh leaves would influence flavor. My comment is directed at a single dry bay leaf that I have seen on many occasions.
- tptacek 4y agoIn the US, fresh bay leaves are often not the same plant as the dried bay leaves your recipe expects. Find good dried bay leaves, and/or use more than the recipe asks for.
- wahnfrieden 4y agoI can't find info on this, can you share something please? I'm skeptical of bone dry ones being preferable in any case (besides needing to have good sourcing then for imported dried ones). they don't dry like oregano does and I don't know that they are so much worse like most non sicilian oregano
- Swizec 4y agoIn my experience whenever you have a slow simmering anything and it “feels like something’s missing” – you forgot the bay leaf. No I have no idea what it actually adds to the flavor. It feels pointless. But skip the leaf and you can always tell.
- klyrs 4y agoLike the sibling comment says, make bayleaf tea. Taste it on its own. If you get your bay leaves from the store, you'll probably find it to be incredibly mild. If they're plucked fresh from a bay laurel, there's actual flavor to be had.
- MisterBastahrd 4y agoSorry you don't understand what bay leaves do. They are essential to Cajun cooking and I can immediately taste when they're missing, as can most people.
- neild 4y agoGrocery store bay leaves are tasteless, at least around where I am. Good ones (I get them from Penney’s) are highly flavorful and add a noticeable flavor to soups and sauces. I even found myself thinking that I’d put too much bay leaf in a pot of beans once, it was threatening to overwhelm the other flavors.
- kergonath 4y agoI did not now that at leaf denialism was a thing. I use it regularly with roasts and stews, and it’s fine. I can see how one could not like its taste, but going on a crusade or being upset about other people using it sounds a bit much.