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Why use a bay leaf?

post #1 of 8
4/19/08 at 4:08am
Thread Starter 
Someone please help me understand what the point is in using a bay leaf when cooking. This just popped into my mind yesterday when I was making my spaghetti sauce. I remembered a few times when I was cooking something and didn't have this dried leaf in my cupboard. I never noticed a difference in the finished food. Is it really necessary to use or are my tastebuds dead?
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post #2 of 8
4/19/08 at 4:56am

why add bay leaf

Bay leaf does add a distinctive, characteristic flavor to any dish. I particularly like it in roast beef and steamed shrimp. Spaghetti sauce is improved by it too. If you don't recognize the flavor try putting one into boiling water briefly and then smell it. The odor,flavor will becoime apparent.
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post #3 of 8
4/19/08 at 8:38am
It serves the purpose that any ingredient serves. Flavor. My guess would be that you have eaten plenty of foods with bay leaf in them only never realized it.

Bay leaf is commonly used to flavor soups. I love using it in my lentil soup and my chicken soup.

You can put it in your spaghetti sauce too. It is very fragrant.

I also put a few leaves under the turkey skin before I put it in the oven on Thanksgiving. It really helps combat the gameyness of the meat.

You can also use it in syrups and sweet dishes as well to flavor sauces.

It doesn't hurt to try it. Buy it dry and it keeps in the cupboard a long time. Only add one or two leaves at first to get a feel for the taste, it's all you need. Remember not to eat the bay leaf, it's nearly impossible to chew or digest. Must always be removed.
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post #4 of 8
4/19/08 at 11:18am
Think of Bayleaf as vanilla. It's a background flavour, and a very good one. If you can, see if you can get fresh bay. It's a vey hardy plant and will grow almost anywhere. Once you use fresh, you will never go back to dried.....
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post #5 of 8
4/19/08 at 12:33pm
Bayleaf is good, but after finding about 3 in my lentil soup the other day I am probably going to take a break from them.
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post #6 of 8
4/20/08 at 10:10am
I'll second that, is it possible that your dried leaves are old or out of date?
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post #7 of 8
4/21/08 at 2:41am
Thread Starter 

Why use...?

Thanks for all the suggestions. I guess it's just my tastebuds. When I by bay leaves it is usually for a specific recipe. They get put in the cupboard until I may need one or two again. After about six months or so they end up in the trash. The times I haven't had any and the recipe calls for one or two I just skipped over that part and never noticed a difference in the flavor. Never seen fresh bay leaves but I've never looked for them. Now it seems I should!
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post #8 of 8
4/21/08 at 10:32am
Bay leaf imparts more aroma than flavor. The flavor it adds to a given dish should be subtle. The aroma is mellow, and does a lot to marry more dominant individual flavors.

If you want to get a handle on what it adds try infusing milk with bay and onion the next time you need a bechamel for something. Souffle time? California bay leaf has more flavor than Turkish. Fresher bay leaf has more flavor than old. Fresh bay leaf has so much more flavor than dried, it's almost never used. If you happen to find fresh, figure it at 3 to 4 times as strong as dry. Your experience leads to the inference you may be using older, Turkish leaf which was already old when you bought it. One thinks of European spices as being better than American, but you may want to switch brands and I may want to remember what usually happens when I start thinking.

To make an infused milk, put two Turkish or one California leaf in 20 dl (1 cup) milk, along with 1 small or half a large onion and 6 black peppercorns. Bring to the simmer, turn off the heat, let steep for 20 minutes, then strain. Taste. The taste of bay leaf is what you taste other than onion and pepper.

Verstanden?
BDL
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