I would, thx
There’s a chance of choking on a bay leaf if you swallow it. It could stick flat to the side of your throat.
Another enthusiastic cook here who has no idea what the point of bay leaves are, so this thread title was immediately interesting. I have often thrown out my old bay leaves and bought a new pack that was fresh so hopefully I would notice some flavor, nope. I add them to a dish, fish them out near the end, no idea why, lol. So obviously buying them at a supermarket is useless, it is just the big bay leaf cartel screwing us over. If I ever see fresh ones I will give them another try.
Long ago when I used the grocery store European Bay Laurel I used two or three for the whole cooking time and never noticed any flavor difference. I just did it because that’s what the recipes said to do.
Then I found out that California Bay was (mostly) safe to use and went out and got some (I live in the Bay Area and they grow wild all over the hills). Now my spaghetti sauce gets one-half of a leaf for about 20 minutes, and that’s enough to make the sauce (and kitchen, even) fragrant. Even when dry they pack a punch - you’d really better like bay flavor if you use them.
Nitpick: it’s a herb. That said, I don’t mean to be as pedantic as that maybe seems; herbs like thyme are spectacular in chicken gravy, whereas - aside from pepper - I doubt I’d consider spicing it.
Interestingly though, what tastes like “essence of chicken” will differ according to experience, I suspect. It won’t taste like actually biting into a piece of chicken. There will be a richer, more concentrated, possibly tangier, almost definitely saltier flavour than simply being like chicken flesh. It will taste like “essence of what seeps out of the chicken into the roasting tin and gets some caramelising and maillard stuff going on before being thickened with something”.
You’re right though: the very best chicken gravy I’ve made has been exactly what I described above. What was in the tin and what I’ve poured back off the carving tray, thickened.
But when it’s lacking a bit of interest, or if I’m making chickenny gravy to accompany something else but one of my batches of chicken stock is a bit lacklustre, a bay leaf transforms it into gravy.
It’s my experience that cumin improves everything meaty.
Culinary bay trees can be grown wherever they can be protected from hard frosts, apparently up to zone 7. I’m in zone 9 and have no trouble. They can be grown in pots, too.
If you’re planting them in the yard and don’t want them to hit 20 plus feet tall, prune them back. I think the only herb that’s harder to kill is rosemary.
If you live somewhere where it’s fine. Here in Chicago, I’ve never been able to overwinter rosemary. My sage is impossible to kill. My mint is impossible to kill. My thyme and lovage survive. Rosemary? Nope. Dead.
Late one night, in a tiny stormswept village on Nantucket island… we had taken refuge from that night’s nor-easter by huddling around pots of stew in a colonial inn. We asked the very proper Innkeeper what made the stew so satisfying and he said “Methinks it might be the local bay leaves, but I shall inquire of the chef.” A minute later, a surfer dude in a chef’s toque sauntered out and, in a perfect Malibu Stoner Drawl, laughed “Yepper, that bay leaf is One…Crazy…Leaf, man!”
Mine came! They smell AWESOME - Thank you!
When I was living in San Francisco, I’d often take trips to Muir Woods. I could grab a small handful of bay leaves (California Bay Laurel, I think) off the ground and put them in my car. Even brown, dried leaves had a strong scent, and if it diminished over time, all I did was crush a leaf and it came back. I could still smell it after several years in the bottom of my armrest.
Oh Jesus, for a second I thought you were COOKING with them! Fresh off the forest floor with the bugs and raccoon droppings!
yeah, I’m in New England, and i don’t think rosemary is winter Hardy. (I don’t much like rosemary, so I haven’t tried.) But mint is unkillable, the thyme is completely effortless, and I also have garlic that is dead easy.
I’d love to grow my own bay leaves, but dreading the pots indoors every winter sounds like too much work.
Lol. If you did cook with them they’re get hot enough to be safe. Most food grows in places with bugs and larger pests.
We bought one at Costco last year that grew to nearly 3’ tall over the summer. I didn’t have the heart to let it die, so Tom Scud potted it up, and it’s been living on the back porch. The electricity cost for the space heater is exorbitant, but I am a sucker for fresh rosemary, and the cats destroy any plants that come into the main part of the house.
Here’s an article that not only answers the question, but is also a great example of why you need a control group in your scientific experiment:
TLDR: rice with a bay leaf (added before cooking) didn’t particularly taste like anything. Until compared with rice cooked plain, when it was instantly obvious that there was a mild positive flavor from the bay leaf.
Yeah, I actually planted mine last year in a planter, with the intention of bringing it in inside, but I forgot to take it in before it was too late and it was dead. :smack: I just end up growing it every year from a pretty hearty seedling/young bush.
Meh. It’s got a control, but it’s not blind. And when it’s something that’s so small you didn’t detect it until comparing it, I think it needs to be blind. Expectations can very much control taste.
Long ago, I agreed with the OP. Dried McCormick bay leaves seemed to do nothing.
Then a neighbor with a laurel tree gave me some fresh leaves, and the difference was amazing, both in flavor and aroma.
I’ve always kept fresh leaves in my freezer since then.
Thanks! They smell wonderful.
The late, great Other Shoe once remarked that bay leaves were like the bass in an orchestra. You don’t really notice them much on their own, but you’d notice their absence and would miss the oomph they add if they were missing. I always thought that was a pretty good analogy.