Okay this is a little off my usual subject matter… or not. Sometimes I feel like I am all over the place. What do they call that, I have eclectic interest.
This particular article caught my attention because of something I said to Señora two or three months ago. I was cooking dinner, I forget what, and the recipe called for three or four bay leaves. Since Señora was futzing around in the kitchen too, I asked her if she thought bay leaves added anything to a recipe. I wasn’t sure that they did. She, on the other hand, certified that yes they did.
I even went as far right then and there, to make a tea using a couple bay leaves to find out what the exact flavor was. At least in the tea that I prepared, almost nothing. To me they had a vaguely, more than a little mild, grassy flavor. I was having a hard time seeing how they brought anything to the flavor profile of whatever rapturous repast I was preparing.
I believe the following from the article sums it up nicely to my way of thinking:
“‘When it’s good, it tastes like something, but 95 percent of the time it tastes like nothing. Usually the problem is that bay leaf is harvested at the time of year when there’s no flavor.
‘Ninety-five percent of the bay leaves that are available to most people are of a very, very low quality.’
According to Ethné, the western market has been flooded with bland and poor-quality bay leaves, earning the herb an unwarranted bad reputation.
‘North Americans have been groomed to accept mediocrity,’ she said.”
So basically they are selling us a pig in a poke. But it does make me wonder if there is a source to buy high quality bay leaves so I could give them a try. At this point I am calling bay leaves optional in my recipes.
And so it goes.
Greg swears by them in ham beans. I often forget to include them. I bet you could find better at an actual spice store.