lets be frank, a single bay leaf does nothing. :D

[boomchakabowwow]

last time I made this stew, I was missing bay leaves. today, I bought some and made the same stew. added a giant dried leaf.

tasted it just now. I think it made zero difference.

discuss...hahah....what a racket!! I did buy my bay leaf from a boojie grocery store, so it is not 100 years old.

 

[Michi]

I admit, the effect of bay leaves is subtle. But it is there. You get a slightly minty bitterness that adds depth of flavour.

For a whole stew, a single bay leaf is probably not enough. I'd try three or four. Also, fresh ones are a lot more potent than dried ones. I have a bay bush in the garden, and using leaves fresh from the bush definitely adds more aroma with fewer leaves.

 

[chiffonodd]

Man i dunno I think it just really depends on the species, freshness, etc. I've gotten some where a single leaf made an entire soup or sauce taste like really unpleasantly tannic, then I've had some where you can't really tell at all

 

[YannR]

For me it's more of a "this + that" thing.
Imagine putting nothing in any stock or sauce.
It's all the little things you add who's gonna give you joy at the end.

 

[MarcelNL]

grow a bush of Bay in your garden and you'll never be without and the flavor is clearly present

 

[sumis]

i tend to use a lot. fresh or dried, i just throw handfuls in there sometimes.

.

 

[aporigine]

I buy bay leaves in the Mexican spice aisle. You get like 10x what’s in a McCormick jar for like $2.

When I'm cooking Mexican-style taco meat (birria, lengua, carnitas) I put 2-3 leaves per pound of meat. I don’t taste it, so it must be well-integrated, but the brief whiff of wonderful aroma when the Instant Pot is released … it’s part of that olfactory tapestry.

 

[PolishAvenger]

As someone who grew up at his great grandmother's knee in Houma/Bayou Blue, I am inclined to disagree. Please re-evaluate your ingredient source/implementation.

 

[Moooza]

Years ago, as part of a cooking course, we made a bechamel with and without bay leaves. Then tasted side by side. There was a noticeable difference.

 

[stringer]

My wife always thinks it's funny when a recipe calls for an 1/8 of a teaspoon of cumin. We buy the stuff by the kilo from the Indian grocery.

 

[nhb22]

Did the recipe specifically call for a single bay leaf? For all spices, I think you have to dial in the recipe based on your preference. If you are not sensitive to bay leaves in the first place and you only added a single leaf to a 5qt stew, I would not be surprised that you didn't taste much. Also, sometimes it really takes an A/B comparison for you to appreciate the subtle difference.

 

[Nemo]

Mate, at the very least, it stretches out your ingredient list so that it looks more special in the recipe book.

 

[SammieM]

I use at least 3 dry leaves and you can tell the difference. I go for Turkish bay leaves. I tried another variety from an Indian shop that were longer and thinner that didn’t smell like the ones I regularly use. I always include some in stews together with few berries of allspice… I also use them for chicken stock…
At the end of cooking I remove them as leaving them in can lead to a stew that is too pungent. Also there was an old wives tale that they become toxic of left in food for too long when I was growing up…

 

[dchang21]

it helps to break the leaves.