Questions tagged [bay-leaf]

The tag has no usage guidance.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
10 votes
3 answers
3k views

Dried basil leaves instead of bay leaves

I have to make an Indian curry which requires bay leaves. Apparently I don't have them at home. I read on google here that dried Basil leaves can be a good substitute for bay leaves. Now dried bay ...
Ojasvi's user avatar
  • 572
3 votes
2 answers
999 views

Are these Bay Leaves?

I bought what I thought were bay leaves because they were very cheap. Physically speaking, they behave like bay leaves when cooked (they stay hard even when boiled for along time in a stew). But, I ...
John Pardon's user avatar
26 votes
1 answer
6k views

Why are bay leaves used whole and then removed rather than crushed up like other spices?

Recently when making a 5-bean-stew "kit" my son finely crushed up the bay leaves and added them to the other spices, rather than adding them whole to be removed after cooking. When I pointed out his ...
DQdlM's user avatar
  • 691
2 votes
4 answers
838 views

Is there a known 'lifehack' to facilitate the picking back up of the bay leaves after cooking with them?

I'm about to do a Spaghetti sauce batch this afternoon, and I can't seem to remember a life hack that I read that made it so you didn't have to go through you sauce and pick the bay leaves one by one. ...
Fredy31's user avatar
  • 357
2 votes
1 answer
368 views

In writing a recipe, when should I remove the bay leaves in the process?

I'm trying to write down a recipe for Italian sweet sauce that is used for salads but can also be used on pasta and meat. It has bay leaves in it but I'm not sure when to add and remove them? I've ...
Abraham Ray's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
16k views

What effect have bay leaves in a meat/tomato sauce?

A bolognese-type sauce recipe I usually do uses ground beef, canned tomatoes, onions, carrots, chilli, garlic and bay leaf. The bay leaf gets cooked with the rest for a while and the sauce tastes ...
simbabque's user avatar
  • 287
18 votes
5 answers
166k views

Are bay leaves dangerous to (unwittingly) eat?

When I first started working as a cook, I was instructed in no uncertain terms to only use whole bay leaves when cooking so that when the leaves were removed, still whole, one could be sure that no ...
Doug's user avatar
  • 3,218
11 votes
5 answers
13k views

Are Turkish Bay Leaves "Normal" Bay leaves?

I recently saw a recipe that called for Turkish Bay Leaves. Is this any different than the kind I would find in a standard spice bottle labeled "Bay Leaves", or is this a form of exotic marketing? Are ...
awithrow's user avatar
  • 1,097
12 votes
11 answers
22k views

What can I do with a lot of bay leaves?

I have a bay tree, and it's far too big. If I cut it back, I think I'll have around 40 pounds of bay leaves (and I'll still have a bay tree). It seems like a waste to throw all those bay leaves away. ...
9 votes
2 answers
10k views

"Best by date" true for bay leaves?

Today I bought a 2 oz (56.7 grams) bottle of Bay Leaves. The "best use by" date is 01/2015. I've read that spices and herbs go "off" after a year or so, depending. Can I believe the 2015 date on ...
apaderno's user avatar
  • 7,062