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Questions tagged [bay-leaf]

10 questions
27
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1 answer

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 error, he asked me why bay leaves were different…
DQdlM
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5 answers

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 pieces had broken off and remained in the stew (or…
Doug
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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. What can I do with lots of bay leaves? Are there…
alunharford
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5 answers

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 there even different types of Bay Leaves?
awithrow
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11
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3 answers

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 leaves, which we use in curries and soups have a…
Ojasvi
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9
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2 answers

"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 these bay leaves?
apaderno
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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 wrong if I forget to put it in. Now my question is,…
simbabque
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2 answers

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 get the feeling they do not give a true bay leaf…
John Pardon
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4 answers

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. I can't remember if you have to put them in a…
Fredy31
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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 written a first draft of the recipe and method on…
Abraham Ray
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