If a laurel tree grows in your garden, you will have an abundance of leaves to use whenever you want. Or just buy a package of bay leaves at the supermarket counter to enter a magical world that contains a thousand possibilities to improve your dishes. Here are some tips related to using bay leaves.
Steps
Step 1. Dry the bay leaves
If you picked them from your tree, let them dry to intensify their flavor. Store them in a warm, dark cupboard until they're dry. Dried bay leaves can be stored for a long time in the pantry.
Step 2. Add them to your long cooking dishes
During prolonged cooking, the bay leaves release all their aroma, so the longer the cooking, the better the result. Consider adding bay leaves to stews, soups, marinades, and pasta sauces. Bay leaves are also perfect for flavoring a creamy or cheese-based sauce, such as bechamel.
Step 3. Use bay leaves to flavor steamed dishes
In this way they will release all their fabulous aroma. Try them to accompany vegetables, fish, seafood or chicken, and cook them with the other ingredients in a steamer.
Step 4. Before serving your meal, always remove the bay leaves
Although bay leaves release a delicious flavor to other foods when cooked, eaten alone they are not as appetizing. Anyone who bites into a bay leaf left on the plate will notice immediately! Remove them from the pot before serving and serving. It is therefore important to use whole bay leaves to be able to remove them easily and quickly at the right time. Don't crumble them into small pieces.
Step 5. Use them for decorative purposes
Bay leaves can be added to a potpourri, wreath, or other decoration; for example, use them to enrich a centerpiece created with dried orange slices, giving a Provencal touch to the environment.
Advice
- Bay leaves keep mice away. Leave them near holes and crevices if you have a rodent problem. Break them lightly to release the scent.
- Bay leaves placed in kitchen cabinets keep ants and small insects away.
- Add a couple of bay leaves to flour or wheat packages to keep larvae at bay.
- Use bay leaves to intensify the flavor of a milk pudding.
- Generally, you should only use one bay leaf. The flavor it releases is intense, so it will be enough to use one unless it is very small.
- Bay leaves are an indispensable ingredient in some recipes, such as gravies and sauces.
- Use bay leaves to embellish floral decorations and wreaths.
