Ingredient

Bay leaf

Bay is the herb whose contribution is hardest to name and easiest to prove: cook the same stew twice, once with a bay leaf and once without, and the difference is obvious even though nobody can point to a bay flavour. It works as a background rather than a note.

What it does

Bay carries eucalyptol, linalool and related compounds that are individually recognisable and, in the quantity a leaf releases into a large pot, sit below the threshold of being identified. What they do is add depth and a faint aromatic lift that stops a long-cooked dish tasting flat.

It needs time and liquid. A bay leaf added for five minutes does almost nothing; one that has simmered for an hour has given most of what it has.

This is why it appears in almost every long-cooked European dish, in every bouquet garni, in stocks, in brines and in milk being infused for a béchamel or a bread sauce.

Fresh, dried, and the wrong plant

Fresh bay

Greener, more floral, slightly bitter and considerably stronger. Use fewer.

Dried bay

Mellower and more rounded. This is one of the few herbs where the dried version is arguably better for cooking, and it is what most recipes assume.

Age

Dried bay loses potency after a year or so. A leaf with no smell when snapped is doing nothing.

Cherry laurel

A common hedging plant, superficially similar and not a culinary herb. Only Laurus nobilis, sweet bay, is used in cooking.

California bay

A different tree with a much stronger, more medicinal flavour. Use about a third as much.

Where it belongs

• Any stock, stew or braise, from the start.
• Infused into milk for béchamel, bread sauce or a custard. Bay in a rice pudding is an old English touch and a good one.
• In a brine or a pickling liquid, where it is standard.
• With tomatoes, in a long-cooked sauce or a soup.
• With pulses, cooked with the beans from the beginning.
• In a marinade, torn slightly so the edges release more.
• With sweet fruit — a bay leaf in a poaching syrup for pears, or in blackberry or blueberry compote, which is unexpected and works.

Using it properly

1. Add it at the start of cooking, not the end. It needs time and liquid.
2. Tear or crack the leaf slightly if the cooking time is short. For a long braise, leave it whole.
3. Use one or two for a family-sized pot. Fresh bay is stronger, so use fewer.
4. Take it out before serving. A bay leaf is tough, sharp-edged and not eaten, and swallowing one is genuinely unpleasant.
5. Count them in and count them out, particularly if the dish is being served to children.
6. Store dried leaves in a sealed jar away from light and replace them yearly. Snap one — if it has no smell, it has nothing to give.

Common questions