JCC Remove the Bay Leaf: The Cooking Thread

We’ve had a couple of recipe swap threads in the past, and maybe even one or two cooking threads, but the past is a foreign country, you can’t step in the same river twice, and frankly I don’t care.

I have made it no secret in the past that I really, really didn’t cook. My repertoire consisted of eggs, premade pasta, and the odd grilled sausage link, and I loathed doing any of it. That changed this year… more or less arbitrarily, and now I think cooking is pretty fun, although I’m still working on lots of fundamentals. So I thought it might be nice to have a place where people can exchange recipes, ask for advice, ramble about their latest kitchen escapades, or just marvel at really old episodes of Yan Can Cook or whatever that have made their way to YouTube. Anything goes as long as you’re not going out (or I guess ordering in, either, given that it’s current year and that’s fairly ubiquitous now).

To get things rolling in a boring manner: Saturday was my first day really deviating from a recipe. I was making a one-pan pasta dish, and it called for some diced chicken thigh to be added near the end so that it would cook as part of the dish in the last few minutes. This made my salmonella fearing mind a little nervous, but I noticed a lot of comments about people with similar concerns opting to brown the thighs first. Recalling that chicken thighs are basically indestructible as long as you don’t go to like 200 C or whatever, I decided to just cook them outright, brought them up to safe temperature in the same sauté pan I was going to cook the pasta in, set the chicken aside until the normal addition time, deglazed with some white wine (which I had on hand for use later in said recipe), and added that fond mixture back in during liquid additions to the pasta. The results were incredible! As I had never even properly deglazed a pan before I felt like I had been struck with some kind of brilliant inspiration, and I finally understood the appeal of stainless steel cookware.

Anyway I still don’t know what bay leaves do, and despite reading a J. Kenji López-Alt article on the subject I’m not convinced anyone does.

 

Chicken filet > chicken thighs

 

Eh, they each have their uses. Chicken thighs have more inherent flavor, and transfer more chicken flavor to things they are cooked with, but chicken breast is more utilitarian in a lot of recipes (especially anything with breading).

 

I kind of just enjoy chicken in general, so it’s more if I trust the cook, filet, if I don’t, thigh. Ergo I use a lot of thighs.

 

Good call on the chicken thighs. Browning the chicken in the pan before you poach them or whatever adds flavor, is aesthetically more appealing, and it’s definitely safer to cook it more.

bay leaves add aroma in my head at least

 

Keep the Bay Leaf in there just remove it and put it back if you see it in your helping.

 

But what exactly is gained by this? What are the Dixi- er, bay leaves for?

 

Woodsy/tea-like flavor. It adds flavor undertones to things like stews / soups / roasts / etc. -- anything that simmers for a time. I even use it in short-simmering items to give just a little punch (typically rice cooked in stock in a sauté pan with flavors).

 

I miss cooking. It's been hard ever since having kids. But my favorites are usually ones done in a Dutch oven.

Arroz con pollo (Cuban style) - brown the on skin chicken thighs, and then add in sofrito, tomatoes, cuban spices, and then rice. Don't touch for a hour or so, and everything simmers in the same pot. Add peas for a few minutes at the end.

Flank Steak Tacos - really easy. Steak cooks in minutes. Chop it up. You an toss it with some adobo pepper spices, and top it with cojita, lime and salsa.

Chicken Enchiladas - I just buy rotisserie chicken from the market and roll them into large tortillas in a baking pan. Make about 6-8 of them and top with chopped onions, plenty of cheese, and green chili sauce.

Other staples:
Sausage Rolls
Grilled Cheese
Egg and Sausage Sandwiches
Chili

 

I would think this would tend to indicate that the usual “remove the bay leaf” step is the correct approach, in that case. At a certain point you’re no longer extracting flavor and aromatic compounds, not unlike with teas and tisanes. Obviously if you’re just cooking for yourself, y’know, whatever, but anyone who accidentally eats the bay leaf is going to have a bad time.

 

@Ramza -- interestingly, though there's a tea-esque quality to the flavor of a simmered bay leaf, I almost never use it (and can't recall seeing it) in Asian recipes. Typically that's more blends of other herbs that (I presume?) can mimic -- star anise, cinnamon, cloves, etc.

 

I’ve been meaning to try soups if only so I can try to figure out carrot cream soup, which is weirdly rare in the US despite being the best soup ever.

 

Once you get the hang of a soup, it changes your repertoire forever. Get the base of aromatics. Figure out what you want to add around it as far as broths and proteins. Mix and match your starches and carbs. Add Cream (or don't) or something similar (or don't). And get to a large number of permutations very quickly.

Honestly, the number of things you can make by starting out with "sauté onions, celery, and carrots for 15-20 minutes, and then add broth" is pretty large. And pretty hard to screw up.

 

I did steamed salmon for the first time the other day, usually go for a broil or bake but I decided to switch it up. Steamed some potatoes and carrots with it which might not be traditional but I’m the one cooking so screw you. Steamed it with white wine, shallots, garlic, lemon, rosemary and dill. Was darn good.

I actually love cooking with seafood a lot, there’s a really cool seafood specialty market near where I work where I can find all kinds of cool stuff. ( Arctic Char is the bomb by the way.).

 

100% of my Asian cooking so far is #wok**** so it hasn’t come up for me, but I have seen references to specific strains of bay leaves (not the kind in your standard US or European spice rack) in certain regions being incorporated as an edible ingredient, so you may be on to something with that idea.

 

means something else over here.

 

having a slow cooker is great for working from home. You can drop whatever into a pot and then 6-8 hours later it's ready to serve. Not the best thing for chicken thighs, but a pork shoulder at 6 hours on high with a bay leaf, some onions, mexican oregano, cumin, salt, maybe a bit of chicken stock.

Alternately: Blend a half package of achiote paste, a teaspoon of salt, and about 8 limes, a half cup of water. Then pour that over a pork shoulder in the slow cooker. Dice a white onion and drop it on top. Cook on high for 6 hours. This makes for a perfect pulled pork taco. If you really want to go the extra mile, line the inside of the slow cooker with a banana leaf before you add the ingredients and wrap it all in the banana leaves for the slow cook.

I don't know if the banana leaf is sort of the equivalent of a bay leaf. Allegedly adding aroma to the whole endeavor. It's not necessary but the cool factor is significant.

 

... why are you doing a pork shoulder (or pork anything) on high in a slow cooker?

 

6 hours on high is an absolute necessity for the banana leaf thing. maybe if you really have 10 hours or more you can get it to work on low, but 6 hours is the perfect timing for me, because I set it up during my lunch break and then can eat it for dinner.