Make a dish twice, once without the bay leaf. There is an obvious difference. It’s fine to not like the taste of any particular spice but saying there is none is sort of crazy?
Just smell it (not just bay leaves but whatever). If it has a smell, that aroma can be infused into cooking, though you’ll want to make sure it’s edible before just throwing it into dishes.
And you might need to sauté them for a bit (also called tempering) to infuse that aroma into oil, since it’s not all water soluable.
In fairness, I’m not sure anyone knows if bay leaves even do anything.
… what?
Make a dish twice, once without the bay leaf. There is an obvious difference. It’s fine to not like the taste of any particular spice but saying there is none is sort of crazy?
Just smell it (not just bay leaves but whatever). If it has a smell, that aroma can be infused into cooking, though you’ll want to make sure it’s edible before just throwing it into dishes.
And you might need to sauté them for a bit (also called tempering) to infuse that aroma into oil, since it’s not all water soluable.
I wasn’t sure myself, so i made a “tea” out of bay leaves to check, and i can confirm that they do in fact have a pretty distinct flavor.
Might as well just boil up a handful of grass from the local park, about the same.