Do Bay Leaves Even Do Anything?

We put an absurd about into our Crawfish pot and our bugs are delicious.

So I say yes based on the portion we put in.....about 10x what's pictured.

They're great for spaghetti

Very simple to find the taste.

Make a cup of rice with two bay leaves in the water. You'll instantly taste a difference.

I make a bay leaf pound cake from a Leibovitz recipe....you melt the butter & steep bay leaves for a while, then use the flavored butter to make the cake. A line of bay leaves at the bottom of the pan ends up on top when you unmold the loaf cake. It is a subtle but very distinctive taste. It is much more pronounced in the fresh leaves. I have a bay laurel hedge around my AC compressor....so I have & use lots of bay.

I use them only because I have some in the lazy Susan, though, I can't really tell if a few work in my gumbo or court billion or not.

I love bay leaves in different dishes. I love the flavor. Not in gumbo though, Otis!

I'm neutral on them but still use them out of habit.

I cut up a bunch of the wood from a bay tree that fell over on our lease. I've used that wood to smoke pork butts and it's awesome. You get an herbal/peppery note to it. I highly recommend it.

Stop buying bad bay.

Get Morton and Basset. They are actually green, have a scent, and a real taste.