BAY LEAF EXPLAINED
Bay leaf is widely used across Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and regional Indian cooking but do you know why? As a member of the forest floor category of spices, the function of bay leaf is to create aromatic movement in a dish. To get a little technical ;) … the upper mid palate is a really difficult space to input flavour because it’s a little out of reach. (Imagine where your upper cleft palate is, and you’ll get a feel for what I’m talking about.) Using aromatics like bay leaf help to lift spice from the middle of the mouth and disperse its weight into a place in the mouth that would otherwise remain empty. This does two things. One, it brings more flavour experience by putting the sensory body in contact with a whole new mouth space. And two, it creates a bit of breathing room in the central mouth area - this is the palate area that does the most work. By giving it a little space, the mouth can recognise more flavour more easily. It also decreases the flavour overwhelm that comes about when the mid-palate is really heavily relied upon to experience taste. I think bay leaf is a genius spice to get cosy with.
CULINARY USES FOR BAY LEAF:
Add bay leaf to dishes with heavy or fatty proteins to help move some of the weight off the mid-palate and lighten the feel of eating.
Bay leaf is a great addition to spiced meat dishes when matching the food to Cabernet Sauvignon styles of wine - the bay leaf quality plays into the wine and helps to create union between food and spice.
Experiment with Indian bay leaf if you are looking for a less eucalyptus heavy, more fragrant bay leaf option. Indian bay leaf has a lighter, floral, slightly pot pourri aroma.
Bay leaf forms part of any Kashmiri whole garam masala that is often used in the meat browning process when making classic rogan josh, or traditional spiced lamb or mutton dishes.
Fresh bay leaf will bring more vibrancy than dried bay leaf, but it’s also quite a strong spice. I use it with a restrained hand so as not to disturb the masala’s movement tooo much.