It seems that we have always used bay leaf in cooking, and what is so difficult to use this spice? Threw it into the pot and that’s it. But it turns out that everything is not so simple, and even with one extra leaflet you can easily spoil the dish. Want to learn how to emphasize the main taste of the broth? When to add bay leaf to soup? Then read on.
The hostess in the kitchen is unlikely to do without this famous spice. It goes well with many products, so it is part of most dishes. Spice used in dried or ground form:
- It allows you to favorably emphasize or shade the taste of a number of first courses: including soups, broths, and borsch.
- Indispensable in home preservation.
- The composition of seasonings is not complete without a bay leaf.
Features of using bay leaf in cooking
In our kitchen, bay leaf is most often present in dried or crushed form, but it is also often used fresh. It is important to put bay leaf in the soup five minutes before cooking. If you want to avoid the bitterness in the aftertaste of soup or broth, then wait until it is cooked, and remove the bay leaf. As for the main dishes, it is added to food approximately in the middle of the culinary process.
During canning, parsley is added to the jar when vegetables are poured with ready-made hot marinade. In this case, there is no need to take it out, you can leave it in a jar to saturate it with taste.
Bay leaf and our culinary history
The idea of our Slavic cooking would be inferior if we threw bay leaves from our kitchen. Most of the dishes that we cook daily are not complete without the use of this spice in the recipe. But do we know how to, and most importantly, when to add bay leaf to soup, appetizer, preservation? Probably, the majority cannot give a definite answer to the question.
We are used to adding spices to the eye, and this turns out to be very important - observe the proportions of not only the main ingredients, but also seasonings and spices.
The subtleties of adding laurel to the composition of the first courses
Many will be surprised that in this case there are also subtleties. But they are, and knowing them is more than important. These features depend on which dish you will add seasoning to. The table below provides detailed information when to add bay leaf to the soup.
First meal | Spice Add Time |
Thick soup | 10 minutes before readiness. At the end of the soup, the leaves are removed |
Liquid soup | 5 minutes before cooking. After necessarily taken out |
Chicken bouillon | Spice is not added, may spoil the taste of the broth |
Vegetable broth | At the end of cooking in a minimal amount. But it is better to do, as in the previous case, without a bay leaf |
Fish broth | It all depends on the type of fish. If it is bitter by itself, then it is better to refuse the use of spices. And if not, then add at the end of cooking or after turning off the fire for a couple of minutes. After - be sure to stretch |
Meat broth | 15-20 minutes before readiness. After cooking the broth, be sure to remove from the pan |
Which products are compatible and which are not?
When to add bay leaf to the soup, sorted out. And with what products to combine it?
Spice is best combined with dishes from such categories as meat, vegetable, fish, mushroom. Lavrushka gives a wonderful taste to marinades and canned food, and makes potato unsurpassed.
Therefore, if you are preparing mushroom, vegetable, fish soups or borsch with meat, feel free to add bay leaf for taste and aroma.
However, if you are preparing a broth or soup with poultry meat, you will have to refuse to use bay leaves as a spice. It is not combined with chicken meat at all.
Please note that bay leaves should not be combined with dairy products. Sometimes it causes an upset stomach. Therefore, it is so important to know when you need to add bay leaf to the soup and with what products it is better not to combine it at all.
In tandem with herbs and spices such as rosemary, cloves, sage, coriander, pepper, thyme, bay leaf gives an even more intense and interesting taste. Pay attention to this and figure out how to correctly add bay leaf to the soup.
We have long been accustomed to the fact that soups, cabbage soup, borsch and a host of other dishes are prepared with the addition of this seasoning. But not always its use is appropriate in a particular recipe. Perhaps you didn’t succeed in making such a delicious broth as your grandmother or mother, precisely because of the addition of a seemingly insignificant ingredient - one or a couple of bay leaves. But it turns out that it is so important to know how to combine bay leaves, and it is better to refuse to add to which dishes. We hope you have gathered some important information for yourself. And now you know perfectly well when and why to add bay leaf to the soup.