Cindy Hamilton wrote in rec.food.cooking:

> On Sunday, April 10, 2016 at 1:26:54 AM UTC-4, sf wrote:
> > I only have one recipe where I consider bay leaf absolutely
> > essential, but I know others here feel differently.
> >
> > http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/03/a...ats-the-point-
> > of-bay-leaves.html
>
> Haven't we discussed this here before?
>
> As far as I'm concerned, they definitely add something. DH made
> spaghetti sauce last week. We were tasting it and both said "it
> seems kind of flat somehow". He started rooting through the
> spice cabinet, and said "Bay leaves! I forgot bay leaves!"
> Sure enough, after adding the bay leaves and additional simmering,
> that's exactly what it needed.
>
> Cindy Hamilton

I think at one time or another it's probably come up but it's been a
long time.

I went shopping yesterday due to some really good sales on some canned
tomatoes and other things for the pantry. They also had Angus T-bone
for 5.99lb (got 4 regular cut and 2 thick 1" cut) and pork butt for
..99lb. Buttermilk (I use a lot making bread) on BOGO (here that means
can get 1 at 1/2 price) and refilled my veggie bins.

I put the pork butt in the crockpot with sipced vinegar to start
rendering down then sliced off the 'easy end' (boneless part) of about
2 lbs which I thin cubed and made this:

Pork and Veggie stew

2 lbs cubed pork butt
Most of a large leek (2 cups?)
6 small carrots (about 2 cups)
1 yellow summer squash (2 cups)
1 pack shemenji mushrooms (about 1.5 cups)
Water to cover plus a little (guessing 6-7 cups, need not be exact)
2 packets pork broth seasoning (each does 2 cups water to pork broth)
1 TB chicken broth mix (Kum Lee product)
2 dried bay leaves
3 garlic cloves *
1 ts chipotle blend seasoning
black pepper from the grinder (1 TS maybe, might be less. 'to taste')

That went on the stove at a very low simmer for about 4 hours.
Potatoes or other starches were left out as we serve it on a bowl of
rice here. The squash needed using up but it adds a nice sort of
thickness as it subsumes into the stew. Chipotle and Pork comes to the
fore but the bay leaves add a side note that you miss if not there.

* the garlic came from the crockpot and had been simmering in the
juices for about 2 hours to soft then were added at the middle of
cooking the stew, mashed up with a spoon

The rest of the pork butt will be ready in a bit (probably is now) and
will be decanted, saving the rest of the garlic (about 15 cloves) then
shredded and sauced with a mix of a local brand BBQ sauce in Hickory
and one in 'honey sweet' (results in a blend very like sweet baby ray's
but 1/3 the cost). 6-7 cloves of garlic will be mashed in there and
the rest mashed, labeled and frozen in 1 TB amounts for later uses like
smearing on fresh bread with butter for toasting to garlic bread.

Carol

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