Today's excerpt from Diary of a Tuscan Chef contains Chef Casella's thoughts on bay leaves and how he came to fully appreciate them. Try some of his tips as to how you can utilize bay leaves in your own cooking for a truly Italian meal.
Bay Leaf
Bay leaf, what we call in Italian alloro, is so common in Tuscany that it’s used to make funeral wreaths, as hedges to divide neighboring properties, and to hide anything unsightly- even garbage dumps. I sometimes use bay leaf in boiled chestnuts, pork livers or game dishes, but I never really appreciated alloro until I went to Arpege in Paris and ate Dover Sole with fresh bay leaves stuffed between the flesh and the skin. It was one of the most memorable dishes of my life. Its difficult to find fresh bay leaf in the United States, and its also expensive. Bay leaf is ofter available only in the dried form- either the California or Turkish variety. Both types taste different from the Tuscan alloro but add subtle flavor to everything from soups to vegetables.
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