(for god’s sake, do I really want to share this?)
Uuuuhhh… okay, the other night I was trying to do a quickie, half-arsed Borscht-test for the first time ever, and… it kinda kicked my arse?
Here’s the goods–
Ukrainian Borscht recipe, as shared here:
https://piefed.social/post/1960602
And… instead of powdering the bay leaves, or just leaving them intact, in a major-genius move, I decided to break them up in to chunks, for the soup, to better-quickly disseminate. I kinda just do that in general, because I like fibre in my diet, if that makes sense.
Flash-forward 45min, and my half-arsed Borscht-test absolutely came out BEAUTIFULLY. Like- total beet-taste, lovely potato chunks, nice cabbage-part, excellent seasonings (“hot,” as I always like it), no sugar added, and I was sooooo proud of myself.
Except that, my throat kept scratching for the next hour. I figured it was just one little bit that I needed to swallow down, and did all I could on that score. Then I figured that maybe I’d carelessly scratched-up my esophagus via whatever? Yeah well, whatever, that should heal fast, dude.
Except no-- it just didn’t go away, like a PITA post-nasal drip at its worst. (raise your hand…)
Eh, so after an hour of stupid mind-games such as that, something still seemed wrong at a fundamental level, so I grabbed my best, completely overpowered torch*, went to the bathroom mirror, and took a good, hard look. So far so good, everything seemed intact! Then I reached down to manually open my throat, and VOILA, the immediate prolonged hacking response, and a HUGE chunk of bay leaf I coughed up. oO
Holy shit, ma dudes. Bonus points for that chunk being hilariously Brasil-shaped roughly, as I’ve been listening to a lot of Bossa Nova lately. (I swear)
In any case, PLEASE be careful with yon Bay Leaf chunks out there, my friends. It’s really kind of a badass, in truth… oO
(note to myself: “good job, dude, now everyone across the Fediverse knows that you’re a complete idiot” XD)
* lithium-battery flashlight in this case, rather blinding in most cases
Maybe i’m missing something here, but i’ve never in my life encountered a recipe where you’d let the bay leaves in the meal. The way i learned to use them you’d add a whole leaf or three at some point and remove them once the meal is finished. Maybe it’s a cultural thing? But it’s really wired to me to leave them in. I checked your recipe and it dosn’t say anything about removing them.
So you actually eat them?
In many Indian recipes you toast and finely powder them as part of a spice mix, obviously those are left in, and it’s also a slightly different variety of bay tree. But in European cooking I’ve also only ever seen them taken out after simmering. Although I’m often too lazy and just take them out on my plate.
So you actually eat them?
It’s kind of a long-running experiment, TBH. I thought I might have explained it above, but at some point I realised that we moderns were probably tossing lots of useful plant parts that are actually good for us in various ways. Common pros would be fibre, antioxidants, vitamins and such.
So at a certain point I tried to start leaving as much as I could, just chomping it down. For example, leaving in seeds and white interior areas from bell peppers, or the white areas of watermelons, etc. Unless of course there are health concerns, as I discovered here. :S
It’s fine to use powdered bay leaf in places where whole wouldn’t work, such as in an herb rub for smoked meat. It’s safe as long as you grind it finely. I use whole any time I can because grinding it is a pain.
I thought this was going down the route of an allergic reaction. Made me want to make borscht.
Glad you’re doing alright.
Thanks! It’s really delicious, just on its own.
I honestly don’t get why the traditional recipes call for so much artificial sugar.
It’s completely unneeded, IME.I believe when it comes to adding sugar to savoury foods, it’s commonly done to counter astringency or to round off acidity a little. I know it’s decently common in e.g. tomato soup. It’s all up to individual preference though. As someone who just quit sugary things cold turkey some years ago I get not wanting to add it. Onions and beetroots are plenty sweet as it is.
Oh yeah. Never added sugar to borsch myself. Maybe a bit of maple syrup because it is a necessary nutrient for Canadians.
At least that would be adding an interesting flavor!
I actually have some maple syrup hot sauce (actually comes in a glass grenade, haha) that I wouldn’t mind trying out next time I make this.
Was this your first time cooking with bay leaves?
No, been using them here and there for years. As stated, I was just extremely careless with how I prepared them, here. And sometimes ambition can backfire…
So that’s what the bay leaf does
When i first started cooking, i didn’t get the importance of bay leaves. Now i can’t imaging meaving them out.
I make a red beans and rice dish, and bay leaves really brings it together. 🤤
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