Bay Leaf (laurel)

When I first planted my Bay leaf it had come in a 4-inch container from Home Depot. Its root growth was so vigorous that I had to move it to a container. Unfortunately I neglected it, i.e not watered it enough for a long period of time, so it became stunted but not dead.

I gave it some water and here is a picture of my bay laurel in a pot faraway from the house where you can see some new growth.


Bay leaf comes in handy to a viarety of dishes like stew and soup. I swear the secret to my spaghetti bolognaise and bison stew is that I usually throw in a handful of bay leaves when I make these dishes. With the abundance of bay leaves, I've recently expiremented with making my own ham. I went to Ralphs and saw Fresh Pork Shoulder Picnic Roast for 99cents/lb, something overcame me when I purchased the whole leg(10 lbs), a big piece of meat that I knew my family couldn't finish. But I have the same urge as any woman when she encounters something on sale, be it clothes or meat.

Here is a recipe I dug out from the Chez-Panisse Cookbook by Alice Waters. I made the following brine and refrigerated it for 2-3 days using the herbs from my garden: marjoram, thyme, bay leaves.

1/4 cup of salt
2 gallons warm water
coriander seeds
black peppercorns
juniper berries
bay leaves
fresh thyme
fresh marjoram

meat must be completely submerged


Here is the meat towel dried.


It was grilled at a very low temperature, cooked for 4-5 hours, and here is how it turned out. I could use the kitchen oven but I didn't want to heat up the house and then have to pay for air conditioning as well as the heat.


This big piece of ham will be used in a variety of dishes this week.