Finishing up a meal in the crock pot for the missionaries who are coming to dinner, and I just fished the bay leaves from the crock pot and it got me thinking: Do these things actually do anything for the dish? They don't have a particularly strong odor. Would anybody actually notice if you just left them out while it's cooking? Why do recipes call for them?
Maybe I'll add this to the list of things that I do even though I can't tell a difference when I do them (also on this list is rinsing rice before cooking it - it seems like it's the exact same thing whether it's been rinsed or not - I can't tell a difference).