ورق الغار

I was skeptical dried leaves could make much difference, but simmering two in my tomato sauce gave it this subtle woodsy depth I wasn't expecting. The leaves held up through an hour of cooking without falling apart.

Dropped one in a pot of beef stew and by the end the whole kitchen smelled like my grandmother's house. The leaves held together through two hours of simmering instead of turning to mush, so fishing them out was easy.

These leaves are big and intact, no crushed-up dust at the bottom of the bag. I tossed a couple into my lentil stew and the whole pot got that deep, savory warmth I was after.