EDBK Winter Social 5th December 2024
Cooking with Honey
At the start of the meeting Hilary Kirkcaldie, our President, gave a tribute to David Wiscombe, a founder member of the group who passed away recently. This was followed by a minute of respectful silence. The full text of the tribute can be found HERE.
The Tasting
Attended by nearly 50 members
Over the last year a beekeeper from Bradford BKA called Diane Shepstone has published a series of recipes in BBKA News featuring honey as an ingredient. The illustrations looked enticing so we asked our members if they would be prepared to try some of these recipes and share the results with everyone at a winter meeting.
The response was immediate, with eight intrepid volunteers taking away a recipe of their choice to practice and prepare for the tasting event. Although this was not seen as a cookery competition, we also devised a simple scoring system, just to find out how popular the dishes were.
Who selected which dishes?
We had two savoury dishes, Nick with Honey Glazed Sesame Tofu and Roger with Honey Glazed Brussel Sprouts (not a BBKA recipe).
Ingredients
750g Brussel sprouts.
15ml cooking oil, what ever type you use.
20g honey (I used fermented).
Salt (quantity to suit your dietary preference).
30ml balsamic vinegar.
Optional, 1-2 cloves garlic (minced).
Cooking
This recipe is quick and easy and can be modified to suit your tastes. I preheated the oven at 200°C while preparing the sprouts (slicing in half cooks more quickly).
If using garlic, mix oil and garlic, then toss the sprouts in the mixture, otherwise just use the oil.
Now spread the sprouts on a baking tray and cook for 15-20 minutes.
Make a mixture of the honey and balsamic vinegar to brush the sprouts with. Put back in the oven until they are crisp and brown. Use salt to taste.
Perfect for a Christmas lunch!
Honey glazed sesame tofu
Honey Glazed Sprouts
Honey pumpkin scones
Earl Grey tea bread
Coconut crumbles
Honeyed Tarte Tatin
Clementine Cranachan with Honey Shortbread
Toasted Pecan, Olive oil and Honey Granola
Val tried Honey Pumpkin Scones made with pumpkin or butternut squash. Milly made the Honey and Earl Grey Tea Bread. Jessica tackled the Coconut Crumbles while Anita M produced the Honeyed Tarte Tatin (actually, a recipe by Nigella). Finally, Annie made a splendid Clementine Cranachan with Honey Shortbread, while Anita R completed the offerings with Toasted Pecan, Olive oil and Honey Granola. The sources of the recipes are listed at the end of this report, should you wish to try them.
Some comments gleaned from the cooks and tasters are worth noting. A common problem with honey recipes is compensating for the water content of the honey. It can easily make recipes, such as shortbread or scones, too hard or too crumbly. Our cooks did well to judge water content about right.
Another problem area is judging cooking time versus cooking temperature. A short cook at high temperature is liable to burn the honey, whereas too low a temperature will fail to develop the full flavour of the ingredients.
After introducing the dishes and the cooks to the assembled army of tasters we were invited to 'get tasting'. When each taster had sampled as many dishes as they wished they were asked to put a slip of paper with the name of their favourite dish into a central collection box. At the end of the evening, these slips were counted to give a rough indication of the popularity of each recipe.
And the favourites were.....
3rd Honeyed Tarte Tatin
2nd Honey Glazed Sesame Tofu
1st Toasted Pecan, Olive Oil and Honey Granola
When asked why the preference, people cited versatility, healthy eating and quick and easy to make.
If anyone needed more food or drink there were mince pies plus tea and coffee on offer.
As usual, our winter Social would not be complete without the Grand Raffle. Organised by Kim and Alasdair, the prizes were artfully displayed, encouraging members to buy lots of tickets.
Val warmly congratulated our volunteer cooks, refreshment organisers and everyone who had helped to make the evening go smoothly. The sources of the recipes are given below:
| BBKA News issue | Recipe |
| January 2024 | Clementine cranachan and honey shortbread |
| March 2024 | Toasted pecan, olive oil and honey granola |
| April 2024 | Honey and Earl Grey tea bread |
| May 2024 | Honey glazed sesame tofu |
| July 2024 | Coconut crumbles |
| September 2024 | Honeyed Tarte Tatin |
| October 2024 | Honey pumpkin scones |