The Savory Side of Honey

 We'reused to using honey as a sweet ingredient. We put it in teas , breads and a variety of different desserts. Yet it can also be used in savory dishes too for a different spin. Using it gives a more mellow flavor to savory dishes.

Many home chefs will first  ask what's the better choice of honey - white or brown? From a nutritional point of view white, light or golden honey has more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Darker honey has a richer flavor which imparts an earthy sweetness on dishes. I use Carmel Honey's Company's dark Wildflower in both my tomato sauce and chili (yes!!). I like the depth it adds to both, especially the sauce. It gets rid of that tomato-y tang and mellows out the other ingredients, softening the sharp flavors of the garlic and other spices. It's usually a heaping tablespoon which should do it. If not then an extra teaspoon should do it both the sauce  and chili. Dark or light honey is also a great add in to different viniagrettes. It balances out the vinegar and adds a sweet earthiness. One great recipe is mixing light honey with olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Add salt  and pepper along with a mix of orange zest and fresh orange juice for a tasty dressing for  grilled chicken salad. The dressing gives the salad a Mandarin chicken kind of vibe. Add some fresh ginger for zing and sesame seeds for more flavor.

Honey and chicken pair well together. A fun weekday dinner idea is honey garlic chicken. It's a perfect meld of sweet and savory,Vinegar and soy sauce give the recipe that zing while light honey balances it out. To really spice it up add some sriracha sauce to it for some fire. Honey also works well as a glaze for both chicken and Cornish hens. One recipe involves  frozen orange  concentrate, lemon juice, garlic and thyme mixed with the sweet. There's also onion powder and soy sauce mixed in.It's an easy cook being boiled together in a microwave for two to three minutes (it may take longer depending on your microwave). Keep in mind that honey burns all too quickly and when you're oven roasting a chicken or game hens , baste with the honey glaze after about forty-five minutes in the oven. If the skin is burning but the meat is still raw, tent the chicken with aluminum foil to prevent burning. This will also keep cooking the chicken or Cornish hens. Of course there's nothing like honey glazed ham.It's usually pared with brown sugar for a sweet , crunchy covering that works well with the ham's saltiness.Honey also works with pork too, especially if it's paired with garlic and soy. it gives a crispness to chops and shoulders while still sealing in the juiciness.

Definitely use honey in your savory dishes. Its' sweetness gives mellowness to sauces while providing flavor to pork and chicken. Make it a part of your cooking for more variety.

Restaurant Memories Past

Restaurant critics and even authors have the best jobs - and the best memories. Although these reminiscences don't have to be from their careers. Many have great ones from their childhood that have stayed with them for decades. It just makes us go back and enjoy our own memories.

This was the lead article in today's New York Times Food section. For a few select parts of the country there are eateries open however for most of us, eating at any place still a dream. Yet everyone has memories- mostly very good about restaurants. The critics reminisced about places around the world. One of the sweetest takes place in Paris. Reviewer Ruth Reichl was in Paris with her son and husband, both not showing the same joy she had. The eatery was L'Ami Louis, a famed Parisian spot since 1924. Upon arrival her son was treated to a large dish of pomme frites, French fries, and freshly squeezed orange juice. He and another boy,possibly the child of French actress Carole Bouquet were enlisted to play games along with sharing a giant chocolate cake, His mother swooned over escargots with a garlicky sauce. There is Bill Buford's memory of a night out alone in the gastronome's capital, Lyons. It was a night out for several of the townspeople where they dined on plat principal, a meat dish, featuring chicken, fish and sweetbreads along with first fresh cheese from the nearby alps. The desserts were phenomenal from apple tart to baba rhum to fondant au chocolat.

Adam Platt, brother of actor Oliver Platt, and famed critic, wrote lovingly of meals at Taiching, a small city in Taiwan where his parents were studying Mandarin. They enjoyed Mongolian barbecue on this island of exiles who didn't agree with Maoism. It was the first time he ate scallions and tried sprigs of coriander.It was a heady mix of aromas and tastes, reminiscent of the barbecue joints of the American south. Of course, everyone has great memories of seafood restaurants. Author Carmen Maria Machado writes about  enjoying a bowl of steamed mussels and oysters during her college years in Georgetown along with a recent meal at a Red Lobster. Another Sloane Crosley wrote about everyone's favorite tiramisu and sending it to a woman she thought was Amy Poehler at the famed Soho eatery Morandi. It was a humorous and luckily salvaged  situation. Her friend knew the Amy look alike's dining partner and they sent over the dessert as a nice gesture of recognition. Aleander  Chee writes not of eating but of serving a famed star in the Eighties. Then there is writer Samantha Irby's reminiscence about eating at the Cheesecake Factory on its' opening day.It's chaos, but the place does have rock star status on the American scene along with its' famed warmed bread/

Restaurants evoke all sorts of memories and those are important right now. They make all us happy , even though they're someone else's. It what makes it fun to reminisce.

Mandarins The Fruit's World's New Stars

Tangerines or mandarin oranges have been gracing tables for decades. Now they're becoming s star player  with different varieties shining in desserts and snacks. It's no wonder. There's nothing like the sweet, sunshine taste of these tasty globes.

New writer, David Karp, wrote about them for yesterday's New York Times Food section.Mandarins are making a big comeback on American tables (although  they never really left)/ Most are being grown in California's San Joaquin Valley, in the middle of the state. California harvests a whopping 92 per cent of the harvest while Florida contributes only 8 percent. It used to be the top producer with 66 percent however crops have been previously plagued by citrus greening disease,a crippling virus that changes the color.along with obsolete seeds.Despite this , mandarins are the most popular fruit in the US with Americans consuming five pounds of them a year..Oranges  on the other hand have gone down in popularity.We have Spain to thanks for the boom along with our desire for easy to eat fruits. The first started to export seedless clementines in the 1970's to the Eastern US. Factor in our desire for snackable produce such as seedless grapes and blueberries and you have the explanation for the popularity . Two companies also jumped on this Sun Pacific and Wonderful Citrus, formerly Paramount Citrus, giving the fruit consumer grabbing  names such as Cuties and Halos. (watch their commercials - you'll be craving them in no time).

Mandarins are worth their difficult cultivation. These ancient cultivars are as difficult to raise as grapes, in their terroirs or environments and sturdiness. At their best they have a juicy tartly sweet flavor but what stores sell are sometimes tasteless and bland. Shoppers should look for the Daisy SL variety These have intensely sweet tart flesh along with a  complex , lingering aroma. Its rind is silk smooth and easily to peel off.Unfortunately the types with seeds are coming back, rendering them useless to sellers.A fierce competitor is the Japanese Dekepon or as it;s known here the Sumo. It's one of the most expensive mandarins.It is larger than the average one, with pebbly skin and a distinctive bump at the top .It's very easy to de-rind and intensely sweet but is balanced by a refreshing acidity.It is also  anywhere from four to seven dollars a pound and is sold in the pricier groceries such as Whole Foods and Wegmans. There is also a hybrid out there called Ruby Tango whose parentage is a Sicilian clementine and a blood orange. It's coming out for the first time around Valentine's Day by Sunwest Fruit Whole Foods , Fairway and Fresh Direct will be selling them. Parents will love the Seedless Kishu, a golfball sized one that's easily peelable for little hands.  The juiciest fruits should have been cultivated  by from November to  mid January in a Mediterranean kind  of climate. The season ends in mid May with Gold Nugget, another sweet and seedless variety.

Mandarins are a delicious burst of sunshine in a dull winter landscape. Indulge in the rich  Sumo or have a few Seedless Kishus with the kids. Any choice is a good choice,  All have a sweetness mingled with tartness and are fun to eat.