Sometimes, a dish that you are making needs that little something extra and adding salt and/or pepper or another seasoning is not the right answer. Often times in these cases, I have found that—surprisingly enough—a drop or two of honey can make all the difference and really bring a recipe together, working especially well with spicy dishes.
So often, salt becomes one of the main flavorings of a dish, but it does not really add so much as mask the flavor when overused. The right amount of salt can help enhance and bring out the flavors in a recipe, but there is that fine line where it becomes too much. In those cases, I often find that a drop or so of honey is a much better option to help bring a dish alive.
Years ago, I took a cooking class from a spa chef (sadly I have since forgotten his name), and he made a comment that has long since stuck with me. He was putting a little bit of honey in each of the dishes he made and he referred to it as thinking person’s MSG. And he really nailed it because that sweetness is sometimes just the right thing to really bring out the flavors.
Prior to that, I have already started experimenting with my cooking and incorporating international flavors that often mix sweet with salty, sour, and/or spicy. I had tended to use brown sugar in some dishes to lend them a bit of sweetness, but upon discovering the versatility of honey, that became my go-to choice when looking for that little something extra to add.
It’s not going to work in everything, and you have to be careful not to add too much. Just as adding too much salt can overwhelm, you don’t want the sweet to take over the dish. You just want it to add that little bit of brightness that gets people to ask “What is that?” when eating something you have prepared.
You will find this ingredient showing up in many of the recipes that I post on this site, and you will see that I usually call for just a drop or two. Add some to guacamole, and it helps brighten up that dish while also cutting the skunkiness you sometimes get from overripe avocados. Add some to queso to give a bit of richness and less of the cheesiness of the processed cheese. Add a couple of drops to pico de gallo to counterbalance the acidity of the tomatoes and really bring all the ingredients together.
But go easy on it. Start with a drop and then decide if you need more. You can always add more, but it’s much harder to adjust when you have added too much. In some cases, I go back to brown sugar, especially when making sauce or salsa with canned tomatoes. That seems to work better than honey in those cases. But feel free to experiment and see what works for you.
Once you have the hang of it, you’ll find that the honey bear will become a fixture in your pantry and you will be reaching for it quite often. And if you are only adding a few drops, that is not bringing many calories to the plate. I recommend getting raw local honey, which should be readily available in your market. It has health benefits which means that you are not just adding flavor, but making your cooking just a little bit healthier!