Growing up I spent my summers with my Grandparents in a small coastal town in Northumbria, set on the Eastern border of England and Scotland. During that time, my Grandfather taught me beekeeping- he had ten hives he tended, while my Grandmother would grow a vast variety of fruits and vegetables in the garden- leeks, tomatoes, raspberries, gooseberries, apples and a wide array of flowers. The cross pollination of the bees ensured this thriving garden, the food was plentiful and hand picked at its peak.
The hives would naturally swarm in the spring- often times we would see a cloud of bees from the kitchen window so we would rush to follow the swarm, collect it and introduce it into a new hive. This promoted growth and prosperity of the colonies. I was given the clippers and sent up the tree to fetch the swarm as a rite of passage, most often only wearing a t-shirt and shorts- no veil, no gloves. This early fascination with honeybees combined with hands on experience has made me what I am today. My Grandfather’s honey was truly unique in flavor and texture. It was unlike any honey I had tasted before and for many years after. It wasn’t until I became aware the reason it was so amazing was because it was truly raw, “farm style” honey that hadn’t been heated. It was honey straight from the hive. It changed flavors with the seasons, depending on what wildflowers were in bloom in the large field behind his house.
Many years later when I was a chef in the same town as the honey house, working at Shelburne Farms I became acquainted with Todd, at Honey Gardens, and he educated me on the importance of truly raw honey. As a chef, my first impression is the taste. Heated honey is muted, the delicate flavors are lost. More importantly, heating honey destroys the beneficial and medicinal elements it contains. As a chef, I am a cook. I use honey as a sweetener whenever possible. Some recipes are adaptable, some aren’t. In the lemon honey cake, honey is used in the recipe and baked. I accent this by drizzling raw honey over the top and sometimes serving it with a hunk of comb honey for textural contrast. I utilize raw honey in many other ways, finishing vinaigrettes with them, drizzling them over crepes, cheesecakes and even over the whole bruschetta tasting platter, our signature appetizer at Bolsa. It works well with all the components of this dish, sweetening up the sliced proscuitto, the smoked salmon, the tomato and goat cheese and with the sliced apples. I even drizzle it over duck breast and lamb racks. Face it, everything is better with honey.
My plead is for the youth of today to gain an interest in beekeeping and an understanding of how honeybees play such an integral part of our ecosystem. Without them, life as we know it will disappear.
My restaurant Bolsa was just awarded 2009 Restaurant of the year by D Magazine, and my pork jowl dish made the cover. We are in Oak Cliff, just south of Dallas,Texas, across the Trinity River, and we have become one of the most popular restaurants in the area; people are driving an hour to come dine, wait 1 1/2 – 2 hours for a table for my cuisine. It’s flattering and it feels like the public has an awareness of what is important and healthy. It’s an honor to be a part of that.
Best New Restaurant in Dallas
Here’s to many more years of sweetness and light,
Graham Dodds
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Honey Teriyaki Shrimp
by Ann Kennedy
1/2 cup raw honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup pineapple juice
4 Tbsp. melted butter
dash hot pepper sauce
1 lb. jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails left on
Mix first 5 ingredients. Pour over raw shrimp and marinate 10 minutes. Drain and grill shrimp over hot coals, basting occasionally, or roast in 400 degree oven until done.