Cooking with Tupelo

Many chefs have recognized tupelo honey’s unique flavor profile and are incorporating it into vinaigrettes, glazes, and as a final drizzle to dress up a dessert.

“Tupelo has this soft, floral bouquet to it, and it’s perfect by itself because of its pure flavor. It’s a great finisher too,” says Tory McPhail, executive chef of Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. He has used tupelo to drip over “funky high-end French cheeses” and over fresh roasted peaches. But he says one of his favorite ways is to mix it with Tabasco sauce and pour it over bacon-wrapped quail.

Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef Colin Flynn says he’s willing to pay more for tupelo because of its subtlety and balance. “It’s not overpowering like a lot of honeys can be,” says Flynn, owner and chef of the Brandon House restaurant in York, South Carolina. “Other honeys need something to balance them out, a piece of bread, a biscuit, something to counteract their intensity. Tupelo honey needs no such balance. I could eat it alone, by the spoonful, and be happy.” He prefers to toast his honey to bring out its flavors for a spring salad vinaigrette.
See recipes below:

Bacon-Grilled Quail with Spicy Tupelo Honey

4 quail (semi-boneless, with leg bones intact)
salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
1 jalapeno (cut lengthwise, seeded, into julienne strips)
1 oz. pepper jack cheese (cut into julienne strips)
2 slices of thick-cut bacon (cut them in half to get 1 piece per quail)

Sauce
¼ cup spring tupelo honey
2 tbsp. Tabasco sauce

Prepare a charcoal grill to low heat.

To prepare quail, lay with the skin side down. Season the meat side with salt and pepper. Divide the jalapeno strips evenly between the four quail. Divide the pepper jack evenly between the four quail. Fold half of each quail to sandwich the ingredients inside. Lay out one piece of bacon per quail. Put the quail in the center of the bacon. Wrap bacon around the quail, and secure with 1¬ or 2 toothpicks. Grill, turning once, until bacon is crispy and cheese has slightly melted, about 15 minutes.

While the quail is cooking, combine Tabasco and honey, and set aside. Serve quail over mixed greens or fresh spring fruit. Drizzle with tupelo/Tabasco sauce.

Toasted Honey Vinaigrette

½ shallot
salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
½ cup cider vinegar
1 cup tupelo honey
¾ cup oil (Flynn uses a 90/10 blend of soy and olive oil)

Brunoise (very fine dice) shallot, and combine with salt, pepper, and vinegar. Let sit for 10 minutes. This “cooks” the shallot and allows its flavors to combine and penetrate into the vinegar. This also allows the salt to dissolve into the vinegar. Flynn tends to go heavy on the black pepper because he likes how it counteracts with the honey once combined.

Put the honey in a sauté pan or saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat for around 5 minutes. It will start to bubble and take on a darker color as it cooks. Let the honey cool, and then add it to the vinegar mixture. If you add it while it's hot, it will bubble up and could potentially cause injury, so it's best to let it cool a bit beforehand. Once the honey is cooled and mixed with the vinegar, slowly whisk the oil into the mixture. (Use a whisk, not an immersion blender. An immersion or even a regular blender will add air to the vinaigrette.) Flynn uses a 90/10, soy/olive oil blend because too much olive taste would distort the flavor of the vinaigrette. A more neutral oil allows the flavors of the honey, shallot, vinegar, and pepper to work together and stand out.