To celebrate Mother’s Day, we caught up with Chef Mark Best (known for his Sydney restaurant Marque) to ask what it’s like to be in the kitchen with his Mum. We were also lucky enough to have Mark share his great grandmother’s Honey Biscuit recipe with us. Keep reading to see what we found out!
What’s your favourite memory of yourself and your mum in the kitchen?
The one that sticks with me most is the time my sister Cassie and I decided to bake mum a birthday cake for her birthday. We would have been 9 and 10 yo. Packet sponge – no issue – icing – icing sugar, water, egg white “didn’t mum say to add lemon juice to make it go hard?” 4 lemons later and the icing is a runny mess and mum cam home to find us both howling in defeat. She iced the cake and still feigned surprise when we presented it with a song and many candles.
What’s the best cooking hack you’ve learnt from your mum?
To never waste anything. Ever.
In what ways do you think you’re like your mum?
Looks. Dogmatic approach. Stubborn beyond all reason.
Are there any of your mum’s cooking habits that annoy you when you cook together?
She refuses to stick to the recipe
Why have you chosen the recipe below in particular to share with us for Mother’s Day?
Because it is fraught with so much memory dating back to my earliest recollections. It defined Christmas time for us. The little gingerbread man is missing a foot because that’s how kids eat them. They can be unnecessarily cruel.
This recipe was passed down from Mark Best’s great grandmother (mum’s side).
Prep time: approx. 30 minutes plus overnight refrigeration | Baking time: 20 minutes
Makes a lot
Ingredients
900g runny honey
450g raw (demerara) sugar
4 whole eggs,
1.7 kg plain (all-purpose) flour
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
To Decorate
Sugared almonds
240 g (81⁄2 oz) icing (confectioners’) sugar
1 egg white
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method
Image features: Jacquie Best, Mark Best and Ethan (Taken at the Blue Mountains, 2005)
Image credit: Mark Best & Petrina Tinslay (Honey Biscuit Image)
Click here to read Alice Zaslavsky’s Cooking With Mum Mother’s Day feature.
Click here to read Seth James’ Cooking With Mum Mother’s Day feature.
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