Brain food: honey in Anzac biscuits, slow-roasting lamb and preparing kale

• Anzac biscuit recipe

Is it OK to use honey in Anzac biscuits? W. Duggan

If I were a bureaucrat working with the Department of Veterans' Affairs I would come down on you like a ton of bricks if you did. You can't call a baked good an "Anzac biscuit" unless it conforms to one of the three official recipes as listed by the Australian War Memorial, none of which has honey. They stipulate sugar or golden syrup. Honey, however, is a superior sweetener to either golden syrup or sugar, particularly if one were to be posting a box of biscuits, along with some local newspaper cuttings and warm knitted socks, to a homesick soldier or nurse entrenched in a war on the other side of the world. Honey is a natural invert sugar. It is made up of glucose and fructose and doesn't crystallise or absorb water like sugar does. Therefore baked goods made with honey keep longer. Golden syrup is almost half invert sugar and half sucrose so is almost as good as honey. Personally I don't think it matters as long as you bake enough, share them around and appreciate what others had to go through in the past, far, far from home.

I often slow roast a shoulder of lamb but find there's never enough time, especially when it's needed for Sunday lunch. R. Bailley

Wake up. Remove shoulder from the fridge. Turn the oven on as high as it will go. 260C is good. Make tea or coffee. Read the first few pages of the paper. Place the shoulder on the baking tray. Massage the shoulder with olive oil and then with salt. I personally prefer the forequarter complete with neck, ribs and fore shank. Place the tray in the centre of the oven and take yourself off for a shower and get dressed. Have another coffee. If half an hour has passed and the lamb is looking nice and brown turn the oven down to around 100C-120C and go about your business, including going to church if applicable. If not, leave the shoulder in for another 10 minutes. By the time you have done your morning's work and lunch preparation thy lamb will be done. After about four hours, take the shoulder out and let it rest for 15 minutes while you make a sauce or gravy from the juices. As it should now be quite soft, it is possible to break the meat into muscle groups using hands and a knife instead of carving off uniform slices. Serve with some lovely red wine.

I like raw kale but find it too tough. J. Anderson

• Best kale recipes

If it wasn't so bloody good for you I would despise kale and its Italian cousin, cavolo nero, simply for being so fashionable. They both have a natural waxy coating that makes water bead and roll off. This waxy cuticle, as it is known, is soluble in oil. So, wash and trim the kale then massage with a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and leave for an hour before serving. The oil removes the cuticle and the salt softens the leaves slightly. Dress and serve as usual.

brainfood@richardcornish.com.au

Twitter and Insta @Foodcornish