In the Cupboard

Hi folks! All Himalayan salt blocks soon to be stacked in the courtyard in front of our shop will be marked half off our retail prices for one day. Come by this Sunday, August 15 to pick out your own lovely Himalayan salt block.
We’ll also have a whole field of fresh-cut locally grown dahlias. Buy your flowers by the bucket!

For those of you wondering… A Himalayan salt block is a 500 million year old slab of luminous pink salt quarried from a primordial salt deposit in Pakistan. Use your salt block to serve fruits and cheeses, or sashimi and pickled plum, for a beautiful presentation and a delicate salt-inflected taste. Heat your Himalayan salt block on the stove or BBQ grill and sear some ginger and chili marinated shrimp or dry aged hanger steak to salt-glazed perfection. More here>>

We’ll have huge piles of salt blocks in most popular sizes like 8×8x2 inches, and 9×9x2 inches, 9 inch round plates, a stack of our uniquely huge 8×16x2 and 9×18x2 salt platters, and some smaller pieces like our 4×8x2 bricks. All blocks in the sale are offered “as-is,” meaning you are free to use them for either serving and cooking (or both), but our normal replacement guarantees against breakage do not apply. This sale is at our shop location only.

We hope to see you this Sunday!

Mark & Jennifer

P.S. In the meantime, try our latest recipe: Thai Snapper with The Meadow Flake Sea Salt.

markbitterman :: Aug.13.2010 :: Newsletter Archive :: No Comments »

Why not cool off with a summer cocktail class in pursuit of new flavors and sensations in refreshing chilly cocktails? We’ll explore artisan bitters, vermouths, salts, and infusions. Who knows where the flavors will lead us: perhaps to the classic margarita with a twist or the essential Pimm’s Cup or the overlooked Sbagliato, or to a selection of obscure and novel drinks like the Ile de Ré Cocktail (a.k.a. Pineaujito) or our very own, The Meadow Martini.  There will be sipping.

Friday, July 16th, 2010 – 7:30PM to 9:00PM – $30 – Sign up here>>

If you can’t make it for cocktails, join us for Cooking with Himalayan Salt Blocks, an evening at The Meadow learning the principles of preparing food on six hundred million year old salt blocks from Pakistan. Together we will create, cook, and present a variety of foods, from the familiar to the eccentric.  And we’ll eat a few, too. This class fills up quickly.

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 – 6:30PM – 8:00PM – $30 – Sign up here>>

Planning for the class got us hungry, so we’ve posted a new recipe, Salt Block Scallops with Szechuan Peppercorns and Citrus, on Saltnews.com. Recipe here>>

After four of the best years of our lives working at The Meadow, we’ve decided to open a second store in New York City! We’ll be located in the West Village, just a few blocks from our first apartment together.

We’re hoping to have our doors open September 1st, so stay tuned.

Mark & Jennifer

markbitterman :: Jul.11.2010 :: Newsletter Archive :: No Comments »

Father’s Day and summer are fast approaching, though it’s starting to look like here in Portland fall will get here before summer does.

In the meantime, try our latest recipe, a luscious Osso Bucco with Sel Gris Gremolata.

Or just hit the grill anyway, with a Himalayan Salt Block for the BBQ. Salt sear your salmon, tiger prawns, hangar steak, or Walla Walla onions.

We’ve also got two salt sets for summer:

Our BBQ Salt Set is a well-rounded collection of salts for every food you would want to serve at your Fourth of July barbecue.
Kauai Guava smoked salt for your burgers, Marlborough Flaky for green salads, Fiori di Cervia for grilled corn, and more.

Check out the Smoked Salt Set, with six outstanding smoked salts for all kinds of foods.
Halen Mon Gold for hearty soups, pastas, and vanilla bean ice cream, Red Alder smoked for poultry and fish, Barrique Chardonnay with eggs, pasta, and beef, plus three others.

And let’s not forget bitters. We’ve collected about 25 different types of bitters from around the world.
Dandelion Burdock bitters is the new darling in the shop, but a few bottles of the always hard-to-get Whisky Barrel Aged bitters are also still on the shelves.
These intense herbal mixes incorporate a wild pallet of spice, herb, and other aromatics to enhance the flavor of a cocktail or mixed drink, or sauces, whipped cream, waffle mix, or whatever strikes you as less than wildly flavorful.
A little dash will do. Or if bitter’s isn’t your bag, just go for our selection of six salted chocolates, a dead seriously delicious way to explore chocolate’s deepest mysteries.

markbitterman :: Jun.11.2010 :: Newsletter Archive :: No Comments »

Don’t forget your mother!

Flowers (and maybe some chocolate, salt and wine) for your mother

Come by the shop this Saturday or Sunday! Or we can deliver flowers, chocolate, and bubbly across the Portland area. Through our network of like-minded independent florists we also deliver flowers nationally. Flower delivery: toll free 888-388-4633, or order online here>>

Happy Mother’s Day from Jennifer, Mark, and staff at The Meadow!

markbitterman :: May.07.2010 :: Newsletter Archive :: No Comments »

Hi everyone! We just wrapped up an incredible week wining and dining with incredible people from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, which was held here in Portland this year. It was great to visit with so many foodies and friends and foodie-friends and house-guests, but in the melee we’ve not yet shared some great new things in the shop.

• Salted Caramel Classes
• Recipe a Week – Making the Most of Your Salt
• Join the Meadow on Facebook
• New Products!
• Free Shipping on Orders Over $35

Two Salted Caramel Classes with David BriggsJoin us for a salted caramel demonstration and tasting! David Briggs of Xocolatl de David will share his expertise
in the art of making fine caramels, and Mark Bitterman of The Meadow will
discuss the subtle, occasionally startling ways salt brings flavor and savor to
confections. We will sip a little wine, taste caramels with various quantities and
types of salt, try the caramels on different kinds of goodies, then sip a little more wine. Revel in the wild and
beautiful flavor combinations David brings to classic caramel candy. At the end of the evening, you will be taking home a little pot of
freshly made salted caramel sauce! Sign up now, space is limited!

Friday, May 7th from 7:00pm to 8:30pm – $20

Sign up>>

Tuesday, May 11th from 6:00 to 7:30pm – $20

Sign up>>

Recipe a Week – Make the Most of Your Salt

We’re proud
to present our Recipe of the Week series.
Each week (as the Fates allow) we will bring you a recipe designed to showcase the best ways to use and appreciate artisan salts with your favorite foods. Recent recipes:

	Roasted Lemon Chicken with The Meadow Sel Gris: Coarse, crunchy salts like sel gris (coarse sea salt) should be a legally required addition to roast chicken.  The real question is, should the salt go on before you tuck the bird into the oven, or after you have carved it and set it on the table?  Before you don your finest wrestling gear to settle the matter with violence, consider the possibility that both are great. More>>
	Sole with Herb Butter and Fleur de Sel de I’lle de Ré: …Fleur de sel has no higher purpose than to grace the buttery-moist flesh of sole.  The excellent fleur de sel from Ile de Ré, France, with its mineral sheen of a full moon, underscores the perfection of each of the other elements in the dish, defining their features in the most loving light.  Sole is so delicate that the grassy pungency of fresh herbs must be suffused in butter to preserve the balance of the fish… More>>
	Spring Salad: Baby Greens, Clementine, Pansy, Marlborough Flakey Salt: …I think of salad.  The tenderness of baby greens in my mouth, the citrus pop of a crescent of clementine, the bitter nip of an edible flower, all whipped into a moment of suspended perfection by a snowflake glint of Marlborough Flakey sea salt on the tongue. The spring salad clears the mind, refreshes the skies, and says through flavor what my winter weary heart yearns for… More>>

Join The Meadow on Facebook!

The Meadow is now on Facebook.
Follow us on Facebook to find out about new products, specials, classes,
and more!  You can also follow us on Twitter and
our blogs – Saltnews.com, Chocolatenews.org, and Inthecupboard.com.

New Products!

The Meadow Flake – Our
new house flake salt is intense and bright-tasting, lending a brilliant silver geometry to food and a fun, almost startling
texture. Frankly, they’re some of the biggest crystals we’ve seen –
huge pyramidal babies up to an inch across! Crunch them with your fingers or leave them whole.

Black Diamond – A blacker, visually burlier version of our popular Turkish Black Pyramid salt. This is the salt for the wild and the mild alike, from cakes of crab or codfish to banana cream pies. Seriously.

Cyprus Hardwood – Massive flakes of caramel-sweet smoke flavors (actually, it really reminds me of Wheaties!) make this salt perfect for sprinking on salads, cheeses, pastas, and oatmeal.

Lemon Flake – Its a flake salt, and it’s lemony. Try as we might to stay focused on the traditional, unflavored salts, this lemon flake salt was way too much for us to resist. At a recent dinner with chefs Andy Schloss and David Joachim at Amnesia Brewing, we lined the edge of a Dusty Trail Pale Ale with lemon salt for a palate cleanser. Amazing.

Boker’s Bitters – Founded by John G. Boker in 1828, Boker’s bitters gained popularity
in New York and around the world as the finest bitters of the Golden
Age of mixed drinks. Boker’s Bitters were famously the preferred brand
of Professor Jerry Thomas and featured throughout his book, ‘How to Mix
Drinks or The Bon Vivant’s Companion,’ now recognized as the world’s
first bartender’s guide. Referencing recipes dating back to 1853, these recreated bitters are
compounded using the finest botanicals and are once again being used around the world.

Angostura Bitters – Made since 1824 using the same secret blend of herbs and spices,
Angostura aromatic bitters is a natural, fragrant flavor enhancer.
Bitter-sweet, robust, and spicy, Angostura aromatic bitters is the
secret weapon for many great cooks, as it imparts an extra zing and
flavor intensity to a wide variety of every day food and drink recipes. Because of its delightful flavor and aroma it has become popular for
use in soft drinks, cocktails, and other alcoholic beverages. It also
imparts an exquisite flavor to soups, cereals, salads, vegetables,
gravies, fish, grapefruit, fruits, jellies, sherbets, ice cream,
sauces, puddings, mince pies, apple sauce, and more.

Free Shipping on Orders over $35

We are currently offering free shipping
to anywhere in the U.S. on orders over $35.
Do you have a friend or relative to whom you would like to introduce
artisan salts, chocolate, or bitters?
This is the perfect opportunity to do so. Our Starter Set, Fee Brothers Starter Bitters Set,
and almost all of our Cookware salt blocks all ship for free!Cheers,Jennifer & Mark

markbitterman :: May.01.2010 :: Newsletter Archive :: No Comments »