In the Cupboard

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 »

• Flowers Delivered Locally and Nationwide
• Join us for a Valentine’s Day Chocolate Tasting
• Valentine’s Day Salt and Chocolate Set
• Our Largest Himalayan Salt Blocks Yet!

Valentine’s Day is one of our favorite times of the year in the shop. The shelves are heavy with beautiful, hand-made chocolate bars. The flowers… everywhere, bunched in vases, clustered on tables, in bouquets set on counters and shelves, in buckets overflowing into the courtyard… And everybody is jubilantly walking out the door with a bottle of Champagne or sparkling for a romantic evening with their love.

Flowers for your Valentine

Send flowers to your loved ones! We deliver flowers, chocolate, and bubbly across the Portland area. And through our network of like-minded independent florists we deliver flowers anywhere nationally or internationally. Please call us, or order online for all your flower delivery wants and needs! And in the shop over the next weeks we’ll have an especially magnificent supply of fresh, beautiful flowers of the most classic and unusual varieties. Flower delivery: toll free 888-388-4633, or order online here>>

Classes at The Meadow

The Meadow is hosting two fun, informative, and delicious classes in February.

Chocolate Event - 02/11/2010 – Join us for an exploration of chocolate, from the humble bean to the masterful dark and milk chocolate bar. Wine included. Space is very limited, so sign up now! Thursday, February 11, 2009 – 6:00pm to 7:30pm – $20

Click here to purchase tickets for this class>>

Artisan Salt Event - 02/23/2010 -
Learn the fundamentals of artisan salt, discuss their individual characters, and explore how they combine to bring newfound pleasures to your table, from breakfast to dinner, from cocktails to dessert. The event includes wine.
Space is
limited! Tuesday, February 23, 2010 – 7:00pm to 8:30pm – $20

Click here to purchase tickets for this class>>

Valentine’s Salt and Chocolate Set

Sate the senses with our 2010 Valentine’s
Salt and Chocolate collection. Three of our most beautiful and distinctive pink salts – Murray Darling, Maboroshi Plum, and Himalayan Pink
with a salt cellar. Plus a stack of ten Pralus 75% mini-chocolates, each made with cocoa beans from a different part of the world. All wrapped up in a flip-top woven basket. Or check out our Sweet Valentine’s collection of Champagne, plum salt, and a chocolate bar. Or build your own basket with salted caramels, a little bubbly, and a bouquet of flowers!

Our Biggest Salt Blocks Yet!

The Meadow is now proud to carry our largest, highest quality salt blocks yet. Two new sizes – 9×18x2in and 10×10x2in – provide an excellent medium for grilling a whole fish, ample real estate for showing off at a dinner party, and an expansive topography for arranging appetizers. The 9×18x2 is now our largest standard size Himalayan salt block–big enough to span your gas grill or even straddle two burners of a home or commercial stove!. Wholesale available.

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

markbitterman :: Feb.05.2010 :: Newsletter Archive :: No Comments »

The Bitter Truth, a brand of cocktail bitters and flavorings, is officially bringing its award-winning products to the United States.  At The Meadow we’ve carried The Bitter Truth for a while now, but the move to take on an national distributor signals a big ramp-up in their North American marketing efforts.  Some flavors will apparently not be introduced here, though Jennifer and I will continue to order those from Germany directly as long as they allow us to.

Founded in 2006, by mixologists Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauck, The Bitter Truth offers bartenders a broad range of cocktail seasonings and flavors.  The products that will be available in the U.S. include the award winning Celery Bitters, Old Time Aromatic Bitters, Orange Bitters, Lemon Bitters, as well as the Bittermens Xocolatl Mole and Grapefruit Bitters. All bitters are priced at $15.95 for a 200 ml bottle. A coveted item by bartenders around the world, The Bitter Truth Bitters can now be purchased nationwide.

Originally used as a pharmaceutical elixir, bitters were one of the main ingredients in the earliest cocktail recipes. With the resurgence of classic cocktail culture and growth of contemporary mixology, The Bitter Truth’s products have found great favor amongst the best bartenders in the world.  The Bitter Truth line of products helps bring complexity to cocktails and are intended to be another tool for bartenders and mixologists to create unique, creative and innovative cocktails.

“Bringing the bitters to America has been our dream,” says Stephan Berg, co-founder of The Bitter Truth, “but finding the right importing and distribution partner has been our greatest challenge. The Classic and Vintage Artisanal Spirits Portfolio has the background in specialty spirits and nation-wide reach that we need in order to make this a success.”

markbitterman :: Dec.30.2009 :: Drink, Uncategorized :: No Comments »

Time to brine your Turkey! Try our very own Thanksgiving turkey brining recipe, for

moister, more tender, richer-flavored Turkey than you ever thought possible.
The secret,

predictably enough, is in the salt! Recipe here>>

A reminder, we still have space in the Dec. 7th Chocolate Class, looking at the dark

beauty of chocolate from birth as a bean to transcendence as a bar! Tickets here>>

Himalayan salt block with Venchi 75% dark chocolate and strawberries, catapulted into

a new flavor orbit will with a fresh and clear Halen Mon Silver salt from Wales.

Special Holiday Hours: staying open late!

• November 27 to December 11, open Mon-Sat 10-7, Sun 11-6.
• December 12 to
  24, open Mon-Sat 10-8, Sun 11-6.
• Closed Christmas Day.
• December 26 to 31, open Mon-Sat 10-7, Sun 11-6.
• Closed New Year’s Day.

Come in and taste some of the wonderful new wines, or sample a chocolate, or make a

flower arrangement for your desk or the dining room table.

Cheers!
Jennifer & Mark

markbitterman :: Nov.23.2009 :: Newsletter Archive :: No Comments »

• Baskets for the Holidays
• Join us for a Salt Tasting Class, Bitters and Vermouth Class, or a Chocolate and Wine Class
• Seven New Salt Blocks are Back in Stock
• Parameswaran’s Black and White Pepper is back!
• Drink- NewWine, Bitters, and Syrups:
  • World-Class Bitters – Add something special to your mixed drinks
  • Over 90 differentwines
  • Syrups by Robert Lambert
• Also, The Meadow’s salted chocolates are back on the shelves, and in force! Below, our 75% dark chocolate from São Tomé, combined with six different artisan salts. Available in the shop and online here>>

Baskets

Celebrate fall or warm up for winter with a basket of everything you need. A combination of salt, wine, chocolate & flowers will keep you in the pink as the weather cools. Pick from our own selection of pre-designed baskets, or put together one for yourself. Click here to start assembling your perfect basket.

Plus, baskets are handy for packing or storing things, and Mark has a bunch of new salts (somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen), so if you haven’t tried Kona or Timbuktu or Fiori di Trapani, come by and we’ll sort you out with something new.

Three New Classes at The Meadow

The Meadow will host three public classes in November and December. If you would like to arrange a private event, give us a call!

Bitters and Vermouth – 11/23/2009 – Bitters and vermouth, the two powerhouses of flavor in the world ofcocktail mixing. Gone are the days when a sticky bottle ofsupermarket-industrial vermouth gathered dust in the back of thecupboard, and the bitters bottle lurked eternally, an ancient thingforgotten in the shadows.

The Meadow now offers a huge selectionof the finest artisan bitters of the world: cardamom, whisky barrel,celery, rhubarb, lavender, and many more! And vermouths, from the gentlecaress of Dolin dry to the volcanic passion of Punt e Mes, there is nobetter way to take your drinks to their limits of flavor, aroma, andbody. This tasting class will take in the new vista of artisan-madebitters and vermouths, discuss how and why they’re made, and dive into waysto use them to their full potential. Must be 21 years of age to attend!Plenty of sipping included.

Monday, November 23, 2009 – 7:00pm to 8:30pm – $25 – Remember to print out your online receipt and bring it with you for admittance.

Click here to purchase tickets for this class>>

Artisan Salt Tasting – 11/9/2009 – Once you start to think about salt as a strategic ingredient in your cooking, everything changes. This class will explore how to take advantage of the unique character of artisan salts, from the classic fleur de sel to the novel smoked salt. During a survey of the basic types of artisansalt we’ll discuss novel but immensely effective approaches to using salt in every food from snacks like popcorn and guacamole, to dinners like leg of lamb and mushroom risotto, to desserts like tarte tatin and semifreddo. And we won’t forget cocktails. The event now includes a demonstration of cooking on Himalayan Salt Blocks. The class is accompanied by wine, plus there’s always a bite of chocolate to send you off into the night. Space is verylimited, so sign up quick!

Monday, November 9, 2009 – 6:00pm to 7:30pm – $20 – Remember to print out your online receipt and bring it with you for admittance.

Click here to purchase tickets for this class>>

Chocolate, from Bean to Bar- 12/7/2009 – The chocolate bar: dark and impenetrable, an immaculate mystery wrappedin silver foil. Chocolate bars are the ultimate way to experience thefull complexity of chocolate, and the only way to explore theinnumerable variations in color, aroma, mouth-feel, and flavor. Join usfor an exploration of chocolate, from the humble bean slipping aroundinside the silken purse of a cacao pod in a tropical rainforest to themasterpieces in dark and milk chocolate calling like polychrome parrotsfrom the shelves of your favorite chocolate shops. We’ll tastechocolate in its various forms along the way, savor the art of seriouschocolate tasting, and finish with a few creative ideas for enjoying onyour own. Wine included.

Monday, December 7, 2009 – 7:00pm – 8:30pm – $25 – Remember to print out your online receipt and bring it with you for admittance.

Click here to purchase tickets for this class>>

Seven Salt Blocks Fresh in from the Salt Mines!

Seven of our most popular salt blocks are now back in stock and ready for your fruit, cheese, fish, steak, sushi, salads, and more. We carry the widest selection of salt plates, platters, bricks, and bowls in the world so that you can find the perfect block for your culinary needs.

Wholesale supplies available.

2×2x2 Cubes
9×9x2 Extra Large Blocks
8×8x2 Large Blocks
8×4x0.75 Serving Trays
8×2x0.75 Sushi Sticks
6×9x2 Large Tiles
4×4x4 Large Cubes

Parameswaran’s Pepper is Back in Stock!

Playful and a touch wild, but sophisticated and regal, like a Ferris wheel in the Tuilleries of Paris, crack this pepper and release the unfathomable depths of the world’s greatest pepper. Parameswaran’s Black Pepper is a mixture of Karimunda and Panniyor varieties of black pepper, specially selected for their flavor and quality. The vines grow up to 30 to 40 feet high on host trees (silver oaks) and are harvested only when fully ripened on the vine. A vine may
be harvested 10 to 12 times by men who climb bamboo poles made specially to prevent damage to the vines. After drying and cleaning, the pepper is immediately packed on the plantation to preserve its peak flavor.

Each jar of Parameswaran’s Black Pepper is about six inches tall and includes whole stems with the peppercorns still attached. Just put the pepper, stem and all, into your pepper mill and you’re good to go! Click here to buy.
We think it’s in a class by itself, the finest black pepper in the world.

Parameswaran’s White Pepper is more intense, with clear, wonderful floral notes setting it in a class by itself among white peppers. It comes from ripe (black) berries that are soaked in daily changes of spring water for 20 days before the outer black husk is removed. The result is an entirely different, fresher range of flavors and an almost imperceptibly more aggressive heat. We can’t get enough. Try it on melted goat cheese & frisée salad and Marlborough Flakey sea salt. Click here to buy.

New Artisan Bitters on the Shelves, Plus Wines Now Available Online

With colder months ahead of us and the fixing for grandma’s roast hen with winter roots suddenly suddenly back in the fridge (salted with sel gris!), it’s time to think of the wines that will bring comfort and spice to your meals. We’ve expanded our selection in the last few weeks, and brought most everything we carry to our website to boot. Over 90 new wines are up online, and we’re working on reviews for each. Please feel free to share your thoughts!

We’ve also continued to expand our selection of artisan bitters. Cocktails, coffee, ice cream, waffle batter, sauces, you name it, bitters offer amazing ways to make fun and creative new dishes, or add a special extra flavor to your cocktails. Celery, chocolate, lavender, peach, orange, and more – we have the tartness, zest, sweetness, and pungency you need to make your drinks distinctive and lively. Click here to see our full selection.

We hope to see you in the shop or at a class!
Jennifer & Mark Bitterman

The Meadow
salt – chocolate – wine – flowers
503-288-4633 – 3731 N. Mississippi Ave. – Portland Or

markbitterman :: Nov.09.2009 :: Newsletter Archive :: No Comments »