24 / April 2012
I WAS (A) SALTED TONIGHT!!
Cooks Pots and Table Tops had another great cooking class, bringing in The King Of Salt (my title!!), Mark Bitterman, the author of “SALTED, A MANIFESTO ON THE WORLDS MOST ESSENTIAL MINERAL, WITH RECIPES” and owner of The Meadow, a Salt, Chocolate, Drink and Flower shop in Portland,OR and the West Village in NYC.
Mark Bitterman, Selmier at The Meadow was a very knowledgeable and entertaining instructor. His knowledge of salt was amazing, only slightly less than his spot on impersonation of Julia Childs. It was worth the price of admission!!
The stand off between Keith Ellis of Cooks Pots and Table Tops and Mark Bitterman was brief and after light banter between them, the class was off and running. The first part of the class was focused on learning about salt, focusing on three foundation salts and three fun finishing salts. It was great to learn about the foundation salts and to appreciate the nuances between the different salts. FYI, Fleur de Sel is a great all purpose finishing salt Kauai Guava Smoked salt goes great on popcorn and vanilla ice cream!!
The second part of the class was the food demonstration, with Mark showing how to prep on both a cold and a heated Himalayan Salt Block. Keith prepped the salmon and had everyone suffering from knife envy when he pulled out his Shun Reserve knife and did the honors. To be honest I think his knife skills would have made a butter knife look good. The demonstration showed how easy it is to prepare and cook food on the Himalayan Salt Blocks
The first course was mozzarella and green apple on the cold salt block. It was amazing how quickly it soaked up the salt flavor and how easy it was to prepare a great starter.
Next we had fresh caught Chinook salmon, purchased at Newman’s Fish Market, cold cured on the salt block then served with fresh wassabi paste. I do have to put in a plug for Newman’s Fish Market here in Eugene, it is about as good as it gets. If you haven’t been there I highly recommend you stop and shop, they are friendly and knowledgeable, which makes for great shopping and great eats!!
The hot salt block demonstration was seared scallops, also purchased at Newman’s, and a flank steak sliced and seared. Like the salmon and the scallops from Newman’s, good meals begin with quality ingredients and Long’s Meat Market is as good on the turf as Newman’s is on the sea. Like my pitch for Newman’s, I have to highly recommend Long’s Meat Market for your quality meat products for quality meals.
The evening ended with a chocolate fondue cooked in a salt bowl … so decadent and so easy to prepare, life this good seems like it shouldn’t be this easy!!
Thank you Mark Bitterman, Salted, The Meadow, for an outstanding informational and entertaining class. You know the teaching is good when you can replicate the lesson and my salt block seared scallops were as good as I’ve ever prepared!
Thank you Kathy and Keith at Cooks Pots and Table Tops for providing another great class and thank you Rosa for the outstanding help in making the class go as well it is does. If you love cooking, love food or both, then I highly recommend taking a class at Cooks Pots and Table Tops. I can almost guarantee that you will not be disappointed!!
The menu was mouth watering, as you can see listed in the picture above.
The main dish was plated after much anticipation, the aromas making the mouth water and then there was no disappointment when it came to the tasting!
The Brown Sugar Roasted Pineapple served with Lochimead Vanilla Ice Cream was an unexpected treat. If there waso nly one thing I could make from this dinner, this dessert course would hands down be my choice!!
Then with a flourish of the pen and the flick of a page the evening ended with another great cooking class experience provided by 
