But ketchup, now that’s the stuff. I honestly don’t know if I can ever get enough on a burger, on hash browns, on onion rings–and it is the raison d’être for my meatloaf.  Make that ketchup at home, inveigle a little steak sauce zestiness into it and then some, and you have a ketchup fit for slurping right out of the bottle.  Here’s a close approximation of my home recipe.  There’s no added sugar in this recipe because the raisins do the talking. I make this recipe by feel–so follow your heart and adjust according to your own instincts.

Makes about 1.5 quarts

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, diced
3 8oz cans unsalted stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
2 cups raisins
2 guajillo chilis or 1 generous pinch of red pepper flakes
¼ cup cider vinegar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground clove
1 teaspoon allspice
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
1 tablespoon orange zest
Water
Fleur de sel

Heat olive oil, onion, and garlic in large heavy saucepan, sauté until translucent.  Add all the other ingredients except the ginger, water, and fleur de sel.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  Fill blender ¾ full. Add the ginger and orange zest.  Add a little water.  Pour through strainer (not sieve) and strain into large saucepan.  Blend and strain the remaining mixture.  Add water to achieve desired consistency.  Add fleur de sel to taste.  Simmer for 10 minutes and pour into sterilized jars.  Keeps for several months in the refrigerator.

The Making of Bob’s Liquorice Bitters

Bob told me a bit about the genesis of this bitters:

“The Liquorice Bitters have become a popular ingredient for the British bartender.  Originally, a bartender I have worked with in the past asked me if there was anything on the market using liquorice and, as I was not aware of any such product, I decided to try to create my own.  It is an excellent mixer with rum, whisky, gin, and Galliano (as this contains liquorice).”

And how is this bitters made? Seemingly quite easily, from what Bob says. He essentially just steeps licorice root in neutral grain alcohol. However, a trained hand, trial and error, and strategic timing must come into play with this “bespoke” bitters:

“The main challenge was to capture the natural bittersweetness of the root.  Toward the end of the maceration period when the bitter element was introduced, the main challenge was to ensure that it did not become too bitter. This would detract from the natural liquorice flavor.”

Liquorice? Really?

I personally don’t care much for the flavor of licorice–that cloying bitterness shared with anise and fennel–but was pleasantly surprised by the subtle part the root played in this simultaneously sweet and woody mixture.  Bob explains further:

“Contrary to popular belief, the anise and liquorice plants are actually not related and their flavors differ.  Anethole is the compound found in both plants and this is very aromatic, hence the similar scent from the two.  Liquorice is naturally sweet; in fact it is sweeter than sugar.  Often when candies are made using liquorice, aniseed oil is added to enhance the flavor; however, in its natural form liquorice has a milder flavor.”

The singularity of Bob’s Bitters goes beyond the flavors themselves. The packaging, particularly the uniquely shaped dropper, is something all its own.

“As you are aware, the range of Bob’s Bitters are very concentrated; therefore it was essential that measurements could be precise when adding to cocktails.  With regards to the pipette and bottle, these give the impression of a tonic from the Victorian era. The kiwi on the label partly came from the vision of the shape of the pipette as well as the fact that the New Zealand kiwi has a very acute sense of smell, which in turn relates to the aromatic scent of each of the Bob’s Bitters flavor range.”

Liquorice Bitters in Context

Liquorice is probably not a flavor most American bartenders are accustomed to using. Bob recommends using it just as you would use Angostura bitters in an Old Fashioned. For the aspiring mixologist, Bob sent me a recipe developed by Ago Perrone, bartender for London’s luxury hotel The Connaught:

Martini L’Autentico

⅓ oz Galliano l’Autentico
½ oz Tio Pepe (dry sherry)
1 shot Bols Genever
½ tsp Liquorice Bitters

Stir over ice then strain. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Bob hasn’t played around with using his Liquorice Bitters in food yet, but he theorizes it could make for a nice vinaigrette–a notion I’ve since successfully put to the test. Home-made cinnamon buns brushed with a glaze containing several droppers-full is also nice.

Bob’s Liquorice Bitters and his other artisan bitters,  can be found online at The Meadow and are open to taste in both of our shops. Check out Bob’s Abbotts Bitters, Bob’s Cardamom Bitters, Bob’s Chocolate Bitters, Bob’s Coriander Bitters, Bob’s Ginger Bitters, Bob’s Grapefruit Bitters, Bob’s Lavender Bitters, Bob’s Orange & Mandarin Bitters, Bob’s Peppermint Bitters, and Bob’s Vanilla Bitters.

New varieties of bitters are coming on the market every day. Nowhere are both the growth and diversity of the bitters world more evident than with Orange Bitters. We decided to sit down around the benches outside The Meadow with a gaggle of employees and cocktail aficionados to get to the bottom of this delicious subject.

Orange bitters are the most versatile and popular flavor of bitters. The orange plays beautifully off the herbaceous botanicals of gin, lifts up the treacle-spiciness of rum, and ensnares the fiery caramel flavors of good bourbon. More importantly, in today’s ever-expanding landscape of cocktails, orange bitters sharpen the flavors of ingredients that might otherwise might be uncooperative or ungainly. In other words, orange bitters not only adds complexity to an already good cocktail, a dash here and there can also fix one that, try as you might, just doesn’t add up.

All that being said, not all orange bitters are created equal. Some are one-note, some are intriguingly multifaceted, some are bitter, some are less so, or not at all. It starts with a bitters maker’s choice of base alcohol. Though a neutral grain alcohol like Everclear is probably most common, one may opt for rum, whiskey, gin, etc. Some may eschew alcohol altogether in favor of glycerin–a choice some believe ultimately disqualifies the resulting product as a bitters. The bittering agents too can vary. Gentian root extract is the most prevalent, but others include quassia, calamus, and angelica root–or any combination of one or more of them.

Then there are the rest of the flavoring agents.

In orange bitters as with any bitters, fragrant roots, herbs, spices, barks, fruits, or even meats–forsooth, bacon-flavored bitters do exist. It might be a simple, single-note recipe, or a wild compendium of diverse flavors. Different brands of orange bitters derive characteristic flavors not just from the different varietals of orange and citrus, but also the different parts of the fruit: blossom, peel, pith, flesh, juice, etc.

Maceration, where the ingredients are steeped in alcohol, will also vary from producer to producer. Because orange peel might need to steep for longer than gentian, a producer might opt to macerate each ingredient separately, and then combine the results in controlled proportions. Most prefer to do everything in a single batch, allowing all the ingredients to marry more harmoniously, though perhaps adding some of the more fragile ingredients later in the process.

All the permutations of ingredients and different approaches to maceration allow for nearly endless possible outcomes of sweet, bitter, spicy, pungent, and sour.

At The Meadow our selection of bitters is constantly growing—and these days, growing rapidly. The social circles of mixologists and cocktail professionals are not in want of creative minds, most of which have developed their own take on the classic orange bitters. With so many choices on our table of bitters, picking an orange one can seem more difficult than it ought to be. I decided to compare them all side by side not only to help out curious customers, but also to keep them straight in my own head.

Angostura Orange – Clear in color, this is one strong tincture. It’s like chewing on an orange peel: intense, bitter orange oil, extraordinarily complex with prevalent herbaceous and floral tones. A nice, light nose of orange blossom. The complexity of this bitters makes it the right choice for bolstering sweeter alcohols like rum, or maybe whisky or gin, or at least an equally complex and spicy vermouth or aperitif like Bonal, Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, or even Oregon’s own Imbue. Anything else might be easily overpowered by Angostura Orange.

Bittercube Orange – Not a very bitter bitters, this one tastes of candied orange peel with hints of mint, or maybe even vanilla and chamomile (though the bottle says cardamom and coriander). The first thing to hit the nose is astringent alcohol but it’s quickly followed by orange zest. Its sweetness is perfectly balanced out by its bitterness, making this a fantastically versatile bitters, especially for crafted, viscous cocktails.

Bitter Tears “Lucille” Blood Orange Ginger – Right up front is a muted orange taste, followed by a smoky ginger that hints at savoriness with more herbaceous than floral notes. The nose starts off as cinnamon and then morphs into an astringent orange pith and can definitely hold its own when used to top a hefty drink, giving you a whiff of island spice.

Bob’s Orange & Mandarin – Darker in color than the other bitters, Bob’s Orange & Mandarin bitters is sweet and slightly bitter, with syrupy notes of citrus, canned mandarins, orange blossom, and other high floral tones like iris or elderflower. On the palate it’s nice and juicy, but in truth it doesn’t seem to have much of an nose. This isn’t the bitters to use for an aromatic float on top of your drink, but the flavor is versatile and will nicely complement the herbal and floral components of a gin cocktail, or even a bubbly flute of champagne and elderflower syrup. The Orange & Mandarin bitters strikes me as too delicate for most food uses, but I can see it in a salad dressing with a milder base like grapeseed oil.

Fee Brothers West Indian Orange Bitters – The taste and nose of this bitters are highly reminiscent of orange soap, fresh from the hand pump. There may be a hint of lavender, but this one is first very sweet, then very bitter. Not one for subtlety, Fee Brothers’ take on the orange bitters is a bit too untempered for my taste, but will definitely hold its own against an indelicate spirit or a drink with many robust ingredients. It actually does make for a great addition to a salted chocolate fondue.

Hella Bitter Citrus – What a wonderfully balanced bitters! Nine types of citrus pith marry together in a well focused and lifted start, bestowed with a little more power thanks to the addition of what’s likely cardamom as well as something with a peppery bite. There’s no heaviness to this bitters, so it will really soar in lighter-bodied cocktails but would also make for a perfect all-around both at the bar and in the kitchen.

Miracle Mile Orange Bitters – Coming from a small batch bitters maker in Los Angeles, this bitters does a nice yo-yo from sweet to bitter and back to sweet, giving a well-rounded impression on the palate. Fortified with warm spices like cinnamon and allspice that manifest very strongly in the nose, there’s a slight floral quality afforded to this bitters that likely comes from juniper. All in all incredibly well balanced, just the right combination of sweet, bitter, and warm makes Miracle Mile’s a very versatile orange bitters. Used to top a drink you’re likely to get more spice than orange out of this one.

Regan’s No. 6 Orange Bitters – A very bitter bitters, Regan’s tastes of caramelized orange right up front but quickly devolves into a strong cardamom. The alcoholic nose gives way to a very light hint of orange blossom. The bitterness of this orange bitters lingers far after all the other flavors and aromas have made their march across the palate, making this one a good choice for balancing out a cocktail based on a sweeter spirit like rye by providing contrast to its caramelly notes. Rather versatile, but maybe not the best choice for a blunter alcohol like vodka.

Scrappy’s Orange – This orange bitters is on the spicier end, though not as much as Angostura. It tastes of a juicy orange – clear, bright, unmuddled, and definitely not from concentrate. With aromas of candied orange peel, the finish on the mouth is shorter and less herbaceous than Angostura. Its straightforwardness makes it, in my opinion, the most versatile orange bitters, whether for drinks or for food use.

Urban Moonshine Citrus Bitters – Not overly bitter but very herbaceous, Urban Moonshine’s line of bitters lean more toward the medicinal end of the spectrum. Citrus pith is in the front-most flavor but it is joined by a medley of herbs and roots with dandelion and burdock being the most pronounced. I don’t see this one working in a cocktail, but as a digestif in a bit of seltzer it is very clean and refreshing.

Orange is one of those amazing flavors, or experiences rather, that recalls thoughts of sun and ease, even in the chilly midst of winter. Orange bitters lend something of this evergreen optimism to the cocktails and foods alike.

Try putting an orange slant on the classic Old Fashioned, which calls for bitters muddled with a sugar cube, then covered with whiskey and an orange twist. A Manhattan can take on a whole new sweet and savory meaning with the addition of bacon bitters and a float of orange-ginger bitters that glides in over the top of your palate. Add a few dashes to a Tom Collins or Salty Dog for an increased surge of citrus. Orange bitters do not begin and end with cocktails. Culinary uses abound, too. Mix some bitters into honey for your tea, or put them in a light and floral olive oil with rice vinegar to top a salad of baby greens. Whip some sweet orange bitters into heavy cream and dollop over crepes, or hot cocoa.

Interested in making bitters? Sign up for our Build Your Own Bitters class at our shop in New York City this fall!

Your father will be so happy.

Don’t forget: Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday, June 19th. Orders before noon PST today (3pm EST) are guaranteed to arrive in time for Father’s Day! We’ve got a few ideas for ways that you can show Dad who’s number one without resorting to the emblazoned coffee mug.

EAT

Cook & Serve Himalayan Salt Block Set – Whether for a beginner or a seasoned veteran, this set of two salt blocks will do the job. Includes one tableware block for serving up a platter of sweet summer fruits or sea-fresh sashi, and one cookware block for grilling up the best scallops or flank steak you’ve ever had. Or put them both together and cure a filet of salmon! Let your dad’s imagination run wild.

BBQ Salt Set - For the grilling king. This set provides him with six superb salts to finish, rub, or encrust at the BBQ all summer long. Available in 1.2 oz and 2 oz jars, this set is going to make your father’s barbecues the big hit of the summer.

DRINK

Home Bar Set – This set comes with three salts, two bitters, and a jar of cherries; the foundation for your father’s home bar. He’ll be able to bring color and flavor to the rim of a stiff, chilled drink with these salts, including one smoked and one lemon-infused. The classic duo of old-fashioned and orange bitters along with dark cherries in a spiced Merlot syrup will give him what he needs to create delicious cocktails, both classic and contemporary.

Bitters, Old Men – An artisan line of bitters from the home of the Manhattan, these bottled tinctures come in intriguing flavors like roasted macadamia, smoke, and bacon. A cheeky gift for your favorite bitter old man.

LEARN

Chilling & Grilling with Himalayan Salt Blocks – Portland Location

Join us for an evening class on preparing food on 600 million year old salt blocks from Pakistan. This event includes snacks, wine and an in-depth discussion of everything you ever wanted to know (and everything you never knew you always wanted to know), about cooking with plates and blocks and bricks and rocks of Himalayan Pink salt.

Thursday, June 16th, 2011, 6:30pm to 8:00pm – $30 per person

CELEBRATE!

Today, June 14th marks the Fifth Anniversary of our shop in Portland! At a loss for words. So come celebrate with us in Portland as we toast to five wonderful years in the City of Roses. Drinks, snacks, and good company in abundance–so stop by and let us thank you personally for your many years of custom and friendship. We’re looking forward to seeing you all there!

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011, 5:00pm to 8:00pm
Hey all you New Yorkers, we look forward to seeing you for our One Year Anniversary in October!

Happy Father’s Day from Jennifer, Mark, and the staff at The Meadow

“The recipe I use is based on a number of receipts I dug out of bar guides and medicinal journals from various points of the 1800s and early 1900s.  Based predominantly on citrus and chamomile, the final product is like no other bitters I’ve tried, boasting a great deal of depth and versatility.”

What Goes into Spanish Bitters… and What Comes Out

“I initially made a small-batch of these for a Licor 43 drinks competition that I entered in the summer of 2010. They received such a great response on that day and from the few bartenders who were lucky enough to get their hands on a sample that it made sense to make a Limited Edition batch. The demand since then has been staggering and people are already asking if I’ll make another batch in the future.”

Adam describes his new bitters as being composed of “layers of complex flavor including coriander, violet, raspberry, honey, citrus, pomegranate, toasted orange and predominant chamomile, all leading to a long bittersweet finish.”  The sum of the flavors is very reminiscent of rum, which I suspect might be the base alcohol for this bitters.

The Spanish Bitters is a labor of love for Adam, who performs every step of the process himself:

“I have selected eight dried and fresh botanicals which are steeped in overproof spirit for no less than two weeks. They are then filtered, diluted to bottling strength with Scottish water, and colored with a hint of caramel. My bottlings are truly hand-crafted, with every stage of the production, bottling, and labeling process being taken care of by my own two hands.” I’d love to see what an insect version of Adam could make with a few more appendages at his disposal.

Spanish Bitters in Your Cocktail

Adam says his research for creating his Spanish Bitters has led to something novel in the world of bitters.

“I’ve not come across anything like them to be honest. The really interesting thing for me is the fact that these are essentially classic bitters, but they also have a very modern feel. As with any quality bitters they should have multiple uses so, although the dominant flavor is chamomile, the support flavorings of citrus, coriander, honey, soft spice, and violet give them great versatility in drinks calling for citrus, floral, spiced, earthy, fruity, and bitter notes.”

Adam is bringing openness into what is traditionally the hyper-secretive craft of bitters making.  On his blog he offers up information on recommended drinks and breaks his mixtures down into ingredients with notes on their flavors and medicinal uses. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a bitters maker who is as open with his industry secrets as this guy.
I find that the Spanish Bitters tends toward the sweeter side, so I agree with Adam that it pairs nicely with rum and other dark spirits, though its more floral notes suggest that it’d do just as well with gin drinks. Adam provided me with a drink recipe that he created just for this bitters:

The Union Flip

1 barspoon Caraway Seeds
4 crunches black peppercorn
1 whole egg
1 ounce Appleton 8 Year Old rum
1 ounce Licor 43
4 dashes Dr. Adam Elmegirab’s Spanish Bitters
1 teaspoon simple syrup

Muddle caraway seeds in base of mixing glass, add remaining ingredients, and dry shake for five seconds. Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for a further ten seconds. Fine strain into a small frozen wine glass and garnish with grated nutmeg.

I’d recommend trying the Spanish Bitters in some familiar cocktails as well. A sidecar, for instance, could go right off the deep end with the added sweet and spicy rumminess, while a margarita would gain a little more tropical flare.

Too early in the day for a cocktail? Adam says to put a dash or two of Spanish Bitters in a nice citrus tea or warm apple cider! And don’t be afraid to experiment with some dressings and sauces, either.

To read some more about Adam’s forays into historical mixology, see his blog where he recreates drinks from the very first cocktail book published in the United States and reports on news in the cocktail world.

You can buy several of Dr. Adam Elmegirab’s bitters from The Meadow, retail and wholesale, as well as a plethora of other lines of bitters.

Goings on about the Bitters

The new concoction was released just ahead of Valentine’s Day with what I take to be an appeal to blushing lovers to undertake mixological experiments on one another. Avery says the “burlesque” preceded the bitters:

“This is one of those flavors that just came about based on a friend mentioning the word burlesque during our first big bottling session after we restarted Bittermens. As soon as we started talking about Burlesque, it evoked a color and texture—red velvet, like a curtain at a stage show. Once the color and texture were decided upon, we started thinking about flavors that would evoke that feeling, and eventually developed this formula.”

Avery describes the flavor as floral and tart, though to me there’s a bit more to it than that. The bitter element is very strong, with a long, pitchy-peppery flavor that comes through clearly in the aroma, and more subtly in the taste.

The simplicity of the production process belies the complexity of the product: “steep herbs, roots, peels and spices in high proof neutral grain spirits, filter and dilute.” Hibiscus flowers and açaí berries comprise the main ingredients of these bitters, though they are bolstered by over a dozen other flavor components. The Burlesque Bitters are a unique concoction and a new endeavor for Bittermens:

“This is the first time where we attempted to play with bitter and tart flavors together, so coming up with a working balance that made tart a supporting flavor, not the dominant component, was necessary. However, once we figured out how to layer the flavors, it was just a matter of tweaking some of the components.”

Cocktail Recipe with Burlesque Bitters

But what to do with this tarty new addition to the cocktail world? The Glassers recommend gin, genever, rum, vermouth, and Italian amaros.

But Lord God above, putting bitters in amaro evokes for me some turducken-like contraption made by stuffing dynamite into a firecracker. Avery insists “these all play extremely well with these bitters. Certain scotches and tequilas also work extremely well.” Tequila has not worked out so well for us, with several attempts at cocktails coming off discordant and odd. Avery insists that he finds that the smokier mescals or richer reposados make for a good tryst with the Burlesque. I’ll grant that Burlesqued tequila evokes a border town saloon with high-kicking ruffles and smoke and player pianos—and that conjures a thirst.

Generally speaking, Bittermens Burlesque Bitters is a distinctive–or maybe seductively weird is the word–and absolutely necessary addition to the bitters world; elements of razzle-dazzle ricocheting off a sophisticated reserve… what I might venture to call the hallmark of the Glassers’ expertly crafted products.

Thomas Waugh of Death + Company in New York offers this recipe inspired by Bittermens Burlesque Bitters:

The Gold Baron

1½ oz bourbon (Eagle Rare 10)
½ oz Laird’s 100 Proof Applejack
½ tsp grenadine
½ tsp sugar cane syrup
1 barspoon* Burlesque Bitters

Stir and serve on the rocks (or on one large rock if possible) without any garnish.

These bitters would also be an excellent complement for a Negroni, for those of us with more modest home bars. Equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari topped off with a dash or two of Burlesque Bitters and garnished with a slice of orange – voilà!

You can buy the entire line of Bittermens bitters from The Meadow, retail and wholesale.

*A barspoon is a long handled spoon designed to reach the bottom of a tall glass. The measurement is equivalent to a teaspoon.

The Meadow has everything you need to shower your loved one with affection and deliciousness. Our Portland, New York, and online shops are offering plenty of new arrivals, as well as some romantic gift sets curated to make your Valentine’s Day bright and lovely.

• Classes: A few spots still open for the next three Portland classes:
  • Tonight! Introduction to Artisan Salts – $20
  • Feb 10, Artisan Chocolate from Bean to Bar (including Moonstruck’s Fortunato #4 bar written up in the New York Times!) – $30
  • Feb 17, Himalayan Salt Block Class – $30
• Heart-shaped salt cellars by the Portland-based ceramic artist, Chayo
• Alaskan sea salt – crunchy, clear and fresh – a dazzling new American salt
• Sparkling wines and Champagnes aplenty (Portland shop only)
• Cocktail bitters selection is growing – and Cherry Bark Vanilla by Bittercube is back in stock!
• Stylish chocolate and caramel boxes from the inventive mind of Michael Recchiuti
• Artisan du Chocolat – just off the boat, a huge spread of wild new chocolate bars, from a lustrous Tobacco-infused bar to the silky-deep Costa Rica dark bar
• Olive & Sinclair – try the beautifully wrapped Salt & Pepper chocolate bar by this new chocolate maker out of Nashville
• A variety of gift sets orchestrated from choice chocolates, salts, wines, bitters, and flowers

Featured Chocolate: The beautifully boxed bars by Cacao Atlanta are not to be missed. This bean-to-bar chocolate maker from the South takes a laudably personal approach to chocolate. Kristen Kard, founder and chocolatier, meets the growers of the beans she selects and takes great care in producing each bar to create a chocolate she calls “dreamy, delicate and like nothing ever tasted before in the world of chocolate.” We love them. Both of her “Straight Up” dark bars and the Hispaniola bar with dried cherries have stunningly rich profiles, with deep notes of cherries, tobacco and exotic spices. You can tell that these bars are made with immense love.

Valentine’s Day Cocktail Set: Letting our mixological minds run wild, we’ve concocted a Valentine’s Day Chocolate Manhattan that upholds all the ideas of the classic cocktail, but with complex chocolaty twist. This set is ideal for cocktail enthusiasts or anyone whose perfect Valentine’s Day involves wooing their loved one with a top-notch cocktail at home. we’ve assembled everything you’ll need to make Valentine’s Day Chocolate Manhattans, except your bourbon or rye of choice. The set includes a bottle of the fabulously herbaceous Vya Sweet Vermouth, Robert Lambert’s Dark Cherries soaked in Merlot, the Fee Brother’s Aztec Chocolate Bitters, and a jar of Mark’s very own Chocolate Fleur de Sel. (To stay on the right side of New York’s liquor laws, The New York shop offers a tasty variation, substituting Bittermens’ legendary Xocolatl Mole Bitters for the vermouth and Fee Brother’s.)

Ingredients for one serving:
2 oz Bourbon or Rye (approximately one shot)
1 oz Vya Sweet Vermouth
3 dashes Chocolate Bitters
1 Robert Lambert Dark Cherry soaked in Merlot, plus a few drops of the cherry
juice
Bitterman’s Chocolate Fleur de Sel for the rim

To prepare the glasses:
Chill each glass
Moisten the rim with vermouth and coat with chocolate salt

To mix the drink:
Mix the bourbon, vermouth, bitters and cherry juice. Stir, then immediately pour. Garnish with a cherry and serve. Be sure to breathe in deeply, savoring the chocolate-spice aroma before imbibing. Prepare for an outbreak of adoration.

Happy Valentine’s!

XOX – Mark & Jennifer

Savor the New Year at The Meadow!

• 6 New Classes on salt, chocolate and cocktail mixing in New York and Portland (below)
• Off the boat: tons (literally) of new Himalayan Salt Blocks to wow your unsuspecting dinner guests
• Introducing Napiers Bitters! & Intriguing new cocktail bitters favors: Bittermen’s Burlesque Bitters & Dr. Adam Elmegirab’s Spanish Bitters
• New Kala Namak rocks for shaving – you’ll never view popcorn the same way again
• Dazzling new chocolate bars: for example Patric (Dark Milk, 70% Blend, & PB&J!) and Askinosie’s Tanzania 72%

Popular Himalayan Salt Block sizes back in stock! From the adorable and practical 4x4x.75 inch dish to the impressive and versatile 10x10x2 inch plate. We even finagled a few of the truly immense 9x18x2 inch platters. All are available in budget-oriented Tableware Grade (serving fruits, vegetables, charcuterie, cheese, sashimi) and premium Cookware Grade (searing fish, game, beef, etc).

Napiers Bitters, Scotland’s famed remedy for what ailes you and an unexplored vista of flavors for cocktail mixing, now available in the USA at The Meadow! Napiers Best British Bitters, Napiers Detox Formula Blend, Napiers Dinner Mint Mixture, and the traditional blend Hangover Hotchpotch. And if you’ve ever spent a night barhopping your way through 20 lowland single malts with mad Edinburgh bike messengers, there’s the beautifully packaged duo of liquid salvation: the Napier’s Vintage Overindulgence Set.

Salt, Chocolate & Cocktail Classes at The Meadow – Portland & New York

Bitters and Vermouth Class – Portland
Mon, January 24 - 6:30 to 8:00 – $30.00
Bitters and vermouth, the two powerhouses of flavor in the world of cocktail mixing. Gone are the days when a sticky bottle of supermarket-industrial vermouth gathered dust in the back of the cupboard, and the bitters bottle lurked eternally, an ancient thing forgotten in the shadows.

Himalayan Salt Block Cooking Class – Portland
Wed, January 26 – 6:30 to 8:00 – $30.00
Join us for an evening at The Meadow learning the fundamentals of preparing food on 600 million year old salt blocks from Pakistan. Cook and taste a variety of foods, from the familiar to the eccentric. Includes snacks and wine.

An Introduction to Artisan Salt – New York
Sat, January 29 – 7:00 to 8:30 – $30.00
Selmelier Mark Bitterman is your guide on this world tour of artisan-made finishing salts. Learn the ABCs of NaCl in its many forms, marvel at the synergy of food and salt unfolding on your palate. We’ll also sneak peek at cooking on Himalayan Salt Blocks. The event includes wine. Space is very limited, so sign up quick!

Himalayan Salt Block Cooking Class – New York
Mon, January 31 – 7:00 to 8:30 – $30.00
Learn the principles of creating, cooking, and presenting on your salt block; from cold appetizers and snacks to sautéed vegetables and meats, and even unusual salty-sweet desserts. Class includes snacks and wine, and everything you ever wanted to know (or never knew you always wanted to know) about cooking on plates, bricks, and bowls of Himalayan Pink salt. Wine sipping included.

Artisan Chocolate, from Bean to Bar – Portland
Thurs, February 10 – 6:30 to 8:00 – $30.00
Chocolate bars are the ultimate way to experience the full complexity of chocolate, and the only way to explore the innumerable variations in color, aroma, mouth-feel, and flavor. Join us for an exploration of chocolate, from the humble bean to the polychrome-clad masterpieces calling like parrots from the shelves of your favorite chocolate shops. Wine will be sipped.

Himalayan Salt Block Cooking Class – Portland
Thurs, February 17th – 6:30 to 8:00 – $30.00
Learn and take part in the most unique way to serve, cook, and cure your food on blocks of primordial pink salt. Heating, freezing, cleaning, and storage will also be discussed. We will also explore the opportunity to create new flavor combinations by shaving Himalayan Pink salt with salt graters. Includes snacks and wine.

Happy New Year!
Mark & Jennifer

Come to The Meadow in New York (yes, our new shop is open!) for tasting and talk with two of the world’s chocolate legends: Francois Pralus and Stephane Bonnat. Both vanguards of the fiercely dedicated world of bean-to-bar chocolate making, their chocolate bars are at once dazzling and refined, innovative and classic. Francois and Stephane will share their passion, perspectives, and unique expertise on Friday and Saturday this week. Sorry for the last minute notice, but the opportunity just came up! Both classes are at our just-opened New York location at 523 Hudson Street. A third class at the New York shop, the Chocolate + Salt Exploration with Michael Recchiuti and Mark Bitterman, has sold out before we could get the announcement out, but we’ll do it again soon.

On the other coast, this Sunday at the Portland Art Museum Mark will investigate our primal obsession with salt, from humankind’s first salty bite to salt’s use in modern industry to the resurgent interest in artisan salts. Based on his new book, SALTED – A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes. Registration is required, but tickets are free!

Later this month at The Meadow in Portland, you’re invited to join chocolatier David Briggs of Xocolatl de David and selmelier Mark Bitterman for a deliciously informative class on the art and alchemy of the salted caramel.

Francois Pralus – Maitre Chocolatier
Friday, Nov 12: Francois Pralus will share his experience as one of the few chocolate makers who actually owns a cacao plantation. But his interest in chocolate extends far beyond his own crops, and we will learn about his pursuit of the finest chocolate from across Latin America, Africa, East Asia, and Oceania. Francois obsession with chocolate has left little room for learning English, but his charm and smile more than make up for it, and we will have with us his two very capable assistants Valerie and Chloe Le Gaillard, who are proficient in both chocolate and English. Chocolate and wine included.
Friday, November 12 - 7:30 to 9:30 - $30.00 - 523 Hudson St., New York
Classes are very intimate, so please sign up immediately! Sign up here>>

Bonnat – Chocolatier à Voiron
Saturday Nov 13: Stephane Bonnat’s speaking almost rivals his superb chocolate.
Stephane’s English is very good and he infuses his talks with a lightness that makes the wealth of knowledge and precision most entertaining. He always speaks of the chocolate making process as a part of the broader world of cacao: the regions, the stories of the farmers, the long relationship of the Bonnat family and the growers (and governments) in Venezuela, Mexico, and Peru. Bonnat has just released four new, incredible chocolate bars (including a new bar from Haiti made with cacao harvested after the hurricane!), and we expect to have them on hand for the event. Chocolate and wine included.
Saturday, November 13 - 7:30 to 9:30 - $30.00 - 523 Hudson St., New York
Classes are very intimate, so please sign up immediately! Sign up here>>

Reading
from Salted : A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes
Mark Bitterman will take you on a tour through the mysteries and majesty of salt. This lecture and reading is based on Bitterman’s new book, SALTED – A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes, and surveys the historical, minerolgical, and culinary dimensions of salt.
Sunday, November 14 - 2:00 to 3:30 – FREE – Portland Art Museum. Register here>>

Recchiuti & Bitterman – Chocolate + Salt Exploration
Tuesday Nov 16: SOLD OUT Master chocolatier Michael Recchiuti and selmelier Mark Bitterman combine forces for an intimate class at The Meadow’s new West Village shop where they’ll show you what happens when chocolate and salt meet. The evening will include a discussion of the complex, powerful, and sometimes unexpected ways salt combines with chocolate and other sweets to create new, profound flavors. Chocolate, wine, and more included.
Tuesday, November 16th, 2010 – 7:30pm to 9:30 pm – $40 Per Person
SOLD OUT

Salted Caramels with Xocolatl de David
Tuesday Nov 30 & Thursday Dec 2: The amazing and ever-inventive 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 startling ways salt brings flavor to confections. David, whose love of chocolate is complemented in unexpected and delicious ways by an almost equally powerful attraction to savory flavors, always brings something new. We will sip a little wine, taste caramels with various quantities and types of salt, then sip a little more wine, and then taste some more. At the end of the evening, you will be taking home a little pot of freshly made salted caramel sauce!
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 – 7:00pm to 9:00 pm – $25 Per Person
Thursday, December 2, 2010 – 7:00pm to 9:00 pm – $25 Per Person
Classes are very intimate (i.e small), so please sign up immediately! Sign up here>>

We hope to see you!

Mark & Jennifer

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 8x8x2 inches, and 9x9x2 inches, 9 inch round plates, a stack of our uniquely huge 8x16x2 and 9x18x2 salt platters, and some smaller pieces like our 4x8x2 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.