Salt & Straw's Chef Series Collaborates with Top Kitchens in the Country to Explore Their Philosophies and Ingredients Through Ice Cream
(PRWEB) July 01, 2013 -- Using Portland’s flagship food and drink event Feast Portland as a jumping off point, Salt & Straw asked five participating chefs to collaborate on an ice cream menu that combines their unique cooking styles with the best ingredients that Oregon has to offer. The result is their Feast Portland Chef Series, a set of flavors that capture the spirit of each chef’s menu in the one form that everyone loves, ice cream.
The new series will launch this September in celebration of Feast Portland 2013, which takes over downtown Portland Sept. 19-22. In collaboration with chefs they built ties with during Feast Portland 2012, the superstar lineup includes three chefs from Portland: FOOD & WINE Best New Chef Jenn Louis, FOOD & WINE Best New Chef and two time James Beard Foundation award winner Gabe Rucker and FOOD & WINE People’s Best New Chef Gregory Gourdet and two from out of town that are participating in this year’s festival, FOOD & WINE Best New Chef April Bloomfield and FOOD & WINE Best New Chef and Bravo’s Top Chef winner Michael Voltaggio.
The five flavors in the Feast-inspired chef collaboration series will be available at Salt & Straw locations and a Chefs Series variety pack will be available for nationwide shipping at http://www.saltandstraw.com, throughout Sept. Salt & Straw will donate proceeds from the series to the charities associated with Feast, Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon and Share Our Strength.
“Through these collaborations, those who haven’t had an opportunity to try these chef’s incredible foods first hand in their restaurants as well as their biggest fans have a chance to try their food in a new way,” says Tyler Malek, Salt & Straw head ice cream maker. “We’re highlighting the chef’s menus, ingredients and kitchen philosophies through these ice cream flavors and the results are fun, unique and delicious collaborations that we are excited to share.”
Chefs Series Flavors:
Loaded Baked Potato
Michael Voltaggio has blown up the LA food scene with his restaurants, ink. and ink.sack, both opening in 2011 to much critical acclaim; earlier this year he was recently honored by being named one of Food & Wine magazine's Best New Chefs. His cooking has been described as “Modern LA cuisine” using Southern Cali ingredients in shocking ways that explore the outer limits of food. On a playful note, where savory collides with sweet, we have teamed up with Voltaggio to create a baked potato sour cream ice cream that is “loaded” with candies: bacon chocolate crumbs, onion juice caramel and white cheddar cookie dough.
Sweet Corn, Waffle Cones, and Caramel
April Bloomfield is the esteemed, Michelin-starred chef of four restaurants in New York City: The Spotted Pig, The Breslin Bar & Dining Room, The John Dory Oyster Bar, and Salvation Taco. April is inspired by seasonal flavors and the beauty and simplicity of food. She cooks with a delicacy that allows the inherent characteristics of an ingredient to shine. Working with chef Bloomfield on this collaboration, we wanted to use summertime as a thematic starting point. We decided on sweet corn as the foundation to which we added other accents of the season by folding in chocolate covered waffle cones, freckles of salted brown butter, and ribbons of rich vanilla caramel.
Mint Leaves with Sea Urchin Meringues
Jenn Louis has slowly built one of the most prestigious food empires in Portland. At her two restaurants, Lincoln and Sunshine Tavern, she creates menus that celebrate the local bounty in ways that show incredible restraint while working with distinct and bountiful Willamette Valley flavors. For this collaboration with Louis, we are using west-coast harvested sea-urchin and a fruity French Basque piment d’ espelette to make little meringues that burst with umami. These delicate bites are gently folded into an herbaceous ice cream that is steeped in fresh mint leaves.
Hawaiian Foie Gras Peanut Butter Mousse
Gabe Rucker, chef/owner of Portland Restaurants Le Pigeon and Little Bird, just won his second James Beard Award as Best Chef: Northwest and is releasing his first cookbook, Le Pigeon: Cooking at the Dirty Bird this September as well. His food has consistently been described as “re-inventing French cuisine.” For this collaboration, we are using a Le Pigeon house recipe to whip together ribbons of foie gras and peanut butter mousse. This is showcased in an ice cream infused with the delicate flavors of toasted bark from a Heart of Palm tree and dotted with caramelized pineapple.
Thai Chili Brittle in Coconut Ice Cream
Greg Gourdet is the ultimate rockstar of Portland’s food scene. Chef at Departure, the penthouse restaurant on top of the Nines Hotel, Gourdet runs a restaurant that blows minds with a French-Pan Asian menu of distinct spices, bright flavors, and highly technical preparations. Tapping directly into Gourdet’s set of vegan ice cream recipes, we’ve built a high fat coconut milk ice cream that sets the stage for spiced, candied, and compressed pineapples, a hand-burned cilantro-pandan caramel and a crunchy brittle that has been spiked with red thai chilies.
About Salt & Straw Ice Cream
Salt & Straw Ice Cream is a small batch ice cream company that partners with local artisans, producers and farmers to create unique and gourmet flavors. Their ice cream is handmade using only all natural cream from local farms throughout the Willamette Valley. Their flavors showcase the best local, organic and sustainable ingredients from Oregon farmers and artisans, such as Rogue Creamery, Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Olympic Provisions charcuterie, as well as imported flavors from small hand-picked farms from around the world. The company started serving eight flavors from an ice cream cart in May of 2011 and then moved to their first brick and mortar location on Aug. 12, 2011 at 2035 NE Alberta St. with an expanded ice cream flavor menu and new unique sundaes, inventive milkshakes and floats along with goods from local artisans. Their NW location opened on Apr. 27, 2012 at 838 NW 23rd Ave. and features the same great ice cream menu along with an innovative, specialty coffee drink menu. On July 2, 2013 Salt & Straw opens their SE location at 3346 SE Division St. All shops use 100 percent renewable energy as well as fully compostable serveware for all to go items. Scoops of ice cream are available by the cup, hand rolled waffle cones or to-go pints, all served with impeccable service. Favorites, seasonal and design your own variety packs are available for online purchase and can be shipped anywhere in the United States. Salt & Straw’s ice cream cart is available for catering parties and events. Find more information at http://www.saltandstraw.com or call the N.E. Alberta St. shop at 503-208-3867 or the NW 23rd Ave. shop at 971-271-8168. Follow us on Facebook at Salt and Straw Ice Cream or Twitter @SaltandStraw.
Meaghan Burns, Broussard Communications, http://www.broussardcommunications.com, 303-625-3866, [email protected]
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