On Monday, June 2, we will be cooking a nine(ish) course dinner at Woodberry Kitchen in Baltimore with Spike Gjerde and his team. We met Spike through our cooking classes and were introduced to his passionate approach to cooking. In fact, his mindset is contagious. When he asked if we would be interested in cooking a dinner with him, the only possible answer was yes. We had to ask one favor: if he would allow us into his fold of local purveyors and providers. He was more than willing and he just sent us a list of ingredients from his tried and true list of suppliers. The list will be the inspiration, the starting point for the dinner menu. Now begins the conversation, the development of ideas, and the refinement of thoughts. There are seats available for this dinner, so if you are in the area, give Woodberry Kitchen a call to grab a seat.
Yes, we will share the initial list. These are Spike’s notes to us:
**WK Current Sourcing:**
– Asparagus… should be plentiful through mid-June, comes ungraded from the farm so we get everything from pencil-thin to jumbo.
– Strawberries… just starting, should be abundant for several weeks.
– Rhubarb… I know you love it… We are getting beautiful rhubarb from several farms.
– Stinging nettles… good now but wrapping up as they start to flower.
– Ramps… about finished.
– Dandelion… good now, and should continue, including red-stemmed and catalogna puntarelle.
– Spinach… we get young flat leaf from one farm and over-wintered old school stem spinach from another.
– Arugula… still mostly hot house (“baby”).
– Chard… beautiful young chard from PA. Bunched (mature) chard soon.
– Spring garlic… scallion-like young hard neck.
– Leeks… are looking good.
– Most herbs… have you ever worked with stevia? We also get lovage from my dad.
– Mushrooms… organic royal trumpet, beech, and crimini, and we found a couple of morels in the park.
– Jerusalem artichokes… are about the only root we have right now, except for…
– Sassafras… neolithic Dr. Pepper from a farmer with a backhoe and too much time on his hands.
– Rockfish (striped bass to you)… limited right now, small fish (5 to 8 lb) should be available soon.
– Oysters… we get them from growers all over the Chesapeake, from sweet to mildly briny.
– Soft crabs… direct from John Walton in Tilghman Island… we can usually get them, but we never know what size.
– Chesapeake Bay crab meat… the season is off to a rocky start, but should be available…
– Shrimp… we get incredible fresh head-on shrimp three times a week from Marvesta shrimp farm in Easton. Size somewhat limited right now, but we can ask them to grow us some big ones…
– Fluke… caught near Ocean City… mediums are 1-2 lb.
– Also nice littleneck clams from one of our oyster guys…
– Beef… local, pastured, natural beef from Roseda, hung for 3 weeks and delivered fresh to us, including hanger, skirt, flat iron, chuck, rib-eye, strip, & tenderloin.
– Bison… they only slaughter once a month so it is usually frozen.
– Chicken, eggs, pork… all of it, in any quantity, from local farms, maybe suckling pig?
– Lamb… limited slaughter, so they build up product over several weeks in freezer.
– Dairy… grass-fed milk and cream from PA.
Drinks of all kinds will be paired with the menu.
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