Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/599676
4 0 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t But today's gourmands, chefs, and culinaires aren't just trying to eke by, chewing on some cured chunk of bison loin. In an age when your neighborhood market stocks 12 kinds of kombucha, salt is more than a nutritional necessity and flavor booster: It is a nuanced, complex and elevated ingredient worthy of study and contemplation, with endless variations and varieties to taste and explore. For Selmelier Mark Bitterman, that exploration began on the back of a motorcycle on the coast of France. "I stopped at a truck stop, a completely inauspicious, very average place, and ordered a steak," recalls Bitterman. "I bit off a juicy bite and was blown away; it had big, opales- cent crystals of coarse-grade sea salt on it, and I was just amazed at the flavor. It blew my mind that salt could be such a fantastic ingredient, when in the States, it's a white chemical on the bottom of the supermarket shelf." With a mission to bring salt back to the top shelf, Bitter- man opened The Meadow, his Portland, OR salt boutique, in 2006, before expanding to NYC's West Village in 2010. "I took boxes of various salts I'd been storing in my basement and began sharing them with people," recalls Bitterman of The Meadow's initial launch. "People were tripping out, tasting and seeing all of these salts that were so different from what they were used to." After winning a James Beard Award for his first book, Salted, in 2011, Bitterman became the salt expert to America's burgeoning foodie market. But even as founder and President of the Selmelier's Association (www.selme- lier.com), Bitterman doesn't consider himself a "salt guy." "I swear I don't think of myself like that," he laughs. "I think of myself as a food guy, but salt has become the lens through which I express my interest in food." With that minerally lens in place, Bitterman turned Selmelier Mark Bitterman in front of his Portland, OR salt boutique, The Meadow. Michael Stanton is Executive Chef at Portland's Heathman Restaurant, where he and Selmelier Mark Bitterman have created a global salt pairing menu. Menu by Chef Michael Stanton of Heathman Restaurant and Selmelier Mark Bitterman Salt block-cured Oregon sturgeon with caviar, crème, and chives Dungeness crab terrine with melted spring onions, petite herb salad, and Taha'a vanilla sea salt Aromatized fleur de sel –crusted Oregon troll chinook with morels, fava beans, and asparagus Anderson Ranch lamb loin with charred ramps, Sweet Tooth mushrooms, harissa, and Takesumi bamboo carbonized deep sea salt Layered pudding with salted caramel, butterscotch and blue lavender salt tapioca Trou Normand: Calvados julep with can- died ginger, mint, white peach, served in Himalayan salt shot glass