Woodberry Kitchen

On Monday, June 2, we will be cooking a nine(ish) course dinner down 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 back hoe 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 Tilgman 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.