When Chef Michael Symon Calls…

An Iron Chef asks us to jump… and we say, how high?!

It’s actually less about iron and more about gold at this weekend’s Food for Life event.  Chef Symon’s heart of gold, to be exact.

For the past several years, this celebrity chef (and a friend of our Michael who happens to be penning his cookbook forward) has partnered with Share our Strength on events that raise money for the fight against childhood hunger.  This year, the scope has been expanded to include Autism Speaks and Urban Community Schools.

The event will be held at Lola  in Cleveland, Ohio on August 1, and the format combines a booth walk-about with passed hors d’oeuvres, featuring such culinary talents as:

* Michael Schwartz
Michael’s Genuine, Miami, FL
* Vinnie Dotolo & Jon Shook
Animal, Los Angeles, CA
* Jonathan Waxman
Barbuto, New York, NY
* Koren Grieveson
Avec, Chicago, IL and
Michael Sheerin
Blackbird, Chicago, IL
* Mary Sue Milliken
Border Grill, Santa Monica, CA and
Las Vegas, NV
* Marc Vetri and Jeff Michaud
Vetri, Osteria and Amis, Philadelphia, PA
* Anne Burrell
Food Network, New York, NY
* Joey Campanaro
The Little Owl, New York, NY
* Jonathan Sawyer
The Greenhouse Tavern, Cleveland, OH
* Rocco Whalen
Fahrenheit, Cleveland, OH
* Paul Minnillo
Flour, Cleveland, OH
* Nate Appleman
Pulino’s Bar & Pizzeria, New York, NY
* Eric Williams
Momocho, Cleveland, OH
* Scot Jones
Vegiterranean, Akron, OH

So what to make?   After kicking around some ideas with Michael, Chef Matt, who will be joining on the trip, immediately rang John Wallace of Mikuni Wild Harvest for his most excellent wild salmon. WA Troll Kings and Cook Inlet Kings are in season.  The dish will be whole roasted wild salmon  butter lettuce, pickled heirloom vegetables, coriander aioli, preserved meyer lemon, local herb salad.  Here are the preparations they’ll put in place to pull it off, per Matt.

Matt slices radishes for the dish's pickled vegetable component.

Special equipment requested:

2x  wooden serving boards approximately 36″ x 18″
an assortment of bowls to present condiments as well as serving ladles and tongs
items available to use for table decor (i.e.-  flowers/foliage, height spacers, baskets, cloth/runners, etc.)
access to a hotbox during service

Cooking utensils requested:

4x  400-pan hotel pans
2x  600-pan hotel pans
4x  3-pan
4x  6-pan
2x  9-pan
1x  box large latex gloves
20+ kitchen towels
4x  12″ kitchen tongs
2x  large slotted spatulas
4x  full sheet pans
1x can Pam spray
access to a speed rack

We need to decide whether we are bringing our own olive oil.

We will be packing the following:

Coriander aioli
Pickled vegetables (local radishes, carrots, cucumber, etc.)
Preserved meyer lemon (relish? slaw? mostarda?)

We will be drop shipping the following:

8-10 ea. 15-lb. whole salmon

We will be sourcing the following on-site:

Local herbs, sprouts, and micro greens from the greater Cleveland area.