Fire on 4th Street: Northwest style cooking at its best

By Reader Staff

Wildwood Grilling’s new hire, Chef Matt Curmi, recently teamed up with Pacific Northwest’s Chef Tom Douglas to host the “Glorious Wood Planked and Smoked Pacific Northwest Dinner” at the Hot Stove Society in Seattle.

Chef Matt created a menu for the Hot Stove Society’s 4th Street cooking class, using Wildwood Grilling products to showcase the variety of smoke flavors produced by different wood types – cedar, cherry, red oak and hickory.

Wildwood Grilling Chef Matt Curmi, right, with Chef Tom Douglas, left. Photo by Sara Schrock.

Twenty-four students participated in preparing recipes with the help of both chefs.

The class was a success, and each student was excited to learn more about the use of grilling planks. They prepared hickory-smoked peaches, cherry-wood-smoked cocktails, cedar-planked smoked salmon, red-oak-planked roasted shallots, cedar-wrapped-and-roasted pears and cedar-skewered beef. The variety of wood used proved to be a great way to add unique flavor to these diverse dishes. Each student came away with recipes to take home and hands on experience.

Chef Matt Curmi was hired October 2017 as the corporate chef for Wildwood Grilling.

Chef Matt dove right into his new role by grilling with the well-known, high-profile Seattle restaurateur, Chef Tom Douglas. Chef Douglas is known for winning the 1994 James Beard award for best Northwest Chef and for his appearance on “Iron Chef America,” where he defeated Chef Masaharu Morimoto. He owns a group of diverse and successful restaurants within the Seattle area, including Dahlia Lounge, Lola, Etta’s, Palace Kitchen, Brave Horse Tavern and more. Scottish-born Chef Matt Curmi has worked as a chef in Flagstaff, Ariz.; Bar Harbor, Maine; Portland, Ore., and now Sandpoint. He has also worked internationally in Mallorca, Spain, and London, England.

Wildwood Grilling is a family-run company based out of Sandpoint. They’re the world’s largest grilling plank producer. All of their sustainably sourced, food safe, wood products are manufactured in the U.S.A.

For more information visit www.wildwoodgrilling.com.