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Local Chef Brings Oregon Concept to Southern Caribbean |
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Flourless Chocolate Torte with Cuban Cigar Anglaise
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Island Cocoa Stick Pots de Crème with Cocoa Nib Shortbread |
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Sweet Sorrel Sauce and lastly Chocolate Studded Clafoutis topped with Fan Cut Banana and plated with a Spicy St. Lucian Creole Rum Caramel Sauce |
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Carrie Wong, chef and owner of Extreme Chocolates in Salem, was invited by world-renowned Chef Orlando Satchell to work with his staff at Dasheene restaurant at the Ladera Resort during Chef Wong’s recent vacation in St. Lucia.
While visiting friends in St. Lucia, Chef Wong was asked to demonstrate how to incorporate island ingredients into the desserts. Working side-by-side with the award-winning chef and his pastry staff, Chef Wong introduced the Oregon concept of a local and sustainable menu to his kitchen. Using local banana, cocoa stick and much more, Chef Wong created the following three new desserts for the Dasheen menu:
• Flourless Chocolate Torte with Cuban Cigar Anglaise
• Island Cocoa Stick Pots de Crème with Cocoa Nib Shortbread
• Sweet Sorrel Sauce and lastly Chocolate Studded Clafoutis topped with Fan Cut Banana and plated with a Spicy St. Lucian Creole Rum Caramel Sauce.
Chef Wong is working with Chef Orlando Satchell and Ladera to create an International Chocolate and Rum Festival to be held at Ladera in October 2009.
Ladera is a world acclaimed resort located in southwestern St. Lucia in the Caribbean. It is a favorite island escape of celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Harrison Ford, Raquel Welch and John Cleese. Dasheene, Ladera’s restaurant, is known throughout the Caribbean for its inventive kitchen and creative representation of island cuisine. The menu at Dasheene is based on native ingredients and relies on local agriculture for its original take on West Indian cuisine.
Extreme Chocolates began as Practical Gourmet in 2001 with its purpose to provide superb desserts and confections to the clientele of fine restaurants and luxury hotels in the Willamette Valley and greater Portland Metro Area. Relocating to Salem in January 2007, the name was changed to provide continuity with the ever expanding website and web sales. The commitment continues to be creating new, exciting desserts and confections using the finest ingredients from Oregon and the far reaches of the world.
The decision to move to Salem was based on the need to separate the 7000 square foot European-style shop (shop and residence) and allow privacy for Chef Wong to receive cancer treatment and recover quietly at home.
During her year of cancer treatment, a treatment that involved 16 weeks of chemotherapy, radiation and four surgeries, Wong never missed a day of work. Every week, she and her husband, Ron, would bring gourmet chocolates along with her to the hospital to share with other Chemo patients, support staff and the wonderful cancer care staff; watching as smiles lit up the room.
Extreme Chocolates will be releasing their newest products, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Chocolate Sauce and Creole Rum Caramel Sauce, on June 1, 2009. These products will be available on their website, www.extremechocolates.com, and various locations throughout Oregon including Grand Vines Wine Shop in Salem. - Travel Salem, May 2009 |
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National Geographic features Practical Gourmet's chocolates as a favorite Oregon export, while its staff raves
about the "creatively conceived" truffles with accents of wine (Pinot Noir) and rum; and the Dark Chocolate Butter Toffee..."substantial enough to fill your mouth with crunchy, creamy goodness in one bite."
- National Geographic Travel Magazine |
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...In creating her rich treats, Wong uses only the best ingredients, using no preservatives or wax. She buys imported French and German chocolates, focusing mostly on the powerful dark chocolates. 'I use fresh, 100 percent heavy cream and real butter,' she says. 'If it says rum, it is dark Jamaican rum, not flavoring, not a facsimile. It's the real thing.'
...The taste buds respond with delight. A sample of the extreme version of her Chili-Head Chocolate Pyramids was a sensory awakening, a journey unlike the usual chocolate experience. Wong uses seven dried chilies and imported chocolate in this creation. One of the chilies is powdered habanero, the world's hottest chili. The chocolate is dark, rich and mysterious, melting to a creamy mix in the mouth that suddenly is set afire and soothed all at once by the marriage of the chocolate truffle center, the dark chocolate coating and the chilies. In the end, the heat is eased by the sweet chocolate, leaving the lips and tongue tingling.
- Baker Finds New Business Sweet - Tom Forstrom, Statesman Journal |
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