TOOLS OF THE TRADE AUCTION OPEN FOR BIDDING
Inaugural ‘Tools of the Trade” Online Auction Kicks-off on eBay.com
Proceeds To Benefit Slow Food NYC’s Harvest Time in Schools Program
Looking to take the collectibles market beyond signed baseballs and celebrity memorabilia this holiday season, Slow Food NYC is launching the first-ever “Tools of the Trade” online charity auction today. The eBay.com event will allow dining fans, cooking enthusiasts – and those that love them — to bid on a variety of kitchen tools donated from some of New York’s most acclaimed chefs and mixologists.
To view the auction and bid on items, go to: stores.ebay.com/SlowFoodNYC
Round One of the auction (November 18th – November 28th) includes:
• Chef Daniel Boulud’s complete set of cookbooks, published across the span of his illustrious career. Each of his culinary titles will include a personalized hand-written dedication and autograph.
• A copper pan from the original days of Aureole, donated by Chef Charlie Palmer. It was used to not only cook, but present the chef’s cherished “duo plates” where a large dish for two was presented to the table, and then brought back to the kitchen to be plated and served – a signficant piece due to the connection to Palmer’s early career and a method of presentaton that is beginning to disappear from today’s dining scene.
• The pairing of a beloved mortar and pestle from Chef Zak Pelaccio, purchased while he was living in Kuala Lumpur. The tools were used to grind various spice mixtures as he was first creating his signature Malaysian-inspired dishes, which are now served at his beloved New York restaurant, Fatty Crab.
• One of Chef Eric Ripert‘s chef jackets, worn in the kitchen at La Bernadin and on numerous television appearances.
• A Staub Cocotte from Chef Laurent Tourondel, an important piece from a brand he is devoted to for both home and professional cooking at his famed BLT restaurants.
• An inscribe copy of The River Cottage Cookbook from Chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns. It is a favorite of the chef, who has said it is a “less a cookbook than a carnivore’s manifesto.”
• A Wustoff Chef’s Knife from Michael Romano, chef and partner at Union Square Cafe and chief of culinary development at Union Square Hospitality Group. It was originally a gift given to him by the De Gustibus cooking school at Macy’s and is inscribed with his name.
• Chef Alfred Portale‘s personal, well-worn copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Lauded for his Gotham Bar & Grill, Chef Portale says that his interest in food started with this cherished cookbook.
• A pair of Dexter knives from Chef Galen Zamarra of Mas (Farmhouse). These two knives – a 10” Scimitar Butcher Knife and 8” Cleaver, both with wooden handles – are third generation. They where given to Chef Zamarra by his mentor chef at age 13, who had originally received them from his own mentor and teacher when he had been a young chef in training.
• An embroidered and autographed chef’s coat from Jean Georges Vongerichten, executive chef and founder of renowned restaurants such as Jean George, Spice Kitchen and Prime Steakhouse. The coat has been worn by Vongerichten on several occasions, from the dining room meeting guests to behind-the-scenes at his restaurants’ kitchens.
• A Tamago-Yaki pan from Chef Peter Hoffman of Savoy and Back Forty. It is a well-seasoned copper Japanese square omelet pan that Chef Hoffman brought back from Japan, after he lived and cooked there in the 80′s.
• and others
Round Two of the auction (December 1st – December 10th) includes item from:
• Chef Mario Batali
• Rachael Ray
• Mixologist Dave Wondrich
• Chef Alex Guarnaschelli
• and others
To view the auction and bid on items, go to: stores.ebay.com/SlowFoodNYC
