Great tasting foods, old and new, from all over the Zingerman's Community

Spices of the month

DECEMBER: Cassia & Cinnamon

If cassia and cinnamon were running for president, we could frame this
as a debate. It probably wouldnt be pretty. Each would argue vociferously that it was the authentic cinnamon. It could get downright vicious.
Each might open up with some stories of severe exploitation, slavery, and
colonialism from the others origins.

French Seafood Rilletes

from the Isle de Groix
Assuming you havent heard of it (I hadnt either until this summer), Isle de Groix lies off the coast of Brittany. Its the regions
second largest island. The biggest has a name that will resonate
with people in Michigan: Belle-Ile. The western part of the Isle
de Groix has been a nature reserve since 1982, the same year we
opened the Deli. Its long been a big place for both fishing and
for beaches. Since I love both eating fish and being on the beach
(the two in tandem are even better still) you can see where my
interest increased when I started learning about the island and
these exceptional rillettes.

In the end of course, we would have to vote and choose one over the other
but the reality is that theres a positive place for both cassia and cinnamon in
our kitchens! Good cooks dont need to choosethey can and do use both cassia
and cinnamon. And thanks to the work of our friends at pices de Cru in Montreal,
weve tracked down amazing examples of each; the best of the best of the best of
Ceylon cinnamon and Sumatra cassia.

Ive never really tasted anything like these. Amazing little jars
of fresh fish from the islands docks blended with spices and a
bit of butter and cream. Every time I eat somewhich has been
often of lateI think about sitting on the beach on the Isle de
Groix with a bit of buttered toast, a glass of wine, a good book
and any of these rillettes to spread on the bread. Its a good
image. And a good idea. Im gonna find out more about going
to visit.

Philippe de Vienne from pices de Cru explains some of the confusion: The main difference between
the two closely related trees is the volatile oil in the two spices. Typically, Cassia contains only one volatile
oil and flavour, whereas true cinnamon has four, including the one found in cassia. The difference makes cassia hot and
sweet with a single flavour. The combination found in cinnamon gives a more citrusy, fresh and complex aroma as the single
volatile oil that gives cassia its warmth is found in lesser concentration. That hardly makes one superior to the other. Great
cassia is as good as great cinnamon. The two spices have distinct personalities. Free choice is the order of the day here. As
Philippe de Vienne says, You may have a favorite or love both equally.

In the meantime, do what Ive been doingeat some of the rillettes. We have four varieties on hand, and I like them all. A lot!
Mackerel with Szechuan pepper. Sardines. Lobster rillettes with
curry. And perhaps my favorite, Sea Scallop. Where else can you
get the sweet-salty savoriness of good scallops in the form of an
artisan convenience food? Its so seriously good I could eat the
whole jar in one sitting.

Interestingly, while cassia became the one most commonly used in the U.S., Ceylon cinnamon has long been the mainstream
choice in Mexico. This is one reason that Mexican chocolatetypically spiced with cinnamonis both so exotic and so
appealing to interested American palates. Mexico is the biggest single consumer of Ceylon cinnamon. Its used there in moles,
flans, and hundreds of other dishes. While you can find it in the US, its generally little known. Cassia is used a lot in southeast
Asia and the Middle East. Turkish cuisine uses it with lamb; its used in Chinese five spice, and in traditional Sumatran curries. When we buy cinnamon in the grocery store in the U.S. its nearly always actually cassia. In Asia, North Africa and the
Middle East both are used regularly. Ras el hanout, Berbere and other classic spice blends include some of each.

All are great gifts for seafood lovers. Easy to put out on an appetizer board. Spread on open faced sandwiches for lunch or dinner. A bit of this, some toasted Bakehouse bread, a green salad
and a glass of wine and youll be having a world class meal, prepared in about six minutes!

Lets start with the Ceylon, or Sri Lanka, cinnamon. As Philippe explains, This cinnamon comes from our friends Sanath
and Deepa. Sanaths family has been growing cinnamon for as long as they can remember. Their plantation is situated in the
village of Cinnamon (Im not making this up), 50 or so kilometers south of the capital Colombo. The plantations are a few
hundred yards from the beach which make the soil sandy and well-drained. The micro climate is constantly hot. All essential
conditions for growing the finest cinnamon. After that the family tradition of excellence kicks in. Cinnamon attains its best
balance of the different flavours when it is 4-6 years old. At harvest, quills are scraped clean, peeled from the wood and let to
dry in the shade. True cinnamon quills are always made up of several thin barks hand rolled together. This process demands
great skill; cinnamon quill makers are in high demand and earn a very good living. This makes distinguishing cassia from cinnamon very easy as cassia is always made of a single thicker bark. Then cinnamon is graded in five categories ranging from
0 to 00000 (five zeroes or H5). The finest 00000 with delicate and very thin and pale bark is called 00000 Alba. Our friends
then further select from this grade for our orders. No one else, it turns out, as has ever asked Sanath and Deepa for this
extra special selection.
The Sri Lanka cinnamon is softyou can crush it with your fingers if you want. Youll see it in Zingerman's Deli in thin, 12 to
14-inch sticks that were so carefully rolled back in Sri Lanka. Lamb chops spiced with freshly ground cinnamon and a touch
of sea salt, then grilled, are amazing. Same could be said for pork chops or chicken. Rice pudding, kebabs, rice dishes of all
sorts. Add a bit to fruit salad. Its great really in almost any sweets where you want a subtler, softer, gentler flavor.
The cassia, of course, is equally amazing. The cassia that were getting comes from the Minangkabau highlands of Sumatra.
The trees are beautiful, huge. Sixty feet tall and about five feet across. Philippe and Ethne de Vienne inquired into buying the
bark. It was quite the negotiation. They said Yeah, we have thirty-year old trees. We said, OK, were very interested. They
said, Oh no! We dont sell those! We said to the mama, Were really interested. Well pay more for it. She said, No! Its my
thirty-year old tree. We dont sell those. No one will pay what its worth. So we looked her in the eyes and we said no well
pay! She proceeds to quote us a price2 times the regular price for cassia. She was sure wed never pay. But we said Great!
Well take it. I could see immediately that she wanted to retract the price. Then she said, Well, what if I cut it and youre not
here? A fair question. So we said, Well pay you half now. And now its happening!
The age of the tree is important. Whereas the Ceylon cinnamon is best at four to six years, the cassia gets better the older it
gets. Getting thirty-year old trees like this is incredible. Its like thirty-year old traditional balsamic vinegar compared to the
cheap, caramel colored commercial alternatives that now fill supermarket shelves. As Philippe explains, The older the tree,
the higher the oil content. Bark from older trees has an intense flavour and a touch of bitterness thats not found in younger
cassia. This is not a flaw as you might think. Bitterness is essential to the taste balance of good food. Nothing balances a very
sweet dessert like a hint of bitterness; think of cocoa, caramel or vanilla beans. The cassia is coming in to us in big pieces. I
have a piece of bark at my house thats about a foot long and maybe three inches in diameter. The aroma is pungent, intense;
the flavor amazing. About twenty-two times more intense than anything Ive tried elsewhere.
Each of the two, as you can tell, is excellent. Unlike pre-ground commercial offerings, you do have to grind these at home.
Pre-grinding means that essential oils and aromas are being lost to the air. What you gain in convenience is lost many times
over in taste. A small spice grinder works well. It takes no more time to do than it takes you to grind coffee beans at home.
And the aromas in the kitchen while you work will be totally wonderful.
To help everyone in town become familiar with the excellence of these two terrific spices, we have them both on special
during December. If youre looking at gifts for someone who likes to cook or bake, I really recommend getting them some
of each (along with a copy of this article) so that they can experience the differences and the wonderful diversity of sweet,
spicy, sensuality. Because there is no debate and were not voting, you dont have to choose one over the other. You can have
peace, prosperity and a really positive, enriching and educationally oriented experience in your kitchen every day.

Domaine Carneros Brut Sparkling

Wine at the Roadhouse
and Creamery cheese shop
Looking to sip something special this holiday season? Order up
a bottle, or a glass, of this amazing sparkling wine from Napa.
Eileen Crane is a good friend and long time
winemaker and CEO of Domaine Carneros,
this countrys leading sparkling wine house.
Smart, kind, determined and talented, shes
intent on making both the winery, and its
wines, into something truly special. I think
shes succeeding on all counts.
Ironically I first met Eileen, not through viticulture, but because of visioning. She engaged
ZingTrain to do work with the winery team,
about eight years ago, and weve been back to
do more work with them many times now. She and
many of the winerys managers have been here for
ZingTrain seminars. With each visit, and each
taste of the wines, I grow more impressed.
Unlike me, who happened into the food world by
accident, Eileen was excited about wine even as a
child. From the time I was 8 I was fascinated with wine, she told
me on a recent visit. As a young adult she attended the Culinary
Institute of America to train as chef, and from there she went on
to study winemaking at UC Davis. She worked as a winemaker for
a number of years with Gloria Ferrers wine house. But after a
time, it became clear to her that her passions and desired future
where not aligned with theirs. As I did so many years after working in other peoples restaurants, she decided to move on rather
than produce product she didnt feel proud of.
She decided, instead, to start a conversation with one of the best
champagne houses in the world. I went to France to talk to the
people at Taittinger about building a winery here in California.
From the beginning they wanted to make the best. I have never
been asked to make a second string product. Why waste your
life making second string stuff? I couldnt agree more. As poet
Gary Snyder says, the preserver of abundance is excellence.
As part of the Taittinger organization, Eileen set out to build
and open the winery that we now know as Domaine Carneros.
Shes been running it ever since. Ive been there 27 years, she
said. And, she added, Ive made sparkling wine for 37 years.

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NOV-DEC 2015

There are not all that many other women in winemaking. In 1890,
Eileen explained, 10 percent of the winemakers were women.
A hundred years later, in 1990, it was still 10 percent. Today its
about 14 percent. A large portion of those are, like Eileen, making
very high end wines.
Were the second smallest California sparkling wine house,
Eileen told me. We grow our own grapes in our own vineyards.
Were 100 percent organic. The weather is dependably dry
through most of the growing season, so we dont have to spray
and we dont have deal with as much rot and mildew. They do
all traditional methode champenoise productionsparkling wine
made the old fashioned way. Every small step in the process is
carefully managed so that you and I can enjoy some of the best
sparkling wine in the world any time we want to. Its not one
thing, Crane said. Perfection, or doing the best you can, is
dozens of little steps all along the way or hundreds of them.
Domaine Carneros is all about doing the small things that ensure
success and a great bottle of sparkling wine. We spend $50,000
on cork testing alone every year! she said.
The Roadhouse is serving (the Creamery is selling) the Domaine
Carneros Brut Sparkling Wine. Aged for over three years in the
Carneros cellars just south of the town of Napa, its a treat to
taste. Its particularly lovely, to my taste, paired up with the very
wonderful Manistique cheese from the Creamery. And to be clear,
you dont need to wait for a holiday to drink a bit of sparkling
wine. As Eileen reminds me regularly, every day is a good day for
sparkling wine. And she says, We dont realize it, but its really
good with all sorts of foods. Fried chicken and sparkling would
go great. If you, like me, are inclined to try to make every day
special, you might want to take Eileens excellent advice. Cheers!
PS: If youre out in Napa make time to stop at the Carneros tasting room! Its a beautiful winery, the wines are excellent, and I
feel pretty confident the weather will be better there this winter
than here!

Oyster and Bubbles

Featuring TJ Evans, Winemaker From Domaine Carneros

Tuesday, December 8th, 2015
$95 a person (price includes dinner, wine pairings, tax and gratuity)
Special Dinner #187

One of our favorite pairings, oysters and sparkling

wine, come together in this very special special dinner.
Zingermans Roadhouse is honored to welcome Domaine
Carneros winemaker TJ Evans
who will share Domaine
Carneros story and his love
for great wine. Chef Alex has
created a menu full of oysters
to complement the sparkling
wine, and to also to showcase the very special Domaine
Carneros Pinot Noir (Alexs
favorite wine). Additional
bottles of your favorite wines
will also be available to
purchase.

Peanut Butter Crush Candy Bars

Wow! is probably the best way I
can start this section. Because really
thats pretty much the way almost
everyone who tries this candy
bar for the first time responds.
We all learn to think in ways that are
in synch with who and what we are and
do. Musicians listen to sounds; poets
parse problems poetically; writers imagine sentences. Charlie Frank, the managing partner and our sugar artisan in residence, composes in
candy. His mind is always working, putting together things that
the rest of us might never connect. Happily, we get to eat the
results of his creative confectionary work.
Architect Christopher Alexander, writing about great design, says,
It is so powerful and fundamental that with its help you can
make any building in the world as beautiful as any place that you
have ever seen. He adds, They are beautiful, ordered, harmoniousyes, all these things. But especially, and what strikes to the
heart, they live. I say that the same thing applies to the candy
bars Charlie comes up with. In the context of confectionary they
are as beautiful, ordered and harmonious as anything Ive ever
experienced.
What is Peanut Butter Crush already?
Crispy-crunchy, thin shards of Charlies
already excellent peanut brittle,
crisped rice, creamy peanut butter,
the perfect touch of sea salt and just a
bit of milk chocolate, all covered in dark
chocolate. The whole thing shatters in your mouth when you take
a bite, much in the same way that a great croissant shatters. My
girlfriend cant stop eating them. I think she might have added an
extra mile to her already rigorous daily running routine just to
be able to eat them at will. I gave one as a gift to a regular customer at Zingermans Roadhouse and she told me she went back
and bought twenty of them the next day. Interested? Come by and
ask for a taste any time!

Cosmically Good
Geisha Coffee From
Panama
Let me get the warning out of the
way up front.
You do not NEED this coffee.
There are many other wonderful
beans and brews out at Zingermans Coffee
Company. Ive been loving the Brazilian
Peaberry, the Mohka Java, the Ethiopian
and others of late. All are excellent and all
will cost you a heck of a lot less than this one. Like I said, you do
not NEED this coffee. You might really want it. But you definitely
dont need it.

Two Terrific Oils from Sicily

Here are a pair of truly terrific extra virgin olive oils from Sicily. Each is
amazing in its own right. Both would make remarkably memorable gifts.
La Tondo

Olio Verde

One of the most complex and compelling oils Ive

tried in a long time. Its over the top and in the
mainstream at the same time; on the edge and hits
the bulls eye simultaneously. Make time to come try it. Unless
you own your own olive orchards, Im pretty sure that La
Tondo is not your every day oil.
It comes from the hills outside the Baroque village of Ibla in
southeast Sicily. (The village of Ibla is not far from Modica,
another Baroque town which we know well for its old fashioned chocolate.) The area is known as the balcony of Sicily
because it looks down on the town and the valleysort of an
all natural sky box of beautiful proportions. Its a gorgeous
place to beherbs, olives, wild flowers all growing in the hills.
La Tondo is produced on the estate of Marchesi Achille Paterno
di Spedalotto. There are 7,500 olive trees, all organically farmed.
They use only the Tonda Iblea olive, an old cultivar unique to
this part of the world. Harvest is done totally by hand. The oil is
decanted for a couple of months but left intact and unfiltered.
The oil is big and round and tastes terrifically of green tomato.
Green and grassy and really good. Really exceptional green
color. Pour some into a white bowl just to admire its look. And
then stick your nose up closeamazing aroma.
When summer returns in ten months, it will be wonderful with
tomatoes. This time of year I love it on simple spaghettiwith
garlic and red pepper; or with bottarga (the delicious dried
mullet roe). Great on beans. Lovely on arugula. It seems eminently Italian to me.

ISSUE # 253

NOV-DEC 2015

Olio Verde means green

oil in Italian and thats definitely what this is. Another of
the big bold oils that Im so drawn
to. Its from the farm of Gianfranco Becchina and made from
100 percent Nocellara olives. Its one of the few varietals (the
Spanish Arbequina is another) that is used for both oil and
for table olives. Gianfranco does his harvesting exceptionally early in the seasonSeptember! Thats anywhere from a
month to two months earlier than is typical in the area. Early
harvest like that, of course, means more interesting flavors,
higher levels of polyphenols, but much lower yields.
The quality of the oil is the result of a lot of careful work. Our
friend Rolando Beremendi says, The estate now includes one
of the most pristine, high-tech frantoio (olive mill). An extra
feature has been recently added to the production: a sorting
table, very similar to those utilized in wine-making where the
baskets of olives are emptied and the careful eyes of his welltrained staff pick-out the unsuitable olives for making his oil.
Gianfranco is there overlooking every step of the process and
every year.
Rolando says its, Unusually Sicilian. Deeply green, with
strong grassy, fruity olive notes and a rich, well-balanced flavor with undertones of banana and ripe fruit, accented by a
long peppery finish. Try it on fresh mozzarella, toast, a piece
of swordfish. The bottle looks beautiful as well. A great and
very memorable gift for any olive oil lovers in your life.

What is it? Its Geisha coffee, a rare, wonderful and very limited selection of very special coffee beans from the highlands of
Panama. It comes from Finca Santa Teresa smack in the center of
the Panamanian isthmus. Its grown at 4000 to 8000 feet.
Finca Santa Teresa was established by the Beard family in 1997.
In 2012 it was purchased by Toby Smith and Andre Wierzbicki
who have expanded the operations and size of the farm. Like our
friends at Daterra Estate in Brazil, these guys are doing it right.
Theyre paying better salaries to the staff, providing free meals,
free medical care, transport to and from work, training and education. Their use of natural resources is wiserecycling of water,
waste material etc. No child labor is used on the farm. The farm
has a school for the kids of the crew that work there.
If you do try it, youre pretty likely to like it. Light, elegant, velvety. If you like to spend extra to get an incredible wine, or to buy
a really special olive oil, or a super aged balsamic vinegaryou
dont NEED any of those eitherthen this stuff might for you. My
warning is that if you try youll probably want to drink it again.
Your only salvation is that we only have 100 pounds and then
were out. Available ONLY at Zingerman's Coffee Company on
Plaza Drive.

Spice of the month

NOVEMBER: Gorria Pepper

Exceptional Espelette Style Chile
Flakes from Quebec
Maybe the world really is turning
upside down. The most delicious
new chile Ive tasted in a long time
is coming to us, not from Mexico or the
Mediterranean, but from way up north, an hour
or so outside of Montreal!

There is, of course, no shortage of red pepper flakes, or ground chiles to add to
your food. But let me put a plea in here
to have you give this special new offering
from a seemingly strange source for
chiles a chance. I think its one of the
loveliest things Ive tried in a long time. Not surprisingly, it
comes to us through our wonderful spice world connection,
the de Vienne family, up in Montreal. Like us, theyve spent the
last thirty years searching the world for great food. In their
case the searching is particularly fine tunedeverywhere
they go theyre on the lookout for spices! To that end theyve
traveled all over Asia, Africa, Central and South America, and
come back each time with some really special stuff. If you
havent yet tried their incredible array of offerings come by
the Deli for a smell and taste any time.
Ironically, after all that traveling to exotic, hard to reach,
often barely mapped places, their latest comes from a spot
thats just a car ride away from their wonderful little spice
shops in Montreal.
Weve known the Pallardy family for the past 10 years,
Marika de Vienne told me. Ever since we opened our store
in the market. They are true agriculteurstheir production
of chiles, melons and squash are particularly amazing. One
of their secret ingredients is the use of seaweed as a natural
fertilizer, and in combination with their expertise, this makes
them exceptional producers. They are a kind and discreet
family, leaving their products to speak for themselves.
But when the Pallardys began to bring in this special chile they
really got the de Viennes attention in a big way. The introduction of their Piment Gorria is a game changer, Marika said.
When they started producing it, we were astonished in the
quality of this Quebec grown Basque Chile. Rich in flavour, it
is of better quality than most of the Espelette chile that gets
exported to North America. As they do not have the ability to
mass market their own amazing product, we buy whole and
powdered chile, and it is a true pleasure to offer such an amazing new product, support our neighbours in the Market, and
continue to show that it is all about terroir.
I agree. I love this stuff. Its color is incredible. A bright reddish orange. The aroma is exceptional. Like a bouquet of fresh
cut flowers. The flavor is subtly sweet and softly spicy all at
the same time. Ive been using it in almost everything. Salads,
potatoes, fish, toast. I asked Marika where she uses it and she
shot back, Everywhere! It is a great finishing chile, not too
hot, with a great vegetal backbone that makes it perfect in
salads, soups, mayonnaise, brownies. . .you name it. Come by
and have a taste any time. The only thing Id add is that after
you try it, you may want to buy two tinsone to have in the
kitchen and one to leave next to the salt and pepper for everyone to add as they eat. Its really that good.

Zingermans Barrel-aged
Hot Sauce from the Brinery
A special edition hot sauce from Ann Arbors professor of pickling, the master of fermentation, the funniest man on the Ann
Arbor food scene, David Klingberger. Daves sauerkrauts and
pickled vegetables have been showing up all over our menus and
on our shelves. This fall he took a big batch of peppers from our
own Cornman Farms and put them to work as part of a special
new hot sauce he concocted just for us. Hes been barrel aging it
for months. Suppliers are limited!!

I look at that as a plusits fresh product thats supposed to be

eaten within a week of two of being made.
The other day at one of our meetings, Amy Emberling, one of the
managing partners at Zingermans Bakehouse, shared one of the
best food moments of her life (which, take note includes a couple
of stints living in Europe, three years living in New York city, and
over two decades of being part of Zingermans). It was early one
morning when she took a freshly baked bagel from the Bakehouse,
walked over to the Creamery where a new batch of cream cheese
had just been made, put the two together and savored every bite.
To this day I think that one of those sesame bagels, toasted and
spread with this artisan cream cheese is one of the most magical
meals I can eat.

Manistique Cheese
Usingers Hessiche Land Leberwurst
A lot has changed over the nearly 34 years since we opened
Zingermans. One thing thats remained exactly the same over all
those years is the prominent presence of Usingers liverwurst in
the Delis meat case. Id read about Usingers in the months before
we opened. All signs seemed to point to it being pretty terrific.
The best in the country, many said. I called for samples, which
they sent. The flavor backed up all the advance PRtheir liverwurst was lovely. Delicious. Down to earth, definitely traditional
and very full flavored. Three and half decades later Usingers stuff
is still terrific. I think one of the best things we sell!
Fred Usinger came to the U.S. (to Milwaukee) in 1880. Hed grown
up in the town of Wehen in southern Germany, northwest of
Frankfurt. After doing
an apprenticeship with
a master sausage maker,
he moved to America.
It was an era of large
scale emigration from
Europe. (For context,
Mr. Nueske, the bacon
maker, came a few
years later. So too did
Rocco Disderide, the
Italian immigrant who
twenty years later built
the building that is now
our Deli.) In Milwaukee,
Mr. Usinger began making sausage at the butcher shop of Mrs. Julia
Gaertner on what was then the high end of Milwaukees shopping
district. A few years later, he bought the shop from her, changed
the name, and it has been Usingers ever since.
Today Usingers is run by the 4th generation. In that sense I suppose its the spiritual counterpart of Nueskes. One in Wisconsins
southeast, the latter way up north in the town of Wittenberg. Both
of the founders came from Germany at around the same time,
both started small, both are run now by the fourth generation
of the family, and while both have grown each has stayed totally
dedicated to quality and care and high end ingredients.
Everything we get from Usingers is excellent. But my favorite
has always been the Hessiche Land Leberwurst. Its ingredients
are simplepork, pork liver, pork fat, salt, onions, spices. Its
long smoked, with plenty of good pork fat and a healthy dose of
cracked black pepper. The one pound pieces are small enough
that you could put out a whole one for a party. Or just buy a quarter or half pound. Great on the caraway rye bread. Wonderful
sandwich.

Handmade Cream Cheese

from Zingerman's Creamery
William Butler Yeats believed, The world is full of magic things,
patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper. This cream
cheese was, for me, one of those things. Before we started making it, I barely gave cream cheese much thought. Its 16 years now
since we started making this old style artisan cream cheese at
the Creamery. To this day, it remains one
of my all time favorite foods. Fresh
milk from Calder Dairy down in
Carleton, Michigan, natural rennet, natural cultures, salt, and
cream. Thats it.
As with so many of the special
foods we serve and sell, its made
the same way cream cheese was
when the Deli building was built
in 1902. In fact, it could well be
comparable to something that grocer
Rocco Disderide sold in his little grocerys
ice-cooled dairy case. No vegetable gums, no preservatives, no
mechanical extrusion. As it would have had at the turn of the 20th
century, our cream cheese has what modern industrial producers would consider an absurdly short shelf life. While commercial
alternatives last a couple of years (Ive tried it home) without any
noticeable change in texture or flavor), fresh, hand made traditional cream cheese only lasts a couple of weeks. Personally

Creamy Cows Milk Cheese

Carefully Matured in Cabbage Leaves
Earlier this fall I did a special
cheese tasting for an international group of wine and food
experts who were gathering
in Ann Arbor from all over
the world. They asked me to
select threeand only three
cheeses to supplement their
meal. This one was one of the three I chose. Seriouslyand I do
NOT say this lightly at allthe new Manistiques from the Creamery
have been as good as anything Ive tasted all year. From France,
from England, Ireland, Italy or America.
The Manchester cheese in its unaged state (which is the base of
the Manistique) has been fantastic all year. Its creamy in texture,
full flavored and mellow at the same time. I love it. It has a nice
delicate tang and a long milky finish that lingers a long time and
will make you miss it when its gone. I like to let it get to room
temperature and then serve with toast and sliced pears.
The cabbage wrapping for the Manistique takes this already great
cheese to even greater heights. The idea of wrapping cheese in
leaves goes back centuries. Leaves were used to protect cheese
sort of an additional, all-natural rind, or wrapping, which also
added a bit of interesting flavor in the process. Throughout the
Mediterranean, local leaves have been usedFrench banon in
chestnut leaves, Spanish Valdeon in maple leaves, etc. This past
year, the Creamery crew set to work to come up with a suitable Michigan equivalent. While there any number of options to
try, they settled on using fresh cabbage leaves. Why not, right?
Cabbage is, while not necessarily a glamour vegetable, a part of
the hearty Midwestern eating. The green of the leaves looks great.
The leaves allow a bit of air in and add a bit of character to the
flavor. The paste is very spreadable and extremely delicious. Plus,
the light green of the leaves looks really lovely when you put the
whole cheese out on the table.
The name? As with most of our cheeses, we named it for a Michigan
town, this one is way up in the Upper Peninsula! Be sure to give
the Manistique a chance to come to room temperature before you
serve. Both the texture and the flavor come through much more
elegantly and lusciously when the cheese is at about 65. By the
way, its delicious with sparkling wine, in particular the great ones
on the Creamery shelves from our friends at Domaine Carneros.
Manchester and Manistique are our Cheeses of the Month for
December! See page 13!

Pistacchiosa from Lazio

Super Sicilian Pistachio and Extra Virgin Olive
Oil Spread
I loved this stuff. Its from a farmhouse and agriturismo just outside of Rome on the road that goes to Rieti in the
Sabina area. Rolando Beremendi, the amazing importer from
whom we get the Rustichella pasta, Crudo olive oil, etc. found
them about ninety days after they made their first spread four
years ago. This one is sexy smooth paste of Sicilian pistachios (and
a very high percentage of them at that) blended with a bit of really
good extra virgin olive oil. You can use this stuff on just about anythingtoast is my top pick along with pasta but its also excellent
with fish, chicken, or rice. Or you can flip the culinary coin and
use it with gelato or yogurt of some of that really amazing ricotta
we get at the Creamery from Bellwether Farms in California.

Hoosier Biscuits at the Roadhouse

A long time classic in Southern Indiana thats now on the way
to becoming a really popular regular on the Roadhouse dessert
menu. Credit for the original recipe apparently belongs to the
Nashville House Restaurant in Nashville, Indiana, which has been
serving them for over 150 years.
I tried them for the first time a few years ago when I was doing
some ZingTrain work with Indiana-based client Clabber Girl (the
folks who make the world famous baking powder, and hence,
understandably, have a high interest in biscuit baking) who
insisted that we try them while we were in town teaching. At
the Roadhouse, we start with our already excellent house made

buttermilk biscuits which we then deep fry (exactly!) and toss

in Muscovado brown sugar. We serve em up hot with a side of
American Spoon preserves (or ask for honey is you prefer).
While I know a Roadhouse donut sundae may be hard to resist,
give some serious thought to this old school southern Indiana
specialty. Theyve already won quite a few fans in the first few
weeks weve had them out on offer.

Fondants from Pietro

Romanengo in Genoa
Zingermans seemingly long-run in business is a tiny fraction of
what the family-owned shop of Romanengo has accomplished on
the Italian Riviera. The family got going in 1780thats right four
years after the American colonies declared independence from
England and nearly a decade before the French Revolution that
followed. The firm was established originally as a spice shop,
steadily expanding its work into candied fruits and confetti (aka,
dragees in France), some of which were the new revolutionary
style coming in from the other side of the border in southern
France. Later they added chocolate making to their work.
I first visited their shop on Piazza Soziglia, near the city center,
some twenty years ago. Its an amazing little spot. The shop was
opened in 1814. When you walk in youll be marveling at polished
marble, fine, old, beautifully finished wood, crystal chandeliers.
To me it looks more like a cross between a jeweler, a high end
antique shop and a Viennese caf.
In the late 19th century Pietro Romanengo, grandson of the
founder, became a leading authority in Italy on candy work. His
leadership at Romanengo and in the trade helped to make Genoa
an internationally famous center for confectionary. They produced hundreds of thousands of pounds of candied citrus peel
a local specialtymuch of which was exported, even then in the
19th century, to the US.
Their fondants are hand wrapped in white paper thats tipped
with an array of different colors. Theyre not, Im sure, their biggest selling item, but theyve long been one of my favorites and
theyre unlike anything else we have on our shelves. The fondants
are the quintessential artisan sugared specialty that is impossible to mass produce. The complex process of making fondants lies
in the boiling of sugar at different temperatures for each product.
Varying quantities of liquid sugar are added to the mix during the
boiling process, producing sweets with different consistencies.
The real fruits used by Romanengo in making fondants include
strawberry, mint, orange, clementine, tangerine, apricot, raspberry, lemon, banana, pear, chocolate, and anise.
The Romanengo folks say that, The final product is an array
of rectangular white sugar cubes that melt in your mouth like
cream. I say intense yet still gentle at the same time. Like leaning
back to relax after a really long week.
The intensity is not an accidentCharlie Frank from the Candy
Manufactory could explain the process better than I but fondant
is made by creating a supersaturation of sugar and water; water
will absorb twice as much sugar at the boiling point as it will at
room temperature. The word fondant in French means melting (related to foundry which comes from the same root),
appropriate since thats how theyre made and also since thats
what theyll do when you pop one in your mouth.

Nduja! - Super Spicy,

Spreadable Calabrian Style Salami
Over the years weve done a pretty
darned good job of getting the great
foods of the world to Ann Arbor.
But this is one of the ones that all
my wishing and hoping couldnt
make appear. Ive been wanting to
make Nduja part of my regular eating routine ever since I first encountered
it in Calabria five or six years ago. I use the word
encounter intentionally. Eating Nduja is a significant experience. If you eat some casually at a party, I pretty much
guarantee youll remember it. Theres nothing else like Nduja on
the market. Spicy, slightly sweet, buttery, powerfully porky yet as
smooth in texture as homemade strawberry jam. Nduja is both
subtle and strong at the same time.
To get clear on the name, its pronounced en-doo-yah. Its part
of a little known subset of the Italian salami world called salami
dal spalmare, or spreadable salamis. The name comes from Latin
inducere, meaning to lead into. One regular customer told me,
Thanks to you guys I have a big Nduja problem! I cant stop eating it! I understand. Im sort of in the same spicy boat!
Chicagos Antonio Fiaschi is the fifth generation in his family to
craft this special recipe on a regular basis. His grandfather still
lives in Calabria, not far from Ndujas hometown Spilinga. He
uses only pork from carefully sourced, old-school Berkshire hogs,
a proprietary blend of five different chiles, and ages his NDuja for
months. It really is remarkable.
What do you do with Nduja? Almost anything really. Let it come
to room temperature to soften a bit and let the full flavor come

ISSUE # 253

NOV-DEC 2015

out. I spread it on toast. Add a spoonful or two to an omelet.

You could probably crumble a bit of it atop a pasta dish, or mix
some into a tomato sauce. But more than anything I just eat
it with bread and other antipastisome cheese, some cured
vegetables, some olives. In Ireland it was on the menu in the
broth for musselsdelicious! You can rub it right onto corn on
the cob. Delicious! My personal favorite experiment is a bit of a
Calabrian American hybrida Roadhouse burger on a bun thats
been spread on one side with a generous amount of NDuja, on
the other with a bit of mayo and then a small handful of fresh
arugula leaves set on top. Its the Calabrian version of a burger
with bacon. The other night I made a tomato sauce with NDuja,
added some roasted peppers and sauted squash and then
cooked some chunks of fresh bluefish right in the sauce. If you
like pork, you like spice and you like to eat, NDuja might, no
exaggeration, very literally change your life.

Zingermans Bakehouse
Hungarian Walnut Beigli
These were the surprise hit of the holiday season last yearso
delicious that seemingly everywhere I went in the organization,
Id bump into someone singing its praises. Beigli is a long-standing
holiday tradition in Hungary. Personally Im happy to have it any
time with just a good cup of coffee. Beigli (pronounced bay-glee)
is a yeasted dough rolled up with a
filling of walnuts.

These are tough times in Greece.

Supporting artisan producers
makes a difference!
Terrific Red Pepper and
Tomato Sauce
I confess I might have been biased by the weather. When
theres nary a good local tomato to be seen around these
parts, I have an affinity for anything that smacks of summer. And I love this sauce from northern Greece. Good
ripe height-of-summer tomatoes, lots of roasted red
peppers, extra virgin oil, some garlic, a bit of chopped
golden pepper. Great way to add a bit of brightness to a
gray autumn day! Great with goat cheese or ricotta. Man,
I could eat it by the spoonful. Great on toast, with eggs,
pasta, rice, orzo. Great with fish, pork, or chicken too. A
little sweet, a small touch of spicy, really tomatoey, very
peppery and very good!

Wonderful Wine Vinegar

with Rosemary & Thyme
Really interesting new vinegar, its made from sun-dried
grapes grown in Messinia in southern Greece. The conversion into vinegar is done naturally over a period of
months. A bit of Greek rosemary and thyme are added
during the aging. Slightly sweet, highly delicious!

Trustworthy Olive Oil

from Timion
A very, very good new oil arrival
from Greece. Timion means
trustworthy in Greek and the folks
behind this great oil are doing everything possible to back that up. Its
produced from bio-dynamically
farmed olives, grown with noninvasive farming methods near Mount Taygetos. The
olives are the classic small Greek variety, Koroneiki.
Olives are all picked by hand. Its from the region of
Lakonia (accent at the end!) in Sparta, in southeastern
Greece. The Lakonians became known for their thrifty
use of words, hence the origin of the English word
laconic (which I had to look up, but means exactly
thatpithy or brief). and in the interest of congruence Ill just leave it at that. Terrific oil, great label, good
people. Try it.

Near-Perfect Roasted Peppers

from Artion
Some beautiful roasted peppers from northern Greece.
The name means ideal or balanced. And they really
are wonderful. Traditional Greek Florin peppersboth
red and yellowroasted over wood and then packed
with a touch of vinegar. Outstanding for anything. Great
label too. Add to salads, pastas, rice.

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NOV-DEC 2015

The outside has a beautiful

sheen to it and a unique,
slightly mottled, kind of
crackly look to its crust.
Inside are swirls of a thick
walnut-sugar filing thats
so good, I literally had a hard
time not eating more it. The richness of the butter in the dough and the
walnuts on the inside are comforting and compelling at the same
time. A great host/ess gift, or just something special to bring home
to liven up a dark winter night. Get yours at the Deli or Bakehouse!

4-Year-Old Swiss Emmentaler

About the only thing new with this cheese is that it just arrived
in Ann Arbor. Emmentaler dates all the way back to the late 13th
century. For the first five hundred years it was made only in the
summer months when the cows were in the mountain pastures.
The cheese provided protein for the winter months in a very cold,
very snowy, hard to travel in climate.
Today Emmentaler is of the best known of the worlds cheeses.
The tradition of export dates back about four hundred years. The
region had long been famous for fir tree masts for ships. They
were ferried up the rivers all the way to the Netherlands where
being able to sail around the world was a hugely important tactical part of Dutch world power. Eventually the idea occurred to
folks to also load on the large wheels of cheese and take those
with to sell too. It was, in part, made possible when Gruyere makers taught Emmentaler makers how to cook their curdthe drier
texture of the resulting cheeses made travel more manageable.
The first lowland dairy was built in 1815. Only then did the idea
that cheesemaking and farming were two separate skill sets. By
the end of the 19th century there were about 650 Emmentaler
dairies in Switzerland.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, prices began to drop,
at times so severely that many cheesemakers abandoned the
industry. Farmers turned to other ventures to try to scrape by.
Many also left for the US where they ended up making cheese in
Wisconsin. There are many families of Swiss origin still active in
the Dairy State that came over in that era. Joe Widmer, whose
brick and cheddar cheeses weve long sold and enjoyed here,
has Swiss origins. His grandfather arrived in Wisconsin from
Switzerland in 1905.
Today there are fewer than 150 Emmentaler dairies left!!
All of which led to the work of a small group of traditionalists
calling themselves Gourmino. They have done a great deal of
good work to help preserve and promote traditional Emmentaler
production. For the last few years weve been bringing full wheel
traditional Emmentaler, aged for over a year. And weve been
using a younger (four months old) Emmentaleraka, Switzerland
Swisson the Delis sandwiches since 1982. This fall, thanks to
the folks at Gourmino weve arranged to bring something really
special. A four-year-old, full fat version of Emmentaler! Its pretty
amazing and very exciting.
The barrels are hand made as they would have been at the time
that the Illighausen dairy got started. The tradition is being taught
anew by 87-year old barrel maker Walter Hirschi. With the decline
of the industry and modern shipping methods, the tradition of
barrel making had pretty much died out. The folks at Gourmino,
committed to preserving the old ways, did the work to track down
the last five men who had made them. Two of the five that they
found were, unfortunately, too old to really do the work. Two others were too youngtheyd made the barrels, but not for that long

because production stopped before they had time to master their

craft. Walter Hirschi hit the sweet spotold enough to have built
the barrels for many years, young enough (at a lively 87) to still
teach the methods to younger artisans.
This four-year-old cheese is a bit of a twist on the old methods.
Traditional Emmentaler has been made with partially skimmed
milkskipping the skimming leaves more richness in the cheese,
important when doing that sort of super long aging. Its made by
Markus Hengartner and Tanja Bolzli. The cheese is dense, intense,
full flavored. Dry, nutty, great noseits something really special
to put out on a cheese board. Great gift for anyone who loves
aged mountain cheeses. Certainly something special to serve up
at parties over the holiday season, or if you love mountain cheese
like I do, just something to savor soloa small slice with a bit
of Mountain bread from the Bakehouse is a beautiful thing. Put
down a bit of the Usingers Hessiche Land Leberwurst on the side,
a green salad to go with, maybe a bit of mustard and youve got a
really wonderful meal.

Charles Poiriers
Louisiana Cane Syrup
Old style, traditionally made cane syrup from Charles Poirier
down in Lafayette, Louisiana. I probably shouldnt promote the
product too loudlyCharles production is so small that its only
slightly bigger than what would be called homemade. Hes doing
the entire thing on his farm: growing the cane, crushing it, cooking it down and bottling it. What hes producing is truly, I think,
one of the tastiest, things Ive tried in a long time, and a very large
and very happy surprise!
Like so many people in the food world. Charles was driven by the
desire to rediscover family tradition. My great grandfather in St.
Martinville used to make syrup. He died in 1941. My father told me
about his, and how he made cane syrup before he passed away
and so Ive had it in my mind ever since. There used to be mills all
over the countryside. I thought Id enjoy doing it. So I grow all my
own cane. The yield is anything but high. It takes about 15 gallons of juice, Charles explained, to make about a gallon of syrup.
It takes me about 6 to 7 hours to cook it down. I cut all the cane
by hand. I enjoy doing it. At first I was just making it and giving
it to family and friends. But now weve started to sell a bit of it.
Happily, for us he has just enough to be able to sell of a few dozen
bottles. Supply, as you can tell then, is very limited.
Dark, delicious, sensual, superb, its like the best traditional brown
sugar made into a swirling, thick, sensuous elixir. Just a touch of the
deep reddish brown cane syrup on sauted sea scallops is fantastic.
Its terrific on corncakes. On pancakes, French toast, or donuts. Its
beautiful on biscuits. Drizzled on roast duck. Put a bit on grilled
pork chops. Try it on any of the great aged sheep cheeses weve
got. Fantastic. Amazing on the stone ground Irish oatmeal we have
at the Deli. I mixed some with a bottle of sparkling water and it was
so good that I think I could drink that all day.

Traditional French Munster

Aged with Marc
A long time classic that has suddenly caught my culinary attention this holiday season. These special little wheels of traditional
French Munster cheese are really quite delicious!
To be clear, this is pretty much completely unrelated to the
American made cheese that goes by the similarly sounding but
differently spelled name of muenster. Nothing wrong with
the latterwe get a great hand made version from Joe Widmer in
Theresa, Wisconsin.
These lovely little rounds of washed rind cheese are from Eastern
France. More full flavored with a thin delicate and very edible
washed rind. One of the oldest cheeses in France, munster has
likely been made in Alsace since the 9th century. The cattle were
taken up to the mountain meadows to graze in summer and then
cheese was made from their milk. The lands themselves were
owned by nobles and also by the church. Most of the cheese made
by the herdsmen belonged to them, not to the men who made it.
The unique character of this full washed rind is attributed to
the diverse grasses, herbs and wildflowers in the pastures of
Alsace, and also the quality of milk from the regional breed of
Vosgiennes cows.
The Haxaire family has been making munster cheese since 1929.
Its the oldest existing creamery in Alsace! The small wheels of this
special version of Munster are are washed regularly with marc
(aka, eau de vie, or grappa) made from grapes used for making the
regions great Gewrztraminer wine. (Marc is made by fermenting
the skins and stems left from the wine production into a clear,
pungent and flavorful brandy. Clear Creek Distillery in Oregon,
whose pear brandy is used to wash the wonderful Rogue River
Blue, also makes a really good marc de gewrztraminer).
The cheese is delicious with the Roadhouse bread, French
Mountain bread, or the caraway rye (or really any bread!).
Wonderful with just-boiled potatoes. Its very common in Alsace
to eat it with cumin seeds. The cumin were getting from the folks
at pices de Cru would be wonderful on it.

Dark Chocolate from Tanzania

I love everything about this chocolate. The flavor is fantastic. Its
a bit lighter, slightly on the softer end of the flavor spectrum than
most dark chocolates, yet still intensely chocolatey because of
its high cocoa content. Its definitely more cocoa-y than most of
our other dark chocolate bars. Shawn himself says it has hints of
tobacco. The main thing is, its complex and well balanced, with a
nice finish and it really doesnt taste like any other chocolate that
Ive had. All of which, Id say, makes it well worth checking out.
Then theres the story. Shawn Askinosie, after two decades as
a very successful trial lawyer in his hometown of Springfield,
Missouri, decided he wanted to spend the second half of his work
life doing something he was passionate about, something that
also made a difference for people in need. He chose chocolate,
which hed loved for his whole life. He succeeded on all counts.
Askinosie chocolate is some of THE best Ive had anywhere in the
world. He works very closely
with the growers, getting to
know them, teaching them
about quality, paying back
bonuses to them based on
the overall financial performance of Askinosie Chocolate
company.
At the top of my list right now
is this Tenende chocolate bar
from Tanzania. On this project,
Shawn really outdid himself by stacking up so many good deeds
that its even more inspiring than his other already inspiring
activity. The work to make this bar started with a project Shawn
initiated with the inner city high school thats located not far
from his plant. It was literally a bunch of high school kids that
we assigned a project to figure out what country of origin we
should use for our next bar. They picked Tanzania as the country
we should source beans from. Then we worked together to raise
money to send the high school students therewe raised money
for their travel. I told them from the beginning that we werent
just going to go there to travel but that we were going to do something good the people there. We raised about $70,000 to pay for
the travel and to dig a deep water well for the village.
In 2014 Shawn used this visit to Tanzania to teach our visioning process to the growers of the Mababu cooperative. He got
inspiring results. This summer Shawn went back, along with his
daughter Lawren, and decided to talk about visioning to 200 girls
from the local high school. Again, he got very powerful outcomes.
He has, without question, made a hugely positive impact on
their community. The quality of the cacao is significantly higher,
theyre earning more money for it, hes teaching them skills like
visioning that will help them with everything in their lives, hes
brought much needed funding to the local school by selling their
amazingly good Kyela rice (I love it! Its available at the Deli and
zingermans.com). Every we bar we buy contributes a bit more to
this fantastic project. And it tastes truly terrific as well.

Rig Jancsi Romantic Hungarian

Chocolate Torte from Zingerman's
Bakehouse
This is one of my favorite of all the
great Hungarian items weve introduced in the last three years. Ive
put it on this list more than once
now, but its so delicious, and the
story behind it is so good, its hard
to leave it off.
If you havent yet tried the Rig
Jancsi, check it out soon. Its a beautiful rectangular torte, covered
in a thick coating of dark chocolate ganache, with the nameRig
Jancsiwritten in script across the top. The
name, by the way, is pronounced ree-go yon-chee. The basic story
of the cake is well known (at least in Hungarian pastry circles).
Its named for a Hungarian-born, Roma violinist who fell in love
with a Michigan heiress named Clara Ward. Unfortunately, she
happened to be married to someone else at the time. Apparently
wired for passion and adventure, she chose Rig and romance
over her husband and a more proper life as a well-mannered
princess. The invention of the cake came shortly thereafter,
when a baker designed it in her honor.
Steve and Jane Voss, who are of Hungarian descent and have
visited the home country many times, were raving about how
good this Rig Jansci is. Steve told me the other night that it was,
Good enough to be served at Gerbeaud, referring to the world
famous, 150-year old caf in Budapests central square. Two layers of really tender, delicate chocolate sponge cake, sandwiched
around a modest layer of chocolate rum whipped cream, topped
off with a very thin, delicate layer of apricot jam and then, finally,
finished with a thick dark chocolate ganache. Serve it at room
temperature with a cup of the Ethiopian coffee and youre almost
guaranteed to have a good day.

Bottled Spanish Beans from the

Basque Country

Primo Grano Pasta

from the Abruzzo
Buying better pasta is one of the easiest ways I know to upgrade
the quality of ones cooking (unless of course you dont eat pasta).
The depth, character, complexity and everything else just goes up
a couple of notches. What Im talking about here is taking your
meal up from perfectly fine to pretty darned fantastic, at the
cost of a couple of dollars.

Weve long loved the Piquillo peppers from the folks at El

Navarrico in the Spanish Basque Country. But peppers arent all
that El Navarrico has to offer. These deliciously creamy bottled
beans are pretty spectacular. I love to use them as the base for
a quick and nutritious mealreally theyre so good I could probably eat them almost every night.
And then there are the Judin. These big delicious white beans
are to most beans what super-aged mountain Gruyre is to supermarket Swiss cheese. I know that its kind of weird to think about
beans as a food that could really be that good, but these are pretty
darned exceptional. If you just cook them up as is with some bay
leaves and a few whole vegetables in the pot you can serve them
as a side dish dressed with olive oil and sea salt. Theyre great in
a pot of Judias con Chorizo, which is a really nice bean stew seasoned with saffron, Pimentn de la Vera smoked paprika, some
jamn serrano, chorizo, red wine and olive oil. Ive simmered
them for a few minutes in a chicken broth scented with saffron
and served them with sauted onion, celery, fennel and carrots
along with saffron. Add plenty of good olive oil, sea salt and
freshly ground Telicherry black pepper. Theyre fantastic too with
tuna. Go with some of the tuna from the Ortiz family whose work
takes place only about an hour to the northwest of El Navarrico.

The Primo Grano pasta from the family-owned Pastificio

Rustichella, in the Abruzzo region of Italys east coast, is one of
a handful that can make that happen. Its made from a special
wheat that Gianluigi Peduzzi has spent years developing in the
interest of replicating the flavor of the grain grown back when his
father got the pasta factory going back in the 1920s. As with all the
Rustichella pasta, the Primo Grano is mixed at cooler temperatures (protects the flavor of the wheat), extruded through the old
style bronze dies (rougher surface), and dried very slowly (48-60
hours to get the proper texture in the bowl). As with all the great
pastas, I prefer to cook it very al dente, the better to taste the
wheat. And be sure to salt the pot liberally when youre cookingunsalted pasta is like unsalted potatoesbecause something
serious gets lost for the cost of a few cents worth of salt.
For more on what makes better pasta better see the chapter in
Zingermans Guide to Good Eating.

Baia Pasta from the Bay Area

Over the last year this has
become an ever more
regular part of my
cooking
routine
at
home.
Why?
Because it just tastes
so darned good! It
was tasty back when
Piemontese
partners Renato Sardo
and Dario Barbone
got going four or
five years ago and
it seems to just keep
getting better every
year! Renato and Dario
are doing all of the things
Ive written about above, and the results
are equality excellent. We are producing all of our pasta using
only organic flours from North America, Renato wrote. For the
moment we offer pasta in durum wheat (the classical semolina
flour), whole durum wheat, spelt and whole spelt. The production
follows the practices and techniques of the Italian artisans: we
use brass dies which scratch the surface of the noodle, causing
it to suck up more sauce; cold water in kneading; and low drying
temperature.
The Baia pastas are all in the same high quality league as the best
of Italys artisan producers. Its not an accidentI was born and
raised in Italy, eating good dried pasta practically every day,
Renato told me. Fresh pasta is generally eaten on special occasions or weekends when you have big meals with the whole family and I thought it strange that in the Bay Area I could find the
same brands as at my grocer in Piemonte. At the same time, the
only dried pasta produced in the States I could find was bland,
made with industrial flours that are probably produced very efficiently, but that are not very flavorful.
If youve not yet tried pasta of this quality before, you may be
shocked it at how much better it is. Thats what happened to me
thirty years ago. And Ive been cooking great artisan dried pasta
made by one the great producersRustichella, Martelli, Faella,
and now Baiatwo or three times a week at home ever since.
When you drain the pasta, your entire kitchen will smell wonderfully of the wheat from which its made. And when you eat it
youll likely fall in love. Artisan pasta like this is so much more
flavorful than standard commercial offerings. Does it cost more?
Of course. But for a few extra dollars youre upgrading to world
class cuisine. You can of course cook this great pasta any way you
like. But if you want to appreciate it fully you might try it cooked
very al dente, dressed only with one of the great extra virgin olive
oils, a some freshly ground Parmigiano-Reggiano. Add a touch of
fresh ground pepper and some sea salt and eat it while its hot.
When Ive had a rough day, or Im not feeling all that great, that
simple unbeatable dish has become my go to dinner. I always feel
better after I eat it!

Travel to
Spain with
Zingermans
April 16-26, 2016
For over 30 years, Zingermans has brought the
best and most flavorful foods of the world home to
America. Now, we can take you to the source! Join us
and savor Spains amazing artisanal food and wine to
the fullest. Well go behind the scenes and learn from
producers about their fantastic olive oils, cheeses,
wines, chocolates, pimenton, and more. And well do
full honors to the king of cured pork jamn Ibrico
de bellota, created from the famed black-footed pigs
who dine on the acorns that fall from the plentiful
Spanish oak trees. Well enjoy the beauty of the
countryside and taste our way through some of the
best food Spain has to offer.

&

Zingermans Food Tour Guides

www.zingermansfoodtours.com
888-316-2736
foodtours@zingermans.com

ISSUE # 253

NOV-DEC 2015

Last summer I was talking to Joe Salonia, the very nice guy through
whom we get some of our best aged Swiss cheeses. We talked about
Emmental (see page 3) and about aged Gruyre.
Then he started telling about this great Raclette they were getting
from an artisan cheesemaker, one of the last to make the old-style
Raclette. Wow, I said, thinking back on my visit to the Valais
region so many years ago. I remember visiting a guy that made
Raclette when I was there twenty years ago. He was great, and so
was his cheese. I wrote a long article about him for our newsletter.
I think his name was Eddy. Joes face lit up. Thats the guy! Eddy
Baillifard. Thats who were getting the Raclette from.
When I got home, I found the essay Id written so long ago. Some
things dont age wellthey feel out of touch and out of date.
Others hold up nicely. They feel remarkably current and on target
even though we were actually done many years earlier. This piece,
about Eddys approach to work and the cheese he makes, all fit
into the latter category. As I wrote to Joe, Im working on my next
book which will be about the power of beliefs in business, and its
interesting to see how much of what I now teach was already in
my mind 20 years ago!

Ortiz Sardines
Were putting these exquisite Spanish sardines back on
sale. These big and meaty pilchards are cleaned, cooked
and packed by hand. Preserved with olive oil in a beautiful
glass jar, they are packed upright in the traditional oldworld style. Their mellow, briny-sweet flavor will actually
improve over the years, if you can wait that long!

Jar $9.99 (reg. $14.99)

Tin $5.27 (reg. $7.99)

DeCember

Making and Eating Raclette,

or The Nature of Work
(from Zingermans News in 1994)

Last spring, four cheese-loving friends and I decided to spend

some of our vacation time touring the cheesemaking and cheeseloving mountains of France, Italy, and Switzerland. Starting out
in Geneva, we drove a wide circle counterclockwise around Lac
Leman. One Renault van, five cheese-lovers from America and
England. Lots of cheese, lots of laughs and lots of learning. This
month, the story of the Alpine Cheese Tour 94 continues with our
visit to the Valais, land of Raclette, home of our new Raclettemaking friend, Eddy Baillifard.

Whatever mysterious past I may conjure up for Eddy in my head,

I know for a fact that in the here and now, Eddys work is about
making great cheese at his dairy in the village of Bruson. Hes a
Raclette-maker. A passionate, hard working, committed craftsman, he seems to truly love his work. Which is a good thing
because he works a lot; 13 hours a day, seven days a week. Making
cheese. Turning cheese. Rubbing cheese. Caressing cheese. Loving
life. Do you make cheese every day? I asked him. In Switzerland,
the cows work on Sundays too. So I do too. I make cheese every
day. Even on Christmas, he smiled.

Eating Raclette

Conservas
Ramn Pea
When you open a tin of anything that Ramn Pea produces, you will realize before your first taste why they are
considered the best that Spain has to offer. Whether it is
tender sardines, colorful octopus, or velvety squid, everything is handled with great care in order to present you
with a superior product... and wait until you taste them!

Sardines With Padron Peppers - $13.15ea. (reg. $19.99ea.)

Squids In Ink - $13.15ea. (reg. $19.99ea.)
Squids In Olive Oil - $13.15ea. (reg. $19.99ea.)
Octopus In Paprika Sauce - $16.50ea. (reg. $24.99ea.)
Octopus In Olive Oil - $16.50ea. (reg. $24.99ea.)

2015

When we developed our Holiday

Blend for 2015, we
started with a smooth, chocolatey coffee
from Papua New Guinea. For balance,
we added a few of our favorite seasonal
beans from Central America. The resulting blend has a rich, dark-chocolate
character with just a hint of fruit.

Available at Zingermans Coffee Co., Delicatessen and Roadhouse

ISSUE # 253

His sons are no longer smallthey now work in the dairy and
the cheese remains excellent. Read on, and then come by the Deli
and get a taste! Heres to Eddy, good work, and good cheese!

Eddy certainly didnt meet my image of the stereotypical cheesemaker. Looked more like an ex-rock n roller whod toured
with Guns N Roses than a man who lives and loves great cheese.
Around thirty years old. Big arms. Wide, well-rounded shoulders.
Thick neck. Big heart. Round back. Long scar up his elbow. Big,
welcoming Swiss smile.

nOvEmber

Most of what I wrote about Eddy still stands. In the high production season, he produces 55 pieces of Raclette (5 kilos each a day).
Right now, he produces just 12 pieces. He also built a new caf
inside his creamery. If you go to the Valais you can stop by and
order Raclette sandwiches, charcuterie, wine, coffee and talk (if
you speak French) about cows with Eddy.

NOV-DEC 2015

If you visit the Valais, youll quickly discover that Raclette is THE
cheese. The local shop in the town of Martigny where we stayed,
sells ten different Raclettes. Some cheeses are old, some very old,
some older still. Each is labeled with the name of the valley from
which they came, then by the number of the producer. Raclette in
the Valais makes me think of snow to the Eskimo something for
which we have but a single name, while they have a complex list
of varied, individually identified versions.
The locals in the Valais eat Raclette as a table cheese, cutting off
slices and enjoying them before or after dinner. They also eat
it as part of a light meal, along with a salad and air-cured beef.
They use it in fondue. And, perhaps best of all, they use it to make
Raclette, the eponymously named incredibly delicious dish that
has brought Raclette the cheese much of its international recognition. More about that later.
Many Americans have never had the chance to taste a good
Raclette cheese, as so much of the Raclette sent over to this
country is factory-made, with little life, and less character. Often
it is made in France, not Switzerland. But when you can get your
hands on the real thing, it is truly a wonderful, worthwhile cheese.
Dont miss it.
When you taste a sliver of Raclette youll recognize it immediately
as a member in good standing of the Swiss cheese family. Theres
much of the same fruity, nose-tickling tang that gets Swiss cheese
lovers so excited. How does it compare to non-Swiss cheeses?
Its more upright than, say, the slight sexiness of a creamy Italian
Fontina, more straight-laced than the wild rustic ride of an Italian
Pecorino. Its an upstanding Swiss citizen, with a bit of the fruitiness and spiciness that characterizes German wines. Hardly any
holes, but a hardy, enjoyable flavor.
Eddys grandfather started the dairy in Bruson back in 1925. Had
a few cows, then decided to start making cheese. Eddy loved
cheese as a kid. He admired his grandfather, loved his grandfathers work, adored his grandfathers cheese. Eddys father, on the
other hand, is an electrician. Electrician and politician. He hated
cheesemaking and wanted nothing to do with it.
Skip a generation. Skip the narration. Swiss cheese generation
gap. There are holes in the cheese making lineage, but the tradition stays strong around the holes. Grandfathers made cheese.

Fathers fled to less demanding professions. Grandchildren are

back, committed to making incredible, traditional cheese.
Eddy decided to forgo his fathers electrical trade and return to
the challenges of the cheese world. Took years of study with the
Swiss Cheesemakers Union. Chose to make his passion for cheese
into his vocation. To make Raclette the right way, every day, every
week. 52 weeks a year. The way his grandfather did. Its a passion,
not a job, says Eddy with a sweet smile. I love it!
My cynical American mind balks: Hey, this is too good to be true.
Somebody told you to tell that story to all the tourists, didnt
they? But my heart hears a like-minded spirit spitting out substantive stuff. My heart says, He means it. Eddy truly seems to
take great pleasure in his cheesemaking.

31 Raclettes a day. 365 days a year.

Each of the 31 is turned six times the first day, pressed with a
20-kilo weight to expel excess whey. Then one day in a salt brine.
Then into the aging rooms, where the smell of the cheeses aging
thickly contrasts with the freshness of the mountain air just outside the heavy steel door. To Eddy, the smell of Raclettes ripening
is sweet as can be. Each 12-pound flat round is turned and washed
daily during its three to five months of aging. A special machine
moves through the aisles of the aging rooms. Eddy puts one wheel
in at a time, flips the switch, brushes brush, water whirs. Nothing
fancy about the wash. Just good clean local Valais water. The
Raclette is then returned to its wooden shelf.
As it ages, the Raclette develops a natural, fawn-colored, brushed
rind, the texture of coarse linen. Cut them open and youll find
a pale yellow-to-ivory-colored interior with only an occasional
small eye, or hole marking the surface.
365 days a year of cheesemaking. Think about it. Work every day
of the year? To the leisure-loving American ear, the thought is
almost overwhelming. How can the guy work every single day?
Does that make him a workaholic?
I think not. When they created the 40-hour work week, the
emphasis was on work. But what Eddy does isnt just a job, its a
vocation. I can relate. Sure forty hours sounds nice. If you dont
like what youre doing, do it as little as possible. But what true
vocation can you fulfill in forty hours a week?

Cheese Kids on the Block

Enter Eddys kids. Little, loving lads with blond bowl-cut hair.
They come running into the dairyits a holiday, one of the many
saints days that dot the European work calendar. School is out.
Eddy is working. In Switzerland the cows work on Saints days too.
The little one (maybe hes five?) has an earring. I guess rock n
rolling gets passed along the generations like cheesemaking.
They help Eddy with the cheese, and its the latter part of his day,
where hes making Sirac out of the whey left from the Raclette.
(Sirac is the Alpine version of ricotta, made by boiling the whey to
cook out the whey solids. Its fluffy, white and delicious on bread,
pasta or anything else. But youll have to go the Alps to get it.)
Its great to watch. The kids stick their fingers into the cheese and
pull out little scoopfuls, and eat. Eddy picks the boys up in his big
cheesemakers arms and jokes with them. Everyone laughs. Puts
em down. Goes back to the cheese. I didnt ask, but I should have.
My gut tells me that this is the way Eddy remembers visiting his
grandfather the cheesemaker.
Is this how we learn to love work, to work at something we love?
Is this one of the things weve lost by banishing work to factories
and filled-up, sealed-off office buildings? I know I never went to
work with my father. Why are we so intent on separating work
from life as if it needed to be quarantined? Whats wrong with
work anyways? I like the other parts of my life a lot, but I like
work too. My work fascinates me, challenges me, frustrates me,
rewards me. Its so closely connected to me. My work, like Eddys,
is about a love for food, a love for the people who make it, who
eat it, working to connect the former with the latter.
The littlest of the boys comes running back in crying. His shoe is
untied. Eddy laughs, lifts and reties. Problem fixed. Hes not just a
good cheesemaker. Hes a really nice guy.

Upward Bound
The Ascent to the Alpage
We arrived in the Valais in May, the day before Ascension. Turned
out to be a few days too early. Next Tuesday is the day the cows go
up the mountains, up to the Alpage, the incredibly lush mountain

pastures that serve as summer homes to many of Switzerlands

small, well-to-do dairy herds. The first stage of the Ascent (is it
only coincidence that the cows start going up the mountain at
Ascension Day?) takes the cows to the lowest level of the Alpage.
Later, they leave for meadows higher up the mountains. Then in
September and October they slowly start to make their way back
down to the villages.
In Bruson, 176 cows from the village go up together. Package tour
for bovines. 20 of the 176 belong to Eddy. His herd is made up of
Simmental and Les Rennes cows, although more of the latter.
The Les Rennes are fighting cows. Eddy loves to watch the fighting
cows. The day before our arrival, Ascension Day was the annual
fighting cow festival. 9000 people came to Bruson to watch it.
(Thats a lot of people in a tiny, out of the way village like Bruson.)
Eddy is sorry we werent there to see it. What Id rather see is the
cows going up the mountain. How many heifers have made their
way up the steep green slopes over the centuries?
Looking up from the village and around at the mountains, I wonder how it happened that some parts of the mountains are covered with thick forests, others with nothing but clean, clear green
pastures.
I asked Eddy, Where did the Alpage come from? How did it get
there? Round shoulders shrug. Its just been there for a long
time. As we traveled the mountains, I kept inquiring. Best answer
I got was that medieval mountaineers cleared the forests to create
pasturage for their herds. Their legacy is the Alpage.

Whats Progress Anyways?

Visiting the Bagnes, talking to Eddy, got me thinking about the
whole issue of progress. Im not sure what it all means, but how
do we know which progress is good and which is bad? Who
decides? Is history the only judge? Makes me question long-held
beliefs, without really arriving at a clean, clear-cut answer.

RACLETTE PARTY
If you want to bring fifteen friends
together for a memorable evening of
incredibly good, heartwarming winter
eating, a Raclette party is definitely
a good way to go. Heres what you
need:

1. Plenty of Raclette Cheese!

You cant have a Raclette party without the Raclette.

Heres what to look for when youre shopping:

A. Stick to traditional Swiss Raclette.

There are dozens of different Raclettes available on
the market. Most are factory made, many in France not
Switzerland. I far prefer the traditional Swiss version. A
well-made Raclette from the Valais is richer, earthier, nuttier, more interesting. And since the cheese is the centerpiece of the meal, I dont want anything less than the best.

B. Look for the name of the valley stamped into the

side of the rind.
This insures that youve got a wheel from the Valais,
Raclettes home region. Only the real thing will have this
name impressed a good quarter inch into the rind along the
side of each wheel. The rinds of factory made and/or French
versions of Raclette are smooth and nameless.

C. Ask its age.

Think about it. How come it strikes me as okay to clear-cut forests

in the Alps five hundred years ago to create the Alpage, with all its
incredible natural beauty and the livelihood it provides for Swiss
villagers? When at the same time Im so opposed to Boise-Cascade
clear-cutting California forests? I mean, I know where my own
feelings lead me, but if Im honest with myself, I have to question
why its so hard for me to rationalize one but not the other.

Although asking for someones age before you get together

doesnt work well on the dating scene, its pretty helpful
when it comes to cheese. If you can find a wheel thats at
least five or six months old youll be likely to have a more
flavorful Raclette experience. Older than six months, the
cheeses are still excellent for eating, but are less then ideal
for melting in the Raclette tradition.

Six months later, I havent come up with any simple solution. We

each believe what we believe. But I guess, the key to the Swiss
part of the question is that they seem to have worked in balance
with the world, making changes but keeping intact the connection
to the earth. Cutting some forests, but never losing respect for
nature, for the mountains.

2. How to Melt the Cheese

Every cheesemaker I met in Switzerland spoke with enormous

respect for his or her environment, for the majesty and magic of
the mountains. Somehow, theyve made it work, for themselves,
for their cheese, and for their environment.

Rocky Mountain Cheese High

Great cheese, to me, is a stimulant. A soul stimulant. You cant
quite quantify it. Sometimes I want to. But I know I cant. Its
pleasurable, but unmeasureable. The late, great quality expert,
Edward Deming rightfully recommends setting specific standards
of measurement in order to define and then attain quality standards. But how can you measure what can only be monitored in
the mouth of the beholder? How to you measure the satisfaction
that Eddy derives from crafting his capricious thirty one wheels a
day of Raclette? How do you measure pleasure?
Can work and pleasure coexist? Can they be linked? I think so.
Thats what I work for. People act like work is about grime, or
at best a daily grind. Sure theres daily drudgery, and repetition
too, but why cant work also be about beauty, soul satisfaction,
service, enjoyment, connection? I think it can. I work hard to
blend them all into a single interesting, rewarding existence. Life
is work. Work is life. Its not all of life. Not even close. But why
do so many people insist on seeing the two as so incompatibly,
irretrievably, separate?

Raclette Postscript
As we enter the Ann Arbor winter, it makes me think of sitting in
the Valais, eating hot Raclette. Id like to go back right now for
more. More Raclette. More potatoes. More work. More magnificent meadows and more moments like the ones we had in the
Valais. I guess for the moment, Ill settle for a plate of hot potatoes
and richly flavored Raclette, and my memories of
the Alpine Cheese Tour, 94.

From a hands-on cooking perspective, the easiest option is

to find yourself a Raclette machine. Its basically a heating
element, attached to swinging metal arm which holds the
cheese while it melts. All you have to do is bring a half wheel
of Raclette, trim the rind from the first inch or two off the
cut face of the cheese, mount it on the arm, melt and scrape
when the cheese starts bubbling. When youve scraped off
all the cheese, dismount the piece, trim another few inches
of rind, reset and start over.
If you cant get a Raclette machine, you can do it the oldfashioned way. You simply hold the cut face of the wheel
up a nice big open fire. After all, this is the way it was done
up until some home appliance genius invented the Raclette
machine half a century ago. The only thing it gets a little hot,
so if youre not used to having your face and hands smack
in the middle of a roaring fire, you might want to get your
hands onand then ina pair of protective gloves.
The simplest and quickest (if least traditional) way to do
it, is simply to stick slices of Raclette into your frying pan,
saut until they start to melt then slide them off onto plates
of potatoes.

3. Potatoes

While the star of an evening of great Raclette eating is

certainly the cheese, you should also recruit yourself
some stage-worthy supporting actors. The Valais region of
Switzerland (where Raclette is from) is also regarded as the
source of the countrys best tasting fruit and vegetables, so
it makes sense that the Valaison would pair up just-dug potatoes with the local cheese. As a long-time cheese and potato
lover, it seems a very natural act to track down a few of the
good, flavorful potatoes that are again appearing in our produce markets.
For Raclette, Id recommend steaming your potatoes, and
then bringing them hot to the table right from the stove.
Assuming you dont have a cloth bag to serve them in, a clean
kitchen towel lining a warm bowl will work just fine.

4. Pickled Cornichons and Onions

Remember that Raclette was winter food, and that pickled

vegetables like these (and root vegetables like potatoes)
would have been pretty much the only food the average
Swiss peasant farmer could have had back a few hundred
years ago. The tartness of the pickling does make for a nice
contrast with the richness of the cheese.

5. Good Bread

You wont need anything too exoticjust a really good loaf

of crusty country bread.

6. Tea or Kirsch to Drink

The Swiss are adamant that you arent supposed to drink anything cold while eating a Raclette. Supposedly its bad for your
digestion. The cold drink will make the cheese get hard in
your stomach, Ive been warned by a half dozen other people. Personally Ive never had any problem with that.

7. Optional Salad

The only other thing you should consider is a simple green

salad. Mind you, this would be less than typical of traditional
Valaison eating. There was no lettucelocal or otherwise
being harvested in midwinter in 19th century Switzerland.
But for our more modern tastes, a little greenery on the
table is a nice contrast to the sturdiness of
the rest of the Raclette offerings.

Recipe for a Quick

Raclette for Two:
Yes, its true. For a minimal amount of work,
you can also make a quick Raclette for you
and any other Mr. or Ms. Cheese and Potato
head you like. All you have to do it cut 1/4
inch thick slices of Raclette, trim the rinds
off, then run the slices under the broiler
until the cheese starts to bubble. Pull it out
from under the heat, and slide onto your
ready and waiting hot potatoes.
Eat. Drink. Enjoy!

ISSUE # 253

NOV-DEC 2015

Holiday Gifts from

it's always
betTer with bacon

Zingermans Bacon Club

Featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate on
the Food Network!
Michael Symon, Mario Batali, Bobby Flay. Theyve all lauded our bacon
club. Even vegetarians have joined in: six to date. Thats how many I
know personally whove fallen off the bandwagon thanks to the bacons
from this club. Im not using that as a proposal for torturing anyone. Im
just saying any food thats so good it can break a strong will has to be
worth trying.
Well ship to the lucky
Each shipment
Bonus! Free Bacon
recipient each month,
contains 12 to 16 ounces Booklet keepsake
just in time for
of artisan bacon, bacon primer and awesome
weekend frying.
stories, histories
Pig Magnet with first
and recipes.
club shipment.

Amazing

The best thing

I ever ate.
Michael Symon

artisan bacon.
Mario Batali
Save

the date!!

Fantastic
gift!
Bobby Flay

The countrys finest

slabs of hog
Mens Journal

Zingermans annual Camp Bacon is coming June 1-5, 2016.

Reserve your spot at the Main Event at zingermans.com
June 1st-5th, 2016

A 5-day
celebration
of great pork

Germanys tradition, made in

AnN Arbor
and fundraiser for the
Southern Foodways Alliance
and the Washtenaw County 4-H

Zingermans Bakehouse Stollen Gift Boxed

Our delicious German-style cake is a long-standing Zingermans tradition for folks looking for unique dessert ideas, great gifts and fine food for weekend brunch.
If you havent had Stollen before and wonder what all the fuss is about, just take
a look at the ingredient list: real butter, Bacardi white rum, glaced lemons,
oranges, cherries, fresh lemon and orange zest, fresh lemon juice, currants,
almonds, golden raisins, Red Flame raisins, organic Mexican vanilla beans and
our very scent-sual Indonesian cinnamon.
Toasted and spread with a little sweet butter, its delicious and is perhaps
rivaled only by our own coffeecake as a great afternoon snack cake.
Each Stollen comes gift boxed, serves 6-8, and, barring extensive snacking,
lasts for weeks.

A spicy sweet
German tradition
Lebkuchen
Sandy Lee fell in love with lebkuchen, the traditional German Christmas cookie, while living in Berlin.
It was like nothing Id ever tasted, she recalls. I couldnt get all those complex flavors out of my
head. She became obsessed, learning all she could about them before returning to the states and
starting her own lebkuchen bakery.
The recipe dates back to Medieval times and has many steps. The dough is made from almond and hazelnut flours, whole almonds, egg whites, honey, marzipan and a bevy of spices. The dense dough rests
for nearly a day before heading to the oven. The finished cookies are hand glazed and studded with
almonds (classic variety) or cloaked in dark chocolate.
You will find three classic and two chocolate cookies in this fire engine red tin. Each is about four
inches across and an inch tall. Theyre thick, moist, slightly spicy, sweet and very nutty. The consistency
is a cross between cake and marzipan, making them the perfect after dinner treat with coffee or tea.
Although traditionally intended to keep for months, I think these sweet, spicy, nutty treats will only
last a few days (or hours!) at your house. A cookie with history, a perfect gift for anyone on your list.

ISSUE # 253

NOV-DEC 2015

zingermans.com!

The deli sandwich of their dreams

Zingermans Reuben Sandwich Kits
The perfect lunchby mail. If you know someone who loves real deli fare, sending this gift will cement
your status as the most clever, generous friend they have. Some assembly is required, but considering it
has been known to make grown men weep in appreciation, we think its worth it.
Included: Jewish Rye (Pumpernickel in Brooklyn Reuben), sliced deli meat, freshly sliced Emmentaler
Swiss cheese, Zingermans homemade redskin potato salad, coleslaw, Sauerkraut, Russian dressing,
garlicky pickles, Magic Brownie Bites.
Professional-grade instructions also come inside the box.
The Reuben
is killer.
Barack Obama

Now thats
a sandwich!
Michael Ivins,
The Flaming Lips

Your Reuben Sandwich Kit absolutely floored my parents. Easily

the best present I have ever gotten them. It made up for 37 years
of me being an awful son. They
cannot stop talking about how
great it was.
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Their reubens are so good, I

became that tedious person talking to my family about them in
detail on the phone.
Mindy Kaling

"The best reuben in

America."
Twenty Best
Sandwiches in
America,
Food & Wine

Zingermans...made Reubengiving a sacred holiday

tradition.
New York Magazine

Pig in
the city
City Hams
Unlike Southern country hams
that you can enjoy without
cooking, these are the kind
that most of usat least those
of us from the Northare
used to eating. Theyre the
ones you put in the oven for a
few hours, sometimes pinned
with pineapple slices. Skip the
pineapple here, these hams
dont need it.
The hogs are raised in the
Midwest by farmers under the direction of Heritage Foods, the folks who bring us our amazing porterhouse pork chops. The pigs are not confined, have access to the outdoors to root
and roam, and never receive antibiotics or hormones. The hams are cured with salt and
maple sugar for two weeks then smoked over hickory. They are full of flavor and easy to
enjoy. Just heat, slice and eat.

The WeEkender
Our most popular gift box

This is a great all-purpose gift, built from foods the

recipient can snack on right out of the box. Whatever
the occasion, folks will dig right in.
This colorful cartooned gift box is filled with a loaf of
Zingermans Artisan Bread, a couple Brownies (Walnutstudded Magic Brownie and a Caramel Buenos Aires
Brownie), La Quercias Borsellino Salami, a half pound
of our NorEaster Cabot Cheddar, Zingermans Peanut
Brittle, and a nosher-sized version of our extremely
popular, extremely good Sourcream Coffeecake.

Select which ham youd like based on its flavor profile

Berkshire hams have a classic porky
flavor that everyone loves, turned up
about six notches.

Red Wattle hams are the sweetest variety. With a thin ring of fat that melts in
your mouth.

Shipped frozen, may arrive frozen and need a day to defrost.

HungariAn ciNnamon rolLs

Zingermans Bakehouse Beigli

Beigli (bay-glee) is a yeasted dough rolled up with a sweet filling

made of finely chopped walnuts. The outside has a nice shine to it
and an unique crackle appearance. Inside, it has a trademark swirl
that reminds you of a cinnamon roll standing on its side. The buttery
dough and rich honey-walnut filling blend perfectly together, balancing the sweetness of the inside with the satisfying chew of the dough.
Comes in a muslin gift bag nestled inside our fun, colorful cartoon gift box.

Call 888 636 8162 HOLIDAY HOURS 8am-12am Nov 1-30; 24 hours a day until Dec 23
ISSUE # 253

NOV-DEC 2015

BOOK A SPOT AT ANY ZINGERMANS EVENT AT EVENTS.ZINGERMANSCOMMUNITY.COM

Cheese Classes, Tastings & Tours!

3723 Plaza Drive 734.929.0500

zingermanscreamery.com

Our events are intimate affairs where our cheesemakers and cheesemongers share their passion for great
cheese and great cheesemaking. We hold these classes
right next to where we make our cheese and gelato,
and sometimes bring in our favorite food makers from
around the area to share their stories with you. To get
the inside scoop on all of our events, sign up for our
e-news at zingermanscommunity.com/e-news.

FIRST SUNDAY TOUR

CIDER CELEBRATION
WITH VANDER MILL
Thursday, November 5 6pm $35
The fall air is crisp and so are the hard ciders
from Vander Mill! We will pair up a range of
their ciders with cheeses from our shop with
one of our cheesemongers to talk all about
the cheeses and some special guests from
Vander Mill to introduce us to their great hard
ciders. Well end the evening on a sweet note
with some cider sorbet made at the Creamery!
This tasting is a great way to get ready for
the upcoming holidays, you will leave armed
with notes on the cheeses, ciders, and how we
choose the pairings, ready to wow your guests.

2501 Jackson Road 734.663.3663

www.zingermansroadhouse.com

Wednesday, November 11 6:30-8:30pm $30

at Zingermans Events on 4th (415 N. Fifth Ave.)

DESIGN YOUR OWN

TASTING2 HOURS
These tastings can be seated or standing events
depending on your choice. A cheesemonger,
cheesemaker or gelato maker will create a
tailored presentation for your group depending
on your interests. Some of the classics are:

The Science of Cheesemaking

Gelato and Sorbets
Creating a Cheese Platter
American Cheeses
Cheddars
Cheeses Paired with Honey
Beer vs. Wine, which is better with
cheese?

MINIMUM 10 PEOPLE, $45/PERSON FOR

CHEESE + BEER/WINE TASTINGS

Zingermans Roadhouse hosts regular special dinners that highlight old favorites,
new finds, celebrated chefs and traditional
American foodways. Our dinners are familystyle affairs that deliver really good food
with a little history on the side.

Tuesday, November 10 7pm $70

Glenn Roberts, founder of Anson Mills in South Carolina,
has been leading the way in sustainable agriculture the past
17 years, focusing on handmade mill goods from organic
heirloom grains. Chef Alex and Glenn have crafted a
menu that features the pleasure in the fine flavors
or grains and vegetables produced with an eye to the
integrity of cuisine and the integral character of farming.

OYSTERS AND BUBBLES

Tuesday, December 8 7pm $95
Featuring TJ Evans, winemaker from Domaine Carneros
In 1987, Claude Taittinger, president of Champagne Taittinger, selected a beautiful parcel of land
in Californias wine country to be the site of his future winery, Domaine Carneros. He chose Eileen
Crane to be the propertys first and only winemaker. And the rest, as they say, is history. Known as
Americas Doyenne of Sparkling Wine, Eileen has amassed a wealth of experience in 30 years of
solidifying the winerys excellent reputation in the sparkling wine industry. In Domaine Carneros she
has created an organization that we at the Roadhouse greatly admire.
One of our favorite pairings, oysters and sparkling wine come together in this very
special special dinner. Zingermans Roadhouse is honored to welcome Domaine
Carneros winemaker TJ Evans who will share Domaine Carneros story and his love for
great wine. Chef Alex has created a menu full of oysters to complement the sparkling
wine, and to also to showcase the very special Domaine Carneros Pinot Noir (Alexs
favorite wine). Price for this dinner includes wine pairings, tax and gratuity. Additional
bottles of your favorite wines will also be available to purchase.

ISSUE # 253

NOV-DEC 2015

Dave Rice, long-time manager, has a passion for creating cocktails and hes been doing
it for years. Join us for an evening with him as we explore, make and drink a few fun
concoctions using out of the box ingredients from our retail shelves. Youll leave excited
to head home to your own bar and begin creating.

BEST OF 2015 TASTING WITH ARI WEINZWEIG

6:30-8:30pm $45 at Zingermans Events on 4th (415 N. Fifth Ave.)

Choose from
3 seatings:

Wednesday, December 9th

Wednesday, December 16th
Monday, December 21st

Every year we dig through our notes and come up with a list of fantastic products that
tasted best over the past year. Ari will lead us through tasting up to 30 of these remarkable items. It will be a night of storytelling and tastebud euphoria. Sign up earlythis
one always sells out!

MINIMUM 10 PEOPLE,
$30/PERSON FOR CHEESE TASTINGS

GRITS, GRAINS AND GLENN

10

Zingermans Deli tastings are designed to give you an insiders view of the foods
that weve searched the world for. Youll often meet the folks who make it and
leave with a mouthful of flavor and a new understanding of everything from
olive oil to sardines, cheese to chocolate.

CRAFTING CREATIVE COCKTAILS

Sunday, Nov. 1 & Dec. 6 2pm $10

Join our cheese and gelato makers for an hourlong adventure of how we transform local milk
into delicious cheese and gelato. Observe mozzarella stretching and experience truly fresh
gelato, as well as taste some of our cows
milk and goats milk cheeses while learning
directly from the makers. After the tour, make
time for tasting our selection of American
cheeses and provisions, as well as house
made gelatos and sorbets in our cheese shop.

422 Detroit Street 734.663.3400

www.zingermansdeli.com

Farm Tours, Special Dinners and Classes

You dont have to be part of a big corporate event or lavish wedding to enjoy
Cornman Farms (although we certainly host those, too!) Throughout the year
we host numerous tours, dinners, classes and more that allow people to experience our unique event space in Dexter, MI.

8540 Island Lake Road, Dexter

734.619.8100 cornmanfarms.com

COCKTAIL CLASS: SENSATIONAL SCOTCH

Friday, November 13 7-9:30pm $70
Guests will savor light fare prepared on-site in the farmhouse kitchen and leave
with recipes for all the cocktails made during the class.
Join us at the farm this evening for a discussion of the history of scotch whiskey, both
in its native Scotland and in America. Guests will craft three distinct scotch-based
cocktails: a pre-Prohibition darling called the Mamie Taylor, a 1970s club classic known
as the Godfather, and a new twist on a basic recipe created just for this evening, the
Honey Do. Whether you are a scotch lover looking for a new way to enjoy the spirit,
or a newcomer to the scene whos not quite ready to drink this liquor on its own, this
class is for you.

EDUCATIONAL TOUR:
WELCOME TO CORNMAN FARMS
Sunday, November 15 4-5:30pm $20
Our Welcome to Cornman Farms Tour is an idyllic and dynamic 90 minute introduction
to the rich history, agricultural projects and humane raising of animals. Join us for a
look at our vegetable and herb gardens, goat milking operation and historic restored
farmhouse and barnand enjoy a meet-and-greet with our managing partner, Kieron
Hales. Well even throw in a taste of one of our seasonal vegetables!

COCKTAIL CLASS: JOLLY COCKTAILS TWO SESSIONS!

Thursday, December 10 or Friday, December 11 7-9:30pm $70
Guests will savor light fare prepared on-site in the farmhouse kitchen and leave with recipes for all the cocktails made during the class.
Well investigate the use of warm winter spices in drinks throughout American history,
discuss holiday drinking traditions in the US and around the world (including why we give
toasts), and explore sparkling wine-based cocktails perfect for ringing in the New Year!
Well gather in the barn and raise a glass: to friends new and old, to good times, to good
drink, and to delicious snacks prepared in the farmhouse by Cornman Farms talented
culinary team. Guests will make (and then enjoy) three cocktails specially selected for
this evening, partake in delectable light bites, as well as leave with the recipes for all
drinks made during the evening and even more recipes guaranteed to be a hit at your
own holiday shindig.

Signature Sandwich Swap

Were partnering with 4 of the best sandwich shops in the U.S.
to bring great new tastes to Ann Arbor and help the community
through the Share Our Strength/No Kid Hungry program

Starting November 2, Zingermans Deli will feature a new sandwich each week and 4 of our favorite shops across the country will be
featuring a long-time Zingermans staple, Jon and Amys Double Dip. Of course, you can get Jon and Amys anytime at the Deli and
here is the rotating schedule of great guest sandwiches well be featuring in November!

November 2nd - 8th

November 16th - 27th

Butternut Squash, Butcher & Bee BBQ Sauce, Smoked Slaw,

Cilantro Vinaigrette, B&B Pickles on a Hoagie Roll.

Oregon Wild Troll-caught Albacore Tuna, Cheddar, Mayo,

Dijon, Pickles on Ciabatta

This sandwich was rated by Food & Wine

as one of the best in the U.S. and few of
our managing partners had the pleasure
of visiting this shop in a trip there last
year. They report that their huge reputation for great sandwiches is well-deserved.

Deli chef Rodger also stopped in at

Bunk in his travels out west and was
duly impressed. This is a signature
sandwich in their shops and according to Food & Wine it is approaching
tuna-melt perfection.

November 9th - 15th

November 23rd - 30th

Breaded and Fried Zucchini, Onion Puree, Pickled Jalapeos,

Fontina Cheese, BBQ Potato Chips on an Italian Roll.

Beef Tongue in a Corned Beef

Brine, Red Pepper Relish,
Smoked Green Onions and Fresh Garlic Mayo

Bunk: Portland, OR
Oregon Albacore Tuna Melt

Butcher & Bee: Charleston, SC

BBQ Pulled Squash Sandwich

SANDWICHES

Noble Sandwich Co: Austin, TX

Seared Beef Tongue

No. 7 Sub: NY, NY

Zucchini Parm Sub

No. 7 Sub was named one of the Best New Restaurants by Bon Appetit
when they opened in 2009. For the Signature Sandwich Swap they
bring a new twist on a traditional Italian hero.

With beef tongue becoming an ever more popular sandwich ingredient, Noble Sandwich Co. steps in with this creation that was lauded by
Mens Journal as one of the 50 Best Sandwiches in America.

$1 FROM EACH SANDWICH SOLD DURING

THIS EVENT WILL GO TO NO KID HUNGRY!
No Kid Hungry is a national campaign launched by Share Our
Strength that connects kids in need with nutritious food and
teaches their families how to cook healthy, affordable meals.
The campaign also engages the public to make ending child
hunger a national priority.

Stop by the Deli in November

and experience America's best
sandwich shops all without
leaving Ann Arbor!

Elopements and Intimate Weddings

Its not a wild fantasy to have your planning streamlined and
complete, the ceremony written, the location chosen, the
flowers and cake waiting and ready.
Your wedding can truly be as simple, intimate, blissful and
charming as you dream it to be. Not only does our wedding
package contain every necessary key component, but your
wedding unfolds in the most charmed Midwestern farm
settinga restored, pre-Civil War barn, a quaint Greek revival
farmhouse, a grandfather oak tree, a goat parlor with herd and
pastures, kitchen, gardens galore.
Simple, magical, & completeyour elopement or intimate
wedding at Zingermans Cornman Farms in Dexter, Michigan,
just west of Ann Arbor.

We are ready and at your service. Contact Tabitha Mason

to book your elopement or intimate wedding!

tmason@zingermans.com or 734-619-8100

Intimate Wedding Package (5-20 People)

Elopement Package (2-4 People)

While you relax, we secure all the key components of your

wedding with just two weeks notice, for between 5 and 20
guests (including the couple).

While you relax, we secure all the key components of

your wedding with just two weeks notice, for up to 4
people (including the couple).

$5,500 includes a half-day rental, either 9am-2pm or 4-9pm

$2,950 includes a half-day rental, either 9am-2pm or 4-9pm

Your elopement and intimate wedding packages include

Your ceremony on the farm property in your
choice of the most picturesque spot
Your photographer
Your bouquet and boutonniere
(one of each, or two of either!)

A gourmet meal after the ceremony (either brunch, lunch or

dinner depending on time of day) prepared by Zingermans
Chef Kieron Hales complete with a bottle of champagne or
sparkling cider, and topped off with a scrumptious cake,
lovingly baked by Zingermans Bakehouse

Specific venues on the property, dates and times of day are subject to availability.

ISSUE # 253

NOV-DEC 2015

11

Thanksgiving Dinner

FROM ZINGERMANS DELI

Complete Thanksgiving Feast

Weve put together a complete feast for your

guests to gobble! It includes our butter-basted
& sage-rubbed bone-in turkey breast, mashed
potatoes, homestyle gravy, cranberry sauce, sage
& celery stuffing, wild rice, maple syrup sweet
potatoes, Bakehouse Farm bread along with fresh
Michigan farm butter, plenty of our amazing spiced
pecans for snacking & Pilgrim Pumpkin pie from
the Bakehouse for dessert.
Generously feeds 4 (leftovers too!) $185

John & Nick Harnois Turkey Breast

Pastured poultry from John & Nick Harnois

Organic Farm in Washtenaw County. Each bird will
be hand selected by Chef Rodger and John Harnois.
Butter-basted and sage-rubbed bone-in turkey
breast, roasted to perfection and ready for your
Thanksgiving table.
Whole breast 6-8 pounds, serves 6 to 8 $100
Half breast 4-6 pounds, serves 4 to 6 $65

Thanksgiving foods available for pickup: Tue. Nov 24th at 12PM until Wed. Nov. 25th.
Place orders in advance to ensure availability. Open 7AM to 10PM daily.
Closed on Thanksgiving Day. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

The ThanksgivinG that realLy gives!

We will donate 100% of our profits for all Complete Thanksgiving Feast sales to Food Gatherers to help feed lots of hungry
people in our community this holiday season. For more info
about Food Gatherers call (734) 761-2796.

A special thanks
to the growers, producers, and their families,
whose hard work contributes the very special
ingredients that make up our Thanksgiving menu.
Thanks to John and Nick Harnois, Tantr Farm, Apple Schram Orchard, Chestnut Growers, Inc., Garden Works, DeGrandchamp Farms, Zingermans Creamery, Zingermans Bakehouse, Zingermans Candy, Cornman Farms, Zingermans Coffee
Co., Grazing Fields, Goetz Farm, Green Things Farm, The Nemeth
Family, Calder Dairy, Coblentz Acres, Wilczewski's Greenhouses
and Seeley Farm.

Heritage Turkeys
THANKSGIVING
MEALS TO-GO!
HOLIDAY MEALS AVAILABLE TO PICK UP
NOVEMBER 24, 25 & 27TH
(Were closed on Thanksgiving Day)

#1 Order

Call 734.663.3663
48 hours ahead
of time

#2 Pick-up
Drive up to
the Roadshow

#3 Re-hEat
& serve!

Use our instructions

Family Feast $345

The Roadhouse has you covered! Weve got everything
you need for a complete holiday mealeven the leftovers!
Serves 8-10

Whole Free-Range Turkey,

or Roast Angus Beef

Savory Cornbread Stuffing

Roadhouse Mashed Potatoes

Marks Stuffed
Cornman Farms Squash

Traditional Roadhouse Gravy

Roadhouse Bread

Really Fresh Cranberry Relish

Bakehouse Pumpkin Pie

Turkey For Two $90

A Thanksgiving meal made for two. Just the right amount of
fixins for two with a little leftover for the next day.

Traditional Oven
Roasted Turkey Breast

Roadhouse Turkey
Gravy (1 pint)

Savory Cornbread
Stuffing (1 pint)

Roadhouse Mashed
Potatoes (1 pint)

Really Fresh Cranberry

Relish (1 pint)

Mashed Sweet
Potatoes (1 pint)

Roasted Cornman
Farms Vegetables
(1 pint)

Zingermans
Bakehouse Rustic Rolls
(4 rolls)

12

ISSUE # 253

Mini Pumpkin Pie

(2 pies)

NOV-DEC 2015

ONLY AVAILABLE at
zingermans.com or
call 888-636-8162

The Thanksgiving turkey most of us are used to is very different than the turkey that would have been on our table
a hundred years ago. They look different: todays commercial turkeys are all white with a broad, distended breast;
traditional turkeys range from white to tan to bronze to
black and have a longer, leaner body. They act differently:
most turkeys today have been bred to live in close confinement with little movement; traditional turkeys trot, strut,
run, roost, and fly (Les Nessman was right). They taste different, too: grocery store turkeys are pumped full of brine
so theyre not completely bland; traditional birds have a
bigger, more robust flavor.

Luckily, there are still a few opportunities out there

to taste the turkeys that our grandparents grew
up with.
Frank Reese raises heritage breed turkeys on his 180-acre
farm in Lindsborg, Kansas. Hes a fourth-generation turkey farmer, an impressive length of time to do anything,
let alone raise turkeys. But more impressive to me than his
own family history is that of his turkeys: he can trace their
family history back nearly a hundred generations, all the
way to 1917 for his Standard Bronze turkeys. Along with the
Bronzes, he raises a handful of other heritage breeds that
were popular fifty years ago but have all but disappeared
today: Narragansett, Black, White Holland, Bourbon Red.
Today, one breed of turkey dominates more than 99% of
the market: the Broad Breasted White. Its a fitting name.
The breast is so large that the turkey has trouble standing,
let alone walking. Forget flying. They cant mate naturally
so they have to be artificially inseminated. The birds suffer severe disfigurement: their claws, wings, beaks, and
snoodsthe fleshy part that hangs from the top of a turkeys headare clipped to keep them from fighting (or at
least to keep them from doing much damage to each other
when they do fight, an inevitability since theyre kept in
tight, crowded spaces). White feathers are favored because
darker feathers can leave small dark spots on the meat
when the bird is plucked. That doesnt sound like such a
bad thing except that white-feathered turkeys are less disease resistant so theyre fed antibiotics their whole lives
to ward off disease. Theyre not given any hormones, but
thats only because those hormones were banned. When
the industry tried giving hormones to turkeys they discovered that the birds started growing huge cancerous tumors
and that eating them was linked to human birth defects.
If all of this is starting to make you depressed, youre not
alone. I was too. Until I met Franks birds.

Heritage breed turkeys, like the ones that Frank

raises, are a totally different animal.
To qualify as a heritage turkey, a bird must meet three
criteria:
1. A heritage turkey must be able to mate naturally. Frank
spends February and March helping to set the Valentines
Day mood for his turkeys. He separates each breed into
its own barn, turns on the heat lamps for the only time all
year, and lets nature take its course. Apparently, turkey
hens dont require chocolate or roses.
2. A heritage turkey must be able to live its life outdoors,
moving around normally and enduring whatever weather
comes along. Frank never clips his turkeys claws, beaks,
wings, or snoods, and his birds are active. He keeps them
in a barn at night to protect them from coyotes, but every
morning he lets them out and they spend their days strutting around the yard, flying over fences, chasing rabbits
that come too close, and, at least when I visited, pecking
inquisitively at unfamiliar humans. They eat bugs and wild
grasses and any rodents they catch (turkeys are omnivores)
as well as corn and soy that Frank gives them, but theyre
never fed any antibiotics.
3. A heritage turkey must grow slowly. Franks birds take
six months to grow to their full size, a natural growth rate
for turkeys. By contrast, Broad Breasted White turkeys
take half that long to reach full size, which is great for an
expense report but not so good for the birds welfareor
its flavor.

The difference in flavor between industry birds and

heritage breed birds is like the difference between
Wonderbread and a loaf of French Mountain Bread.
Their active lifestyle, their varied diet, and their longer
lifespan all add up to more flavorful meat. The breast,
while less plump, has flavor thats a far cry from the bland
meat were used to. Heritage turkeys taste richer, more like
turkey, if that makes sense. Franks turkeys have won taste
competition after competition across the country, including ones held by the New York Times and Americas Test
Kitchen. This year well be getting three hundred whole,
frozen turkeys that will ship just in time for Thanksgiving.
Well have a mix of the five breeds Frank raises since all
five are incredibly good. They make for a stunning, delicious, honorable centerpiece to the meal.

Valerie Neff-Rasmussen writes The Feed,

a regular enews that covers our favorite flavors.

November

DecEmber

DETROIT STREET BRICK

On sale at Zingermans Creamery and Zingermans Deli

$5 off the regular per pound price!
Throughout November, well be featuring one of our all-time favorite soft-ripened goat
cheeses. A recipient of American Cheese Society Awards in 2006, 2007, and 2012, the Detroit Street Brick is quickly becoming a fan favorite in restaurants and shops throughout
the Midwest and along the West Coast. This velvety bit of goaty goodness gets its start
from some of the very best regional mixed-herd goat dairies weve had the pleasure of
working with. After a very gentle low-temperature pasteurization, we allow the milk to
set for hours and hours, so this subtle and complex goats milk imparts as much flavor as
possible to the resulting curd.
Whereas the majority of cheesemakers still use comparatively
less expensive calf rennet
(from cows) to make their
goats milk cheese, we opt for
kid rennet (from goats) which
remarkably alters and enhances both the flavor and
texture of the finished cheese.
While subtle, there is an immediately recognizable note of citrus in the paste of this
cheese, and over time weve come to use whole and freshly cracked green tellicherry
peppercorns to tease this citrusy essence out even further. The balance of this cheese is
astounding, and it always brings a smile to our faces to pull one out of our aging room,
cut through its fluffy rind, and taste the interplay of some very intriguing flavors.
Honored by Cooking Light as one of its favorite cheeses for the holiday season, we
feel that the Brick really soars in the Fall, thanks mainly to the comparative richness of
autumn goats milk. As the temps start to drop, we see a marked increase in both the
butterfat and protein content of our goats milk, and richer milk translates directly into
richer cheese. The Brick pairs wonderfully with all sorts of late season root vegetables
and squashes, but our favorite way to enjoy this cheese is one of the simplest: get a
baguette from Zingermans Bakehouse, put a thin slice of Detroit Street Brick on it, grab
a bottle of your favorite olive oil, drizzle away, and enjoy.

MANCHESTER
$2 off the regular price!

The Manchester draws its origins from a soft-ripened double cream cheese along the Welsh-English
border, but through process differences (both
intentional and unintentional), no longer bears any resemblance to its very distant
cousin. Through gentle pasteurization and slow culturing of the milk, the Manchester
retains an amazing expression of the character of the milk used to make it. Made with
Jersey cows milk, this cheese is creamy with a fudge-like texture and a flavor reminiscent of cultured butter and mushrooms! Perfect with a crusty baguette, ripe summer
fruit, and some good friends!

WASHTENAW
$2 off the regular price!

Perhaps the most dramatic shift in flavor, beer

washing nurtures bacterial development on
the surface and the cheese develops a pungent
aroma and the strong characteristics of a washed
rind cheese.

MANISTIQUE
$2 off the regular price!

Cheeses have been wrapped in leaves for thousands of years. Leaves are the plastic of
the past, but unlike the wraps of today, which usefully preserve the initial integrity of
the cheese, leaves alter the texture and flavor. This cheese makes a dramatic presentation as the cabbage leaves are opened to reveal a soft, creamy cheese that captures the
wilder natures of the Manchester.

Zingermans Creamery Wholesale Manager

On sale at Zingermans Creamery & Zingermans Deli

januAr
& Feb y
RUarY
ONLy!

Place a catering order for pick up

or delivery and get your next order
of equal or lesser value half off. Order what youd likebag lunches on
Monday, lasagna on Wednesday or
whatever else you have in mind, and
youll get half off the lesser order.
This offer is good for orders that
are picked up or delivered from January through the end of February, so call and
order as many times as youd like.
This offer cannot be combined with other discounts and is only valid from Zingermans Catering. Discount will not be applied to
equipment rentals or service staff. Service fees for events will be based on non-discounted totals.

Call 734.663.3400 or go to zingermanscatering.com to order!

Save
the date!!

June 1st-5th, 2016

A 5-day
celebration
of great pork
and fundraiser for the
Southern Foodways Alliance
and the Washtenaw County 4-H

ISSUE # 253

NOV-DEC 2015

13

from:

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t
r
e
s
s
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Elegant
Bche De Nol

Available
Our version of the traditional French
holiday dessert: a light, vanilla chiffon cake EVERY DAY
filled with walnut rum buttercream, rolled in December
up and covered in chocolate buttercream. Its decorated with
handmade edible sugar mushrooms, holly and freshly fallen
sugar snow. Each log serves 8-12 so its plenty for a good-sized
holiday party and it keeps long enough that you can enjoy
for a few days after a small family gathering. Either way its a
great centerpiece for a holiday table and fun to decorate with
edible treats of your own.

A special meal calls

for a memorable finish.
We have a collection of
cakes and tortas that are sure
to impress your guests.

Rig Jancsi

Krmes

(ree-go yon chee) This Hungarian torta is made of two

light layers of chocolate sponge cake filled with chocolate
rum whipped cream and iced with apricot glaze and dark
chocolate ganache.

Krmes (krem-esh) is a beloved Hungarian pastry sold in

practically every Hungarian pastry shop. Eating krmes in
Hungary is an event, like how we go to ice cream shops in
the U.S. Our krmes is made of three layers of buttery puff
pastry with a filling made of vanilla bean pastry cream mixed
with soft meringue (egg whites whipped to soft peaks with
sugar). The pastry is very golden brown and flaky. The filling
emphasizes vanilla flavor and a creamy smooth texture. Were
making our krmes fresh daily in very small batches.

Dobos Torta
(doh bosh) Five thin layers of vanilla sponge cake and espresso
dark chocolate butter cream, all topped with pieces of crispy
dark caramel. One of Hungarys most popular tortas.

Cardinal Slice

Esterhzy Torta
Our version of this famous torta is made up of layers of
toasted walnut cake filled with a magnificent mixture of
vanilla bean pastry cream, fresh whipped cream and more
toasted walnut, decorated with vanilla and dark chocolate
poured fondant in a distinctive design used specifically for
Esterhzy tortas.

Known in Hungary as kardinlis szelet, this classic dessert is

sure to please the most discriminating pastry and coffee lover
and makes an impressive showing at dinner parties. This
pastry is built of three layers of crisp meringue and sponge
cake separated by whipped cream and Crme Frache that
is intensely infused with espresso couleur, a syrupy extract
of deeply caramelized sugar and freshly made espresso. This
delicate dessert is available Thursday-Sunday.

Merry Mint Chocolate Cake

A cake to make your holidays a little
merrier! Layers of chocolate cake, filled
with chocolate mint butter cream, covered
in vanilla butter cream and garnished with
crushed peppermint candy. Kids, and those
heart, love it.

Available
EVERY DAY
in December
who are kids at

Appreciated Gifts!
Stollen

Give the Gift of

Available EVERY DAY in December

A holiday staple at the Bakehouse that seems to get more popular each year we bake it. Stollen is a traditional German holiday bread made with sweet butter, Bacardi rum, candied lemon
and orange peel, oranges, Michigan dried cherries, citron, currants, almonds, sultanas, real vanilla and more.

Gingerbread Cake
Is dad ready to learn how to make his first
perfect pie crust? Want your friends to join you
for a pizza-making party? Do you want to send
mom on a BAKE!-cation?
Give em a BAKE! gift card and let your loved
ones pick the class thats right for them!
Call 734.761.7255 for more information
about giving the gift of BAKE!

Available EVERY DAY

in Nov & Dec
Our moist and sweetly spicy gingerbread cake is made with
real butter, demerara sugar, crystallized ginger and a splash of
fresh orange juice. It's a little dark and mysterious too from its
rich molasses, Zingermans Coffee company brew and a pinch
of pepper. Plate yourself a thick warm slice with a big dollop of
fresh whipped cream. It will make you love winter.
Available
EVERY DAY
in Nov & Dec
When we sample it, theres a phenomenon of customers who
grab a piece as theyre leaving and come back a few minutes
later asking What did I just eat? Thats amazing! This bread
is a magic combination of our San Francisco Sourdough, toasty
pecans, and dried New England cranberries.

Cranberry Pecan Bread

Gift Boxed Cookies

Available EVERY DAY

in Nov & Dec
These handsome presents are ready to give, great for your host and
handy for travel. Six to choose from:
apricot and
currant walnut rugelach

Hungarian almond kifli

cookies

raspberry and
chocolate rugelach

Fancy Schmancy Holiday

cookies (December ONLY)
includes pecan butter balls,
pfeffernsse spice and
chocolate cherry chewies

citrus almond mandelbrot

chocolate and vanilla bean
macaroons

Beigli

Available EVERY DAY in December

A Christmas staple in every house in Hungary. Buttery yeasted

dough is lovingly hand-rolled around a rich honey walnut filling
with a pinch of cinnamon. Hiding inside the crackled mahogany
crust youll find its trademark swirl. Tis the season to share a slice
and the tradition.

available at Zingermans Bakehouse, Deli and Roadhouse and www.zingermans.com

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ISSUE # 253

NOV-DEC 2015

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A cookbook collection of 15 of our favorite recipes from our annual Fancy Schmancy
Holiday Cookies baking class! Available at Zingermans Bakehouse on Plaza Drive.
Each December in BAKE! (the baking school at Zingermans Bakehouse), we hold dozens of
Fancy Schmancy Holiday Cookie Classes. Each class is for 12 people. We teach four different
cookies and the students leave with about eight dozen cookies theyve made themselves.
What started as a little idea has turned into an annual tradition for us and hundreds of
students.

Coming
SOON!

We held our first ever FSHC class in December of 2009. We originally scheduled 7 classes.
They sold out so we added more, for a total of twelve classes. The next year, we thought
we had it and offered what seemed like a ton of classes:17! When we put them online in
June, they sold out within hours. Clearly not enough, so we added more. May became the
busiest month of the year for BAKE! because thats when wed print and post the schedule
of FSHC classes for the next December. Our wonderfully loyal students would begin asking
about the classes in March and there would be a frenzy to buy up seats when they became
available in May.
It became clear that a tradition was in the making. We had discovered a social needa
desire of friends and families to do something together related to food during the holidays.
Groups were coming back year after year. It was their holiday baking party, but even better because we did all of the measuring, and gave instruction and help that made it almost
impossible to fail. And then we cleaned up! This was the modern version of what families
and friends had done together for years, but perhaps had stopped because of modern time
and energy pressures. New traditions were in the making!
When we started BAKE! in 2005, we wanted to inspire people to bake and to create a community of bakers. What is most thrilling about the success of these classes is the social
connections they support in our community and the role the classes play in rejuvenating
the tradition of baking. We expect close to 700 people to come to BAKE! to make cookies
together this coming December (2015). In a world that sometimes seems only to bring dark
news, this seems like a sweet thing to celebratea simple and joyful pastime shared by
friends and families.
This book is a compilation of our favorite recipes (so far) from our December cookie classes. We have written it for those of you who missed some of the earlier classes and for those
of you who havent or cant make it to a class. We hope that you can enjoy making these
cookies on your own or with friends. Perhaps start your own December tradition. If you do
please let us know. If you need help with the recipes, we are available to you. Give us a call
at 734-761-7255 and ask for a BAKE! instructor or email us at bakestaff@zingermans.com.

Happy Holidays and joyful baking to all,

Amy Emberling

Full-Flavored Pies to Bring to the Party

We have made some great specialty breads over
the years that developed their own small followings, so we bring them back for a weekend here
and there just for fun. If youre looking for a little
adventure check out this calendar.

NovembER

Pumpernickel Raisin Bread

Nov. 6-7
Almond Poundcake
Nov. 12-15

DecEmber
Blueberry Buckle
Dec. 3-6
Pepper Bacon Farm Bread
Dec. 4-5

Pepper Bacon Farm Bread

Nov. 13-14
Green Olive Paesano Bread
Nov. 20-21
Chernushka Rye Bread
Nov. 27-28
Bakeshop3711 Plaza Dr. 761.2095
Call Ahead Deli422
Detroit St. 663.3354 (DELI)
to Order Roadshow2501 Jackson Rd. 663.3663 (FOOD)

Perky Pecan Pie

Chocolate Chess Pie

Weve been buying these exceptionally buttery creamy-textured

pecans from the same folks for over a decade now, and, having
taste-tested dozens of others, we keep coming back to these.
When you add in lots of real vanilla and dark brown natural
Muscovadothe real traditional brown sugaryouve got one
pretty darned good pecan pie.

One of the most popular desserts (when we put this pie on

vacation for the summer I thought some of our customers
were going to kill us). Happily its back. If you havent had it yet,
Chess Pie is a Southern tradition; this version is souped up with
99% cacao baking chocolate from Mindo Chocolate in Dexter.
Basically, this pie is like a really rich chocolate custard baked
into a pie shell. Top it off with some whipped cream, eat, and
enjoy!

Pilgrim Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkins are a native, North American squash that was widely
eaten here long before Europeans arrived and food historians
speculate that the original pumpkin pies were actually baked
in hollowed out pumpkin shells, since wheat (for making crusts)
was hard to come by in the early years of settlement. Ours come
in the more familiar, but particularly flavorful, all-butter crusts
and are filled with creamy pumpkin and spiced with Indonesian
cinnamon, ginger and cloves.

Cranberry-Walnut Pie
This ones become one of our most popular pies ever. These are
fresh cranberries from northern Wisconsin, mixed with walnuts,
sweet butter and real vanilla. The contrasting red of the cranberries and the autumn browns of the toasted walnuts mean that its
particularly handsome on a well-dressed holiday table, but I have
to admit, it tastes just as good off paper plates too.

Old School Apple Pie

Made with real, non-hydrogenated lard, this pie's crust literally
melts around the apples giving the pie a rolling hills appearance that we often see in drawings depicting apple pies. In
honor of traditional apple pie, we kept the filling completely
simple: a little butter, a little Indonesian cinnamon, a smidge of
nutmeg, some sugar and Ida Red apples from Nemeth Orchards
in Dexter. We actually almost named it Back to Basics Apple Pie.
If youd like to try something totally traditional, at one time
mundane but now hard to find...drop in for a taste!

Jumbleberry Pie
Filled to the brim with a jumble of juicy berriesraspberries,
blackberries, blueberries, and cranberries. Not too sweet and
not too tart filling inside. Flaky buttery crust on the outside. A
delight to eat.

available at Zingerman's Bakehouse and Delicatessen

ISSUE # 253

NOV-DEC 2015

15