A fairly amazing-sounding Better Beer Society brown bag series event at Butcher & the Boar, some revised menus at local restaurants, a local foodie’s epic Mother’s Day feast, tasting notes for Summit Pilsner and Steel Toe’s Provider, the Star Tribune’s Taste 50, and a new urban farm in Minneapolis.
John Garland / Heavy Table
Sassy Spoon Truck — @SassySpoonTruck
Clad in an unmistakable shade of pink, the Sassy Spoon Truck is dishing out “wholesome food with attitude.” Owner Tamara Brown is a dietitian. She’s dedicating her truck to high-quality meals that won’t put you in a food coma upon returning to the office.
“I wanted, instead of just teaching about healthy food, to serve it,” Brown says. “So, I’ve got a lot of good vegetable carbs – the idea is balancing blood sugar. Also, everything is gluten free, there’s no bread on the truck, and, as much as possible, we source locally and organic.”
On the streets for less than a month, she’s offering two or three combos for lunch each day. An absolute knockout is the Pig-Pen ($10) – a sizeable heap of miso-braised pulled pork accompanied by an equally huge pile of lightly ginger-dressed cabbage slaw. The pork picks up strands of delectable char from a quick stint on the flat-top grill. It’s slightly sweet and a little nutty from the miso. And notice how it’s not drowned in barbecue sauce and served on a bun? If this meal were reimagined at many other trucks, you’d probably get about half the amount of pork and slaw in two little sliders. We applaud the idea to ditch the bread and charge a little extra for more of the good stuff.
John Garland / Heavy Table
Marie Antoinette Crepes — @thatcrepetruck
Molly Miller began scraping out sweet and savory crepes in the Marie Antoinette Crepe truck last August. “I grew up eating them; my grandma made them, so I’m using her recipe,” says Miller. “Also, I went to France in 2003 and learned how they did it over there.”
Patrons get lunch and a show at the crepe truck – the iron is right on the counter for you to watch Miller expertly drag batter back and forth. The Croque Monsieur ($7) is among her most popular so far. It’s a wonderful collection of ham, swiss, Mornay sauce, and a mustard made with Stella Artois. It’s a little tough to cut with the plastic forks provided. Luckily, the crepe is substantial enough to handle being rolled into a mini burrito. Our next visit will be for the egg, cheddar, and bacon jam breakfast crepe.
You can often find the truck at farmers markets – a savvy business move for a product that may be a little light for many people’s idea of lunch, but would make for a perfect walking-around snack while perusing produce. Make sure to seek her out when berries are in season. For now, raspberry preserves with white chocolate ($6) is a more than able substitute.
John Garland / Heavy Table
R.A. MacSammy’s — @RAMacsammys
Kevin Huyck debuted R.A. MacSammy’s at the St. Paul Winter Carnival in January. “I wanted a concept that would bring in a broad audience, and who doesn’t like mac and cheese?” he says. “We also have sandwiches, and as the weather warms up here, we’ll be adding either a salad or wrap. I’ve been playing with the idea of doing stuffed tomatoes, as a lighter cold entree. We’re trying to be an everyman’s food truck – not necessarily courting the gourmet crowd.”
Patrons can expect a weekly featured mac as well as the option build their own with a dozen or so ingredients added in for $0.50 each. Bacon has been, unsurprisingly, the most frequent add-in, but Brussels sprouts and broccoli have taken off as well.
We tried the Kentucky Hot Brown Mac ($8) – with bacon, sautéed mushrooms, halved cherry tomatoes, and cubes of turkey. The mac itself is pleasantly gooey with a good doneness to the noodles, though it’s not exactly distinguishable from any other competent restaurant mac you’ve had lately. A full order is a large undertaking – especially with bacon and turkey thrown into the mix. Light eaters can easily make do with a mini order ($4).
John Garland / Heavy Table
A Cupcake Social — @ACupcakeSocial
A Cupcake Social has been open in truck form for less than two months, though owners Jess Stone and Suzette Herr have been in the cupcake business for over a year. “We catered – brought our cupcakes to weddings and other events,” says Stone. “We looked into opening a location, but decided we wanted to be more mobile.”
This “gourmet mobile bakery,” as they call it, cycles through roughly 30 different flavors, and they do a lot of the baking on board. By far the most popular flavor has been Raspberry Burst – raspberry filling with raspberry-white chocolate buttercream, over vanilla and chocolate cake. “When we say ‘gourmet,’ I know that’s kind of a pseudo-term now, but they truly are,” Stone continues. “We use a lot of fresh fruits and we don’t use any shortening in our buttercream.” Continue reading New Food Truck Roundup 2012: St. Paul Edition »
In May, much of southeastern Minnesota feels like a runner on the starting block: It’s quiet now, but the whole region is poised for a summer-long marathon that starts when the first tourists arrive in three, two, one…
And they’re off — boating, fishing, biking, hiking, floating lazily down rivers in inner tubes, and working up appetites. Fortunately for them, they’ll find plenty of good stuff to eat along the rivers and among the bluffs.
This list is by no means comprehensive. On our trip we were in the mood for more casual eats. On our next trip, when we’re looking for finer dining, Nosh in Lake City, Quarter/quarter in Harmony, and Crescendo in Albert Lea will all be on our itinerary.
Tricia Cornell / Heavy Table
Bacon and Cheese Curd Burger at Bev’s in Red Wing
Long before anybody put a “TM” after “Smashburger,” cooks in tiny kitchens in small-town diners were smashing ground beef on hot griddles with long, heavy spatulas. Crisp, smash. Flip, smash.
That’s the burger at Bev’s: It’s big (choose a third or a half pound), it’s flat, it’s misshapen (ours looked like West Virginia), it’s crispy and salty and unpretentious and good. It sits on a bun half its size, with long crisp bacon slices hanging off the edge.
What this burger is missing, sadly, is cheese curds. (Isn’t any good burger just looking for a good cheese curd?) The kitchen was out of curds when we visited, so we had to imagine the squeaky, salty goodness on the Bacon and Cheese Curd Burger.
But we consoled ourselves with another State Fair treat: funnel cake fries. Pencil thin, airy, and just sweet enough that you don’t really need that dish of melted icing that comes with them.
Bev’s opens early and serves breakfast all day, but they put a time limit on your coffee refills ($1.30 supposedly buys you an hour, but I suspect these folks are too nice to actually kick you out).
Bev’s Cafe
Diner in Red Wing
221 Bush St
Red Wing, MN 55066
651.388.5227
OWNERS: Shelley and Roger Diercks
HOURS:
Sun-Thu 8am-1am
Fri-Sat 8am-2am
RESERVATIONS / RECOMMENDED?: No / No
VEGETARIAN / VEGAN: Some / No
ENTREE RANGE: $4-8
Tricia Cornell / Heavy Table
Breakfast at Trout Scream Cafe in Welch
In the summer, when the inner tubes outnumber the trout on the Cannon River, families line up for ice cream and sandwiches at the Trout Scream Cafe, one of three buildings that make up the entirety of downtown Welch. But in the off-season, you can just waltz in and take any table you like. Except that long one in the center of the room.
When we were at Trout Scream, a dozen regulars congregated at that table, coming and going at their own pace. The men universally had tractor bellies and wore baseball caps. They talked of why nobody leaves May baskets on the front steps of cute boys anymore, what will happen if Governor Scott Walker loses the recall vote in Wisconsin (predictions were dire), how often you have to change the tires on your Bobcat if you run it on blacktop (every five days, turns out). As they got up to leave, one by one, they all mentioned that tomorrow it will rain, so there’s lots of work to get done today. Continue reading Bluff Country Eats »
John Garland / Heavy Table
If there’s anything that dulls this reporter’s pains of having just shelled out $450 for a pack of tickets to watch a 99-loss ballclub, it’s the prospect of some new food and drink at the ballpark. Here’s our scorecard of some new bites and sips for you to check out on game day.
Near The Field:
Stand-up Triple: Fulton Brewery Taproom
Open since March 10, the taproom at downtown’s only brewery will be expanding its hours to accommodate ballpark goers. Fulton’s Brian Hoffman tells us the brewery will open two hours before first pitch of all Twins games, except noon games, when they’ll open at 11am. They also plan to cultivate a regular food truck presence at the brewery. Check their website for a full schedule of hours and carts (Barrio Truck and Natedogs are slated for the home opener on Monday).
This is a solid triple. In fact, the only thing keeping this one in the park is the anticipation that pre-games at Fulton will be filled to capacity (this based on crowds we’ve seen at their limited taproom hours so far). But maybe the brewery is just obscured enough behind the stadium to keep the crowds manageable. We’ll be there either way.
Sacrifice Bunt: Cowboy Jack’s Saloon
The newest hitch on the western bar wagon train, Cowboy Jack’s is expanding into the Ahern’s space (the pub-that-never-was) on the corner of 5th Street and North 2nd Avenue on the east side of the stadium. According to owners The After Midnight Group, the new location will open sometime in the spring. Daily happy hour from 3-6pm will feature some $2 rails and cheap appetizers. Other game-day specials will include $3 Bud labels and a $5 bucket of 24 wings.
We score this one a sacrifice bunt – a small positional gain resulting from a negligible loss. It’s been a maddening two years, watching that corner with premiere ballpark proximity get built up just enough to look like a bar but not actually become one. Not that we think the metro is in dire need of another Cowboy Jack’s, but we’re happy that at least something is going in there and taking advantage of that prime rooftop space.
John Garland / Heavy Table
Ground Rule Double: The Vincent Burger
The Vincent Burger, that lovely round of smoked gouda- and short rib-filled deliciousness was one of the premiere items offered stadium-wide for the park’s opening day lineup in 2010. But it has since been relegated to the Metropolitan Club (for season ticket holders) and the Town Ball Tavern (second deck in left field, open to all ticket holders).
“We learned a lot that first year,” says Twins President Dave St. Peter. “To maintain that level of quality we wanted, we had to scale it back a little.” The nature of the jucy lucy means it can’t just be left to sit under heating lamps, so it’s been moved to the “sit-down” areas of the park. But if you get downtown early enough before the game, Vincent has it on his bar happy hour menu weekdays from 4:30–6pm for $8.
Inside The Stadium:
The new 2012 lineup from the Twins’ concession partner, Delaware North Sportservice, is full of highs and lows. For the most part, we think that many of the returning favorites (Murray’s Steak Sandwich, Kramarczuk’s brats, Tony O’s Cubans, and The Minneapple Pie, among others) may still outshine the best of the new bunch. But a select couple of newcomers will definitely make your normal rotation.
Double Down the Line: Food Network’s Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese and Bacon Sloppy Joe
The Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese is a rather bare-bones version. The bread crumbs give it a nice crunch, but the most noticeable flavor through the bite is onion, with the buffalo flavor coming on slowly at the end. We found ourselves for want of Frank’s Red Hot or something to give the dish a more pronounced kick. But it’s sure to appeal to a wide range of fans.
The Bacon Sloppy Joe (above) might be the biggest revelation of the new menu items. We were ready to deride what looked on paper like a half-hearted contribution to the bacon-in-everything fad. Not so. The bacon flavor is pronounced but well balanced with the beef. And it’s not too sloppy either, an essential plus for ballpark portability. In fact, the sandwich is as neat, trim and hearty as Joe Mauer’s sideburns. It’s served with a pickle and Fritos for you Sloppy Joe purists.
At $10.75 and $10 (or $16.50 for a combo plate) neither could be considered a value. They are, however, very solid efforts and should be among the first of the new menu items you try this year. Continue reading Twins 2012 Gameday Fare Scorecard »
by Susan Pagani on March 21, 2012
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
In the course of our workaday correspondence, readers will often pass us tips, emails of varying length detailing both their culinary misadventures and hidden gems they hope we’ll explore.
We recently received just such a note endorsing the homemade, raised doughnuts at The Bakeshop & More in Prescott, WI, one which filled us with a mixture of curiosity and regret. How many early mornings had we blown through Prescott on our way to this or that trout stream, Red Wing antique store, or Stockholm pie, merrily eating cold, hard-boiled eggs when we could have been eating warm doughnuts? Too many.
Unfortunately, on our first attempt to rectify this situation, we arrived at The Bakeshop at around 9:30am on a Friday and found that all but one of the doughnuts had sold. We purchased the lone glazed doughnut ($ .75) and a couple of pastries and, since it was a beautiful day, left the shop and wandered down to a granite bench overlooking the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers. In a hazy, mid-morning sunlight kind of way, the town’s train trestle and lightly wooded banks looked a little like a Dutch painting.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
The glazed doughnut was excellent: The glaze was well integrated with the doughnut — no cracking or peeling –- and the center was moist and chewy and tasted pleasantly of yeast. The cinnamon roll ($1.75) was tender and nicely spiced, but next to the doughnut seemed less essential. A cinnamon Danish ($1.75), on the other hand, had a rather hard crust and a distinct lack of flavor where there should have been butter.
Having planned to eat quantity of doughnuts we were, if not exactly hungry, in the mood for breakfast. Looking about us, we spied Cafe Two14. Perched atop the backside of an older building, it appeared to offer a splendid view of the river and, we guessed, standard small-town diner fare. In fact, we had stumbled upon a real gem.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Inside, worn yet serviceable tables and chairs did have the look of an old diner, but everywhere there was evidence of a recent update. In a hand-painted mural running the length of one wall, artist Elizabeth Erin had used rectangles of muted color to effectively capture an aerial view of Prescott and its buildings, streets, and water, creating an engaging map of the town. A Chris-Craft had been sawed in half, refinished, and used to create the counters, where diners could take a seat on what looked to be old fishing boat seats. It smelled nautical; not fishy, but faintly oily, like an old boathouse.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
We ordered the First Mate ($6) a basic breakfast of eggs, hash browns, meat, and toast. The hash browns were cooked to a crisp exterior and tender interior and were neither too salty nor too oily. We chose the house-made sausage patties, which proved to be wonderfully crunchy discs of meat, soft at the center with a strong fennel kick.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
We also sampled the 214 Breakfast ($8), essentially eggs Benedict, featuring poached eggs, thick cut Nueske’s ham, fresh spinach, house-made hollandaise — deliciously zippy, not overly thick –- and a simple house-made tomato jam. The jam added a sweet note that we hadn’t previously missed in our eggs Benedict, but perfectly complemented the rest of the package. A side of cheddar hash brown cakes was devoured without much comment, other than, “Mmm, cheesy potatoes.”
With a little prodding from our friendly waitress, Chef Aaron Wolf came out to talk to us. A graduate of St. Paul College Culinary Arts program, Wolf leased the restaurant, which had previously been closed for four years, last June. He said his approach has been to use Wisconsin-produced goods to create straightforward, Midwest comfort food, and chatted enthusiastically about Star Prairie Trout – “I’m borderline obsessed with that fish,” — and a partnership with local CSA Borner Farm Project.
Perusing the lunch and dinner menus, we found an array of classics, from a walleye sandwich to pasta alfredo and River Falls bison steak to a Reuben with house-made corned beef –- the latter destined to be repurposed, Wolf said, in a corned beef hash.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Wolf said he’s going for a cross between grumpy old men and hipsters with the nautical decor. So far, with the boathouse vibe, he’s really nailed the first half of the equation. He may get the rest of the way this summer, when he builds out a bar and puts his existing liquor license to use — a plan that will include the popular Mojito and some classics, such as the Bloody Mary and Old Fashioned. In light of the meal we’d just eaten, it all sounded more than worth a return trip.
On another day, we did go back to The Bakeshop to try more doughnuts. At 7:45am on a Saturday, the shop was still quiet and, much to our delight, the case was filled with doughnuts. We enjoyed a chocolate ring ($.75) dipped in a semi-sweet chocolate that seemed to bring out the yeast and salt in the dough. The Bismarks ($.85) –- a caramel apple and a raspberry — were well executed, but overly sweet and goopy for our taste. The star was a glazed twist ($.75) that offered everything good about the glazed doughnut plus a pleasing dash of cinnamon.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
BEST BET: Go to The Bakeshop & More, get yourself a glazed doughnut, and then head to Cafe Two14 for the 214 Breakfast.
Cafe Two14
214 Front St
Prescott, WI
715.262.2223
CHEF / OWNER: Aaron Wolf
HOURS:
(Breakfast served until 2pm)
Sun-Wednesday 7am-7pm
Thu-Sat 7am-9pm
RESERVATIONS: Yes, walk-ins welcome
VEGETARIAN / VEGAN: Limited
ENTREE RANGE: $12-$14.95
The Bakeshop & More
202 Broad St N
Prescott, WI 54021
715.262.2044
CHEF / OWNER: Pam Hartung
HOURS:
Sun-Mon Closed
Tues-Sat 6am-3pm
RESERVATIONS: No
VEGETARIAN / VEGAN: Limited
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
First, the elephant in the room that is Ann Arbor, Michigan — Zingerman’s Deli. On one hand, this Ann Arbor-based nationally known retail giant has put this small college town on the gastronomic map. On the other, it is challenging to compete with such a successful business on their level, so what else could Ann Arbor offer for foodies except a series of (amazingly tasty and well-curated) Zingerman’s experiences?
As I found out on a trip to the city this December: quite a nice mix of things, actually. The most interesting little finds revealed some key strategies for standing out in the heart of Zingerman’s home turf. (For details on this press trip, see the end of this story.)
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
1. Just Don’t Care
Perhaps an unexpected approach, but the old-school doughnuts and shakes offered at Washtenaw Dairy (a business that hasn’t bothered to replace its missing sign for 20 years) take you right back to the small town Ann Arbor must once have been.The doughnuts were light but yeasty, classic American breakfast fare, perfectly executed.
Newer on the scene, Ayse‘s Turkish Cafe offers complicated flavors, simply prepared and nicely executed, finished off with Turkish coffee and Middle Eastern desserts. Fresh acid flavors (pomegranate seeds, olives, lemon juice) give its food a zesty kick.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
2. Go Super Local
The Ann Arbor Farmers Market in the Kerrytown neighborhood (above) stands as a local food mecca and also an incubator of new food businesses. Close relationships between businesses make for great innovation — The Brinery, featuring naturally fermented vegetables, is a natural offshoot from local farms (like Tantre Farm), which often have a glut of cabbage or cucumbers perfect for preservation. Brandon Johns, chef / owner of Grange Kitchen and Bar, shops the market, works with local farmers, and serves a nearly unbelievable 90 percent local menu. (For comparison, most serious locally sourced restaurants are striving for a 50-70% local share). Of the collaboration, Johns said, “Now we are a community.” Smart use of local farm ingredients (like a fried pig’s head and popcorn dessert) make Grange stand apart from other high-end restaurants in downtown.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
3. Go Simple
Chef / owner Eve Aronoff (above, right) opened Frita Batidos after running a fine dining restaurant for years in Ann Arbor (she was also on season six of Top Chef). The cuisine of Frita Batidos might be best described as Cuban street food, filtered through Miami, and translated to the Midwest. Simple, bright flavors and a casual vibe make this a stand-out restaurant — and it was packed with a mix of students and locals. Guacamole (below) was like tasting fresh, perfectly ripe avocados (in mid-December, mind you). The flavor was simple, pure, unfooled-around-with, and fresh with a little heat. Continue reading Five Lessons from an Ann Arbor Food Tour »
Jill Lewis / Heavy Table
I love cheese. I grew up in Wisconsin. But apparently, my knowledge about Wisconsin cheese could fill just one hole in a 200-pound wheel of emmentaler. That was one of the many things I learned during my recent three-day, all-cheese-all-the-time tour of southern Wisconsin, courtesy of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, with a group of food and cheese journalists, bloggers, authors, and mongers. The tour coincided with the third annual Wisconsin Cheese Originals festival in Madison, where we had access to 40+ Wisconsin cheesemakers eager to share their expertise — and samples, of course. If you’re interested in a blow-by-blow review of the weekend, come to my house and be prepared to stay for the better part of the day. For those of you with less time, I present my top five takeaways from the trip, excluding the various wedges I smuggled across the border, of course.
Jill Lewis / Heavy Table
1. Cheese mites are real
Jill Lewis / Heavy Table
We visited the cheese cave of Willi Lehner (right), a second-generation cheesemaker whose Bleu Mont Dairy turns out an amazing bandaged cheddar. When Lehner was walking us through his cave in Blue Mounds, he showed a sample of the muslin bandage he uses and mentioned that his is heavier than the kind other cheesemakers use. Why? someone inquired. To keep out the cheese mites.
Yes, apparently, mites are everywhere, including the rind of many cheeses. Some cheeses, like the French mimolette, rely on the cheese mites to burrow holes in the rind while the cheese ages, allowing it to breathe. But Lehner doesn’t want the mites near his precious cheddar, so he uses a thicker bandage and smears it with lard. The lard helps the bandages from drying out too fast — that’s key when the cheese will age for two to three years in a 1,600-square-foot cave with a 12-foot ceiling. Though Lehner has a good handle on the cave’s temperature (it ranges from 48ºF to 58°F year-round) and humidity, he uses time-tested techniques like bandaging to ensure his cheeses age well. We got to sample some two-and-a-half-year cheddar, and its crystallized, caramelly, mite-free bite demonstrated that it’s worth the extra cloth and effort.
2. Cheese prime-time is right now
You might think spring, when cows give birth, would be the best season for milk yields, but look to the opposite side of the year for cows to produce the best milk for cheesemaking, according to Jeff Wideman, a master of cheddar and Monterey jack cheeses who heads Maple Leaf Cheese Cooperative in Monroe. In the warm spring and summer months, cows drink more and eat less, which results in fewer solids (fats and proteins) in their milk. But in October and November, the cooler weather gives the cows a better appetite, and it shows in their milk. Whereas this summer Wideman got 9.4 pounds of cheddar per 100 pounds of milk, this fall he’s getting a pound more cheese from the same quantity of milk. Wisconsinites have another reason besides the start of football season to welcome fall — more cheese for game-day treats.
Jill Lewis / Heavy Table
3. Super-aged cheeses are worth every penny
In the time it takes for Tony Hook, owner of Hook’s Cheese, to produce his coveted 15-year cheddar, he could make anywhere from 60 to 90 batches of your typical mild cheddar. Instead, he chooses to take up valuable space in his facility to test his cheesemaking skills over the course of a decade and a half, softly shepherding a young cheddar to the creamy, almost candy-like confection that retails for up to $60 / pound. If one thing goes wrong along the way — the cheese dries too fast or the flavors go in the wrong direction — that’s years worth of work gone down the drain.
“You can salvage cheese, but you can’t bring it back to age. You can sell it as mild. If worst comes to worst, you can sell it to make processed cheese,” Hook said. “You can insure against fire and recalls, but not aging.”
So while you may initially balk at the price tag, the 15-year cheddar almost seems like a bargain when you consider the gamble it took for Hook to bring it to market. Luckily, such a rich, flavor-filled cheese is one to savor in small doses, so you don’t need to buy an entire pound to be satisfied. Drop your daily latte habit for a week to purchase your chunk of cheddar. It’s the best dairy trade-off you’ll ever experience.
4. Cheese + Scotch = all kinds of awesome
Jill Lewis / Heavy Table
I am not a Scotch drinker in the slightest. My preferences lean toward wine and the girly drinks, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and signed up for the cheese and Scotch pairings seminar offered at the Wisconsin Cheese Originals festival. Gregory Long, a spirits master at Vom Fass and a cheesemonger at Fromagination in Madison, lent his pairing expertise to four Scotches and four Wisconsin cheeses — and proved a few skeptics at my table wrong. Rather than overpowering the cheese, the Scotches provided a complementary tipple when matched with the right slice. The smoother, sherry-aged whiskys, like an 11-year-old Blair Athol, echoed the sweet nuttiness of the Emmi Roth Gran Queso, while Roelli’s Dunbarton Blue, with its earthy, salty bite, stood up to the smoky, tobacco-infused, 12-year Caol Ila.
The relevation, though, belonged to the marriage of a 7-year-old Ardmore with Bleu Mont’s bandaged cheddar (right). The herbal, semi-peated Scotch went head to head with the sharper aged flavor of the cheese, making me want more to drink and to nibble. No Scotch resides in my liquor cabinet now, but if I add a bottle, Ardmore it will be. The cheddar, of course, is a mainstay.
Jill Lewis / Heavy Table
5. Pigs eat better cheese than most people do
Jill Lewis / Heavy Table
At Uplands Cheese Company, where wunderkind cheesemaker Andy Hatch turns out his award-winning Alpine-style Pleasant Ridge Reserve, we got the season’s first taste of Rush Creek Reserve. The cheese, modeled after the French Vacherin d’Or, develops such a luxurious, liquidy paste that it must be eaten with a spoon. As we rushed to sample of dollop of the young Rush Creek, Hatch took his own taste and deemed it a work in progress. “This batch will be for the pigs,” he noted.
Are you kidding me? Deliver this sumptuous, smoke-tinged cheese to a bunch of pigs? I don’t think they appreciate the craft and care that went into such a prized wheel. Andy, I don’t care if the Rush Creek isn’t top-notch — send it to my newly created Asylum for Wayward Cheeses, where I will lovingly tend to the needs (aka eat them with relish).
It turns out that less-than-perfect cheese is not the only product the pigs at Uplands get to enjoy. The leftover whey also makes it into their troughs, and you can find Uplands’ whey-fed prosciutto at Madison restaurants like L’Etoile. I can’t vouch for it personally, but my best friend / co-blogger Colleen thought it was stellar enough to convince her pork-loving husband to move to Wisconsin from Washington, D.C.
Note: The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board covered all travel, accommodations, and dining expenses for the three-day tour, but all opinions are the writer’s own.
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