Each Friday, this list will track five of the best things Heavy Table’s writers, editors, and photographers have recently bitten or sipped. Have a suggestion for the Hot Five? Email editor@heavytable.com.
The Hot Five is a weekly feature created by the Heavy Table and supported by Shepherd Song Farm.
“Bread Bread” from Laune Bread
You want real bread? Laune Bread is making some real bread. The bike-delivered loaves from this subscription-based South Minneapolis microbakery are the work of Christopher MacLeod, who moved from a wood-fired bakery in California to Rustica before launching Laune. The “Bread Bread” — a rustic mix of local grains including whole wheat, wheat, rye, and malted barley — has a lovely, substantial crust, and a chewy, resilient, sourdough-like interior that makes it ideal with a smear of rolled butter and honey or as the base for a seriously meaty sandwich.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by James Norton]
Cranberry Walnut Goat Cheese from Singing Hills Goat Dairy
The women behind Singing Hills Dairy have a seasonal chevre that will be perfect for your Thanksgiving appetizer course: their regular tangy chevre combined with sweet-tart cranberries and crunchy walnuts. Pretty, tasty, and perfect to share with guests. It will be available this Saturday at the Mill City Farmers Market winter market at the Mill City Museum.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by Amy Rea]
Black Wolf Stout on Nitro from Able Seedhouse
It’s rare to find a newly opened brewery with a stout as full-bodied as this; usually they are too thin and too sweet, leading to an experience that is more like drinking lightly carbonated, (cold) hot cocoa. But Able Seedhouse’s Black Wolf Stout on nitro is ideal: On the dry side, but with a full, creamy head, this stout has a nutty character that accents the dark chocolate and currant notes on the finish.
[Last Week on the Hot Five: #1 | Submitted by Liz Scholz]
Puerco Pibil con Escabeche de Cebolla from Homegrown Foods
Homegrown Foods organic meal delivery is one of a few local services that will deliver ingredients and recipes to your door, entrusting you to do the cooking and assembly as your own schedule and whims might dictate. They were kind enough to drop off a few dishes for us, including a somewhat ambitious and intriguing-looking taco package featuring slow-cooked pork. The puerco pibil kit comes with a pound of pork with achiote marinade, a red onion and its pickling ingredients (including a whole habanero pepper), corn, corn tortillas, sour cream, and charmingly, the banana leaf in which the pork is roasted for four hours at 325ºF. The result of this effort is a super tender, richly flavorful roasted meat that becomes a hell of a tasty taco when combined with the sides. The habanero pickled onion provides some heat, but it’s not excessive, and everything works quite nicely as a team.
[Last Week on the Hot Five: #2 | Submitted by James Norton]
Bolognese Pasta Sauce from The Coffee Grounds in Eau Claire, Wis.
It is a crying shame that the rich, chunky, full-flavored, soulful frozen red sauce we’ve been searching for throughout the Minneapolis-St. Paul area had to turn up in 90-minutes-away Eau Claire, but them’s the breaks. The house-made Bolognese from The Coffee Grounds contains wagyu-style beef(!), farm-sourced ground pork and bacon, heavy whipping cream, and organic vegetables from Square Roots Farm — this no doubt contributes to the fact that it’s killer delicious. Next time we’re on our way back from Madison, we’re picking up more of this stuff, a lot more.
[Last Week on the Hot Five: #4 | Submitted by James Norton]
Really flattering to have my food on your list! Thanks for stopping in to The Coffee Grounds. I just restocked the bolognese for your next trip.