Going Local for the Holidays
Choose Wisconsin foods this year
’Tis the season for your calorie count to skyrocket. What better way to feel truly at home with the holidays than to savor—or share—a taste of Wisconsin?
You already know you’ll be satisfied with local classics such as Quality Candy, Usinger’s and Penzeys. But consider expanding your menu with other local food and drink specialties to add depth to athome entertaining, make classy hostess gifts or remind out-of-state relatives about what makes Wisconsin simply delicious.
Your Thanksgiving Meal
Let’s start with dessert first: Don’t forget that The Elegant Farmer in Mukwonago (www.elegantfarmer.com, 262-363-6770) sells apple pies that The Wall Street Journal declared to be the best in the world. The pies are baked in paper bags.
Rice River Farms in Spooner sells wild rice and tasty rice-herb mixes (www.riceriverfarms.com, 800-262-6368). It’s been a lean year for wild rice harvesting statewide, in part because of too-cool spring weather, so expect to pay top dollar for genuinely wild rice.
Since 1929 MacFarlane
Pheasants (www.pheasant.com, 800-345-8348) in Janesville has raised and
sold pheasant, plus other wild game. Also in stock are Wisconsin-made specialties (cranberry chutney, stuffing with wild rice and cranberries, salsas, mustards and jams), so this is almost a one-stop shopping address.
Too
late for your plans this year are the heritage breed, organic turkeys
raised at Blue Valley Gardens in Blue Mounds (www.mhtc.net/~blueval,
608-437- 3272), but keep these delectable birds in mind for next year
(and place your order months before Thanksgiving).
Outpost Natural Foods, however (www.outpostnaturalfoods.coop), still offers organic and antibiotic-free turkeys from Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Smoked turkeys and turkey
breasts— as well as a dizzying array of other meat products—can be
ordered from Nueske’s in Wittenberg (www.nueskes.com, 800- 720-1153). A
good gift idea is the Breakfast Bonanza Basket, an attractive
arrangement of Canadian and applewood-smoked bacons, a scone mix and
Irish oatmeal.
Beer
Of course, any celebration in Wisconsin
will start with beer, and Milwaukee’s breweries offer an array of
seasonal varieties. Riverwest’s Lakefront Brewery
(www.lakefrontbrewery.com, 372-8800) produces Pumpkin Lager through the
third week of November and Holiday Spice Lager through December, so
snap up some six-packs quickly. And, of course, Art Kumbalek’s
Focktoberfest beer is perfect for any occasion. Sprecher Brewing Co.’s
(www.sprecherbrewery.com, 964-2739) prize-winning Winter Brew is
perfect for the shortening days. Leinenkugel’s (www.leinie.com), which
has a brewery on North 10th Street, is introducing a Fireside Nut Brown
this month.
In addition to seasonal beers are those with
unusual names, which always make for interesting gifts. New to
Milwaukee liquor stores this month are the irreverent (as in Dim Whit,
Berserk, Big Swede) products of Viking Brewing Co. (www.vikingbrewing.com, 715-837-1824), in Dallas (yes, Wisconsin),
a small company that is well known and much loved on the northwestern
side of the state. Impress the beer connoisseur with a four-pack of
JuleOL, a spiced and citrus holiday beer, or Hot Chocolate, a stout
that smacks of cocoa and cayenne.
Keep your eyes peeled for this year’s batch of Fallen Apple,
a seasonal label that is 40% freshly pressed cider, from Furthermore
Beer (www.furthermorebeer.com, 608-588-3300) in Spring Green. Next up:
Makeweight, which brewmaster Aran Madden playfully describes as “three
pale ales skillfully crafted together, or stupidly piled high,” like
holiday buffet plates.
For truly local beer, seek out Island
Wheat and the newer Rustic Ale, both made from wheat grown on Door
County’s Washington Island. Also in the lineup for Capital Brewery in
Middleton (www.capital-brewery.com, 608-836-7100) is the seasonal
Autumnal Fire, a bock that took home the gold at this year’s Great
American Beer Festival.
Other Spirits
Relatively new to town is Great Lakes Distillery (www.greatlakesdistillery.com, 431-8683), which has already won a “Double Gold” medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition for its Rehorst Premium Milwaukee Gin. In addition to their quality gin and vodka is their Pumpkin Seasonal Spirit, produced in limited quantities. Check your favorite liquor store or gourmet grocer now for the remaining bottles in town—you’ll find a list of retailers on the distillery’s Web site. If you can’t find it, the Citrus and Honey vodka, made with honey from Wisconsin Natural Acres in Chilton, is just as tasty.
Further north, White Winter Winery (www.whitewinter.com, 800-697-2006) in Iron River has produced handcrafted mead—fermented honey—plus hard ciders and other alcoholic concoctions that involve honey. Serve mulled Cyser (mead and cider), which has earned international awards. Or sip Acer, a mix of maple and honey mead. Ingredients tend to be grown close to home. Order online, or drive Up North for a production tour. At Lautenbach’s Orchard Country Winery & Market (www.orchardcountry.com, 920-868-3479) in Fish Creek, Winter Wine (served warm) and Cherry Christmas are seasonal specialties. Order a four-bottle gift pack that celebrates all seasons; that means Winter Wine, Autumn Harvest, Sangria Splash and Cherry Blossom.
Gin and vodka, made in small batches under the Death’s Door label (www.deathsdoorspirits.com, 608-441-1083), begin as wheat and juniper berries grown on Washington Island. So buy a bottle or take a nip during a private cocktail clinic that can be arranged by the liquor manufacturer, which also has ideas about how to cook with the hooch.
Cheese
Milwaukeeans are lucky to have so many good local cheeses at so many local shops. Check out West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe (www.wacheesegifts.com), the Milwaukee Public Market (www.milwaukeepublicmarket.org) or Wisconsin Cheese Mart (www. wisconsincheesemart.com, 888-482-7700) for a truly awe-inspiring selection. Local grocers such as Sendik’s, Whole Foods Market, Metro Market, Pick ’N Save and Outpost Natural Foods are also worth a long look.
True Cheeseheads know that stinky cheese often is good cheese. So send Limburger with love from the Chalet Cheese Cooperative in Monroe, which is the only place in the United States that produces this European invention. Order it at 608-325-4343 by the half-pound or pound, but don’t wait until summer. The paper/foil/plastic-wrapped Limburger is (wisely!) mailed nowhere during hot weather. The SarVecchio Parmesan from Sartori Foods (www.sartorifoods.com, 920- 893-6061) earned two golds and one silver during this year’s World Cheese Championship. Also in the highly regarded Sartori Reserve line of products is Raspberry Bellavitano (Best U.S. Cows Milk Cheese), which incorporates Raspberry Tart beer from New Glarus Brewing Co.
From Carr Valley Cheese (www. carrvalleycheese.com, 800-462-7258), Cave Aged Marisa (named after cheesemaker Sid Cook’s daughter) and Snow White Goat Cheddar both earned Best of Show awards from the American Cheese Society this year. Its retail outlet in Sauk City (30 miles northwest of Madison) has a sleek cooking school, which routinely features fine dining chefs from around the United States as the instructors. So consider a $45 class gift certificate for the foodie on your shopping list.
Chocolate
Cocktailers in Wisconsin
are way picky about how drinks are garnished. That is why some Bloody
Marys look like small, floating salads. Now we have Cholives (that’s
olive-shaped, ganache-filled dark chocolate) to dress up chocolate
martinis, and we can thank a Milwaukee company, The Cholive
(www.thecholive.com, 877- 204-0106), for the invention. You can find
these gems in the city’s coolest bars or order them online (shipping is
free through Jan. 1, 2009).
Madison chocolatier Gail
Ambrosius— yes, that’s her real name—produces exquisite little
gold-bellied Buddhas, finely detailed dark chocolate that is infused
with green tea and then brushed with gold dust (www.gailambrosius.com,
608-249- 3500). Or indulge in a 12-piece assortment of single-origin
truffles to taste cacao from around the world. Expect a drenching of
cinnamon/cayenne, toppings that range from rose petals to candied
ginger, and infusions of Kentucky bourbon or Chambord liqueur.
But
when an order of turtles (as in chocolate, caramel and salty pecans)
seems too ordinary, turn to Terrapins, p r o d u c e d by Kohler
Original Recipe Chocolates (www.kohlerchocolates.com, 800-778- 5591).
The creation represents 18 months of testing 400-plus recipe variations
just to get Herb Kohler’s nod of approval. Terrapins come in five
varieties, and they are merely the tip of this sinful chocolate empire.
Other Sweet Treats
Wisconsin is the king of cranberry production, and the Cranberry Discovery Center (www.discovercranberries.com, 608-378-4878) in Warrens knows how to sweeten the pot of cranberry products. Think jams and jellies, sauces and syrups.
Buy
the berries sweetened and dried, coated with chocolate or yogurt
flavoring, or mixed with nuts and candy. Order products by the cluster,
the pound or the gift basket.
Since 1852, Honey Acres (www.honeyacres.com, 800-558-7745), a 40acre and fifth-generation operation
in Ashippun, has been abuzz with honey production. Inventory includes
pretty and tasty clover, buckwheat and wildflower honeys, bottled in
classy jars. When shopping in person, check out the free and
informative Honey of a Museum.
Decorative bottles of pure
maple syrup are sold in Cadott by Roth Sugar Bush
(www.rothsugarbush.com, 715-289-3820), which has been tapping maple
trees for more than 50 years. Consider a gift box that includes a jar
of maple cream for spreading on toasted bagels and bread.
Getaways
Consider
food-related getaways for a special holiday gift that will definitely
keep on giving. Cooking demos, meals and wine tastings with an ethnic
flair come together as three-day Taste of Kohler immersions during
winter (www. destinationkohler.com, 800-344-2838).
Taste of Austria is Feb. 22-24, and Taste of Italy is March 8-10; the cost, including two nights of lodging, begins at $295 per person.
Chef
Janice Thomas can customize cooking classes, or you can sign up for one
of the sessions already on her docket at Savory Spoon Cooking School in
Ellison Bay (www.savoryspoon.com, 920-854- 6600). Coming Nov. 29:
Holiday Candy Making.
In Sister Bay, chef Terri Milligan
teaches in a kitchen that is one floor above her scrumptious fine
dining restaurant, The Inn at Kristofer’s (www.innatkristofers.com,
920-854-9419). Coming Nov. 29: Tis the Season, a holiday cooking demo
and luncheon.
Itchy Cat Press recently released Hungry for Wisconsin: A Tasty Guide for Travelers, which is the second book written by Mary Bergin of Madison.
What’s your take? Write: editor@shepex.com or comment on this story online at www.expressmilwaukee.com.
Fred
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