Deli TasTIngs

Located upstairs at the

STEEP! Tea Tasting: Tea 101
Wednesday, November 10 • $25 • 7-9pm
If you haven’t made it to STEEP! yet, this would
be a great place to start! We will introduce you
to the 5,000 year-old world of loose leaf teas as
we taste through the six major categories of tea
harvested from the Camellia Sinensis plant. Bring
a friend and bring your learning caps. There will
be tea to quench your thirst, and snacks to sati-
ate your appetite.
Best of 2010 at Zingerman’s Deli
with Ari
Wednesday, December 1 • $35 • 7-9pm
Has it been the year of Italian pastas, or the year
of American cheeses? Or possibly the year of
surprisingly delicious butternut squash seed oil
from upstate New York, artisan chocolates from
the Midwest, or a new partnership with a great
olive oil project going on between California
and the University of Michigan?  Join us for an
evening of stories and tastes with co-founder Ari
Weinzweig as we cover the best of what we’ve
discovered in the world of food in 2010.   This
annual tasting sells out quick, so reserve your
seat today!
Next Door Coffee Shop, 422 Detroit St. HAnds-oN baking clASseS
3723 Plaza Drive
Zingerman’s Pre-Holiday
734.761.7255
Planning Party
Thursday, December 9 • 4-7:30pm •
FreE!
Sandwich
Get great gift-giving ideas for all different bud-
gets, and, there will be plenty of enticing foods of the mONtH Coffeecake Craft
to sample from our 2010 Catering Holiday Menu. Wed, Nov 17 • 5:30-9:30pm • $125
Whether you are trying to decide what gifts to
get friends and loved ones, trying to pick out the
November Craft coffeecakes that you’ll
want to bake for years to
perfect gift baskets to give all your office staff Ian’s gonnaBgood come—sour cream coffee-
or planning a holiday party for your family or cake, yeasted coffeecake, and
Thick slices of peppered bacon with cheddar
colleagues, we’ll have everything you’ll need to a crumble top coffeecake for
cheese and cole slaw served on grilled sour-
make your holiday plans tasty and stress-free.
dough; like its namesake, this is satisfying,
good measure. You’ll have
simple & a little spicy! One size: $10.99
your household drooling in the
morning for your fresh baked
Get $5 Off Tastings creation!
at The Deli! December Who You Callin’
Just pay for your seat 2 days in advance and The TWG a Cream Puff?
Sat, Nov 27 • 8am-noon • $100
we'll take $5 off the regular admission.
Wasabi cream cheese and muenster cheese Make your own dough and cre-
are combined with cucumber, roasted ate éclairs, cream puffs, and
red pepper, lettuce and tomato on savory savory creations to take home.
brewhouse bread in this sandwich with a We’ll also make pastry cream,
ginger-y zip; developed out of a memory of whipped cream, and chocolate
long summer days in northern Michigan, it’s ganache in class to fill your
a crunchy fresh antidote to the shorter days puffs.
of winter! One size: $10.99

Please call 734.663.3400 to save a seat Check out the full schedule
and register for classes at
See our full schedule at www.zingermansdeli.com www.bakewithzing.com

Second Saturday Tasting!
Nov 13th & Dec 11 • 11am to noon
Join us monthly for an
open-to-the-public, no-
FreE!
reservation-required cupping. Sit
down with Coffee Company man-
aging partners Allen and Steve
to sample some new offerings,
some old favorites, some experi-
mental batches and learn how
to discern the subtle distinctions
among the world's coffees.
Future tastings happen the second
Saturday of each month, 11am-noon.
Relationship Coffees FreE!
Presentation and Tasting
Wednesday, November 30
6:30-7:30pm • Free! • Please RSVP
Join us and special guest Al Liu
from Atlas Coffee Importers for
the amazing story behind our
Guatemalan coffee.   before, or if you already love them, we’re going to
Holiday Tasting FreE!
Tuesday, Dec 21 • 10am-noon
Stop by and taste a few of our
coffees as we demonstrate the
different brewing devices we
have in the shop. Or stop in
and shop for the coffee geek in
your life.
Stop by our coffee bar @
3723 Plaza Drive • 734-929-6060
www.zingermanscoffee.com
Roadhouse Special Dinners are multi-course family-style affairs with a little history and a LOT of food and 734.929.0500 • 3723 Plaza Drive
feature writers, chefs, and more from our own community and from all around the country. www.zingermanscreamery.com
Learn to Make
Heirloom Harvest #4: Fresh Mozzarella
Preserving our Harvest #97 Take the RoadHouse Saturdays Sept-May • Noon-2:30pm
To Go this season
Tuesday, November 9 • 7-10pm • $45/dinner $50 • Reservations required
James Beard-nominated Chef Alex Young began a gar- You'll get the know-how to do it in
den 5 years ago as a way to spend more time with his Thanksgiving To-Go Menu, Nov. 15-30 your own kitchen and take home a
family and also make really great food. What began lot of cheese!
Look for our menu online and in the restaurant on Nov. 1
as a plot of heirloom tomatoes has doubled in size
(Order at least 48 hours in advance of your pick-up date)
each year and now includes livestock such as pigs and
cattle. This month, he’s cooking a flavorful dinner
reflecting the flavors of the autumn fields.
Holiday To-Go Menu, Dec. 1-30 CheEse TaStings
Look for our menu online and in the restaurant on Dec. 1
(Order at least 48 hours in advance of your pick-up date) Thank Goodness
Wine & Oyster Dinner with for Cheese
Qupe Wine Cellars #98 Friday, Nov 19 • 6-8pm • $25
New Year’s Eve Specials
Wednesday, December 8 • 7-10pm
$85/dinner December 31 starting at 5pm • A Presidential New Year! Gelato and Sweets
Every year, we choose a theme that evokes the White Sunday, Nov 21 • 4-5pm • $10
We think that wine and oysters are a perfect match. House and its presidents past and present. Our chefs
But, oysters are one of those foods that can be intimi- prepare an a la carte menu taken directly from City Goats All Dressed Up
dating. There’s a lot of hype and plenty of romance Pennsylvania Avenue. and Going to Town!
about them. Whether you’ve never tasted an oyster
Wednesday, Dec 8 • 6-7pm • $10
taste many and learn about them, pairing their subtle
flavors with wine, which is never a bad thing. Cheese Melts My Heart:
a Fondue Party
We are also hosting a special guest from Qupe to
Friday, Dec 17 • 6-8pm • $25
celebrate the mid-winter oyster harvest, and also to
explore food and wine pairings with samples from
Qupe’s biodynamic wine label. Each of our 4 courses For details, see page 14.
will highlight ways to pair wine and food. James Beard Reserve your spot at 734.929.0500
nominated Chef Alex Young will prepare the menu for
this delicious dinner.
CreamEry TouRs
Sundays • 2pm • $5 per person
Reserve your spot now at 734.663.FOOD(3663) Call to make your reservation!
or www.zingermansroadhouse.com

NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
­1
ISSUE # 223
 CREATING A CULTURE OF
An excerpt from Ari Weinzweig’s new book, Zingerman’s Guide to Good Lea
Here’s something that I can safely say I never really gave more than
two minutes of attention to back when we started the business. In
hindsight it’s clear to me that we sort of unconsciously created
an appreciative culture, but looking back, Paul was probably way
better at it than I was. But you can mindfully make it happen.
Getting an already-positive organization to be a wee bit more
appreciative is really not that hard. Although it may not be the
easiest thing in the world to turn a highly negative culture into
an appreciative one, that can very definitely be done. In either
case, actual costs are small. Kindness, as I told a group of about 50
grammar school kids a couple years ago, is free and the benefits
are very big. It’s incredible how far a bit of recognition and caring,
heartfelt positive feedback will go.
I’m probably not all that different from a lot of high achievers—
focused a great deal of the time on ways to improve our
organization and the quality of our work. That’s certainly not a
bad thing—the drive to get better is a big piece of what creates
any successful organization. But the very same drive that has
helped me succeed by pushing for improvement all the time
could help create an organizational
culture where appreciation and
positive energy are the norms, not
the exception, and in which people
feel valued for their work and help
those around them do the same.
In fact, leading with appreciation
for our own organization, I think
I can—no, I will—say has done an
exceptionally good job of creating a
positive culture.
It’s very difficult for me to just
come out and say these things
without qualification. But working
to be more appreciative has put me
into a paradoxical box: in order to
live the appreciative role that I’m
committed to I need to recognize
how much we’ve achieved in this
area, even though it’s hard for me
to do so when I know that we still
have a long way to go. Fortunately,
I’ve heard so many compliments
about Zingerman’s from so many
people—staff, suppliers, partners, neighbors, and of course our
customers—that even I can’t help but appreciate it. In the process
I’ve learned to make peace with the reality that I can be both
exceedingly appreciative of achievement and driven to make
things better than they are. This paradox may seem natural to
those for whom this appreciation stuff comes naturally, but it
didn’t to me, that’s for sure. Which is why this is, and always will
be, a work in progress.
In the interest of sharing this achievement with others, I got to
wondering what it is that we’ve done to help create the kind of
culture we have here. Here’s a quick look at what we do:
1. Teach it
Rather than just assume that being appreciative should be
obvious, we actively teach techniques to demonstrate positive
appreciation in a number of formal and informal venues:
• All of our training and teaching work is based on Zingerman’s
Training Compact, which includes our commitment to recognize
and reward everyone in the organization who is meeting (or, all
the better, exceeding) our expectations. And because we review
the Training Compact in all of our classes, everyone hears about
this appreciation regularly. While this may seem trivial, the
feedback from our staff tells us it’s critical. To quote Katie Frank
from the Bakehouse, “When one’s job expectations are made clear,
it’s easier to perform what is expected and one feels gratified by
doing what is asked of them well, thus, appreciated. This may also
transfer into a good performance review which may also turn into
a raise, which is a sign to some that they are appreciated.”
• “Welcome to Zingerman’s”: We touch on the importance of
positive appreciation at least half a dozen times during the
two-hour orientation class Paul or I teach for new staff, citing
­2
ISSUE # 223 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
specific ways that we show it. When I’m teaching it I try to model
the desired behavior by appreciating specific things about what
people in the class say or have done in their work, or in their
lives before Zingerman’s. I also try to appreciate the efforts
and achievements of others in the organization by mentioning
departments or businesses that have had great successes, peers
of the new staff who are doing a particularly good job, etc.
• We also mention the importance of an appreciative approach
in training sessions on any number of other subjects, including
classes on caring confrontations, how to do performance reviews,
how to make meetings work, personal futuring, on-shift training
skills, and the art of giving great service, just to name a few.
2. Define it
There are many reasons managers so frequently fail to make time
to appreciate their staff. There’s the “People should know that we
appreciate them—after all we keep paying them” angle. Others
come at it with the “Why do we have to tell people this? They
should take satisfaction in their work” mindset. There’s also the
“It’s just the Golden Rule—treat others the way you want to be
treated” approach, which sounds good until
you find out that the manager was raised
without much positive reinforcement.
Having lived with, and through, all of
the above, I’ve learned that it’s far more
effective to set clear, positive expectations
up front and then share them through the
aforementioned teaching.
• Our mission talks about bringing a positive
“Zingerman’s Experience” to everyone we
come into contact with. Regardless of title
or seniority, we’re all fully responsible
for bringing that positive experience to
every customer, supplier, peer, or neighbor
we deal with. It’s not enough to just make
sandwiches, bake bread, do accounting,
or whatever—our job is to make positive
experiences happen. Right
off the bat this puts us all
into situations where we
can both appreciate and be
appreciated.
• One of our three Bottom
Lines is “Great Service,” and that service includes
creating a positive workplace where everyone
feels valued and knows that their work makes a
difference.
• Our guiding principles outline a pretty
appreciative environment. Specifically, I would
note the statement that, “We give great service to
each other as well as to our guests. We provide
the same level of service in our work with our
peers as we do with our guests. We go the extra
mile for each other. We are polite, supportive,
considerate, superb listeners, working on the
basis of mutual respect and care.”
• Visioning: By definition this emphasis on going
after what we want—rather than fighting off
what we don’t want—creates a more positive
and appreciative attitude throughout the
organization. In short, visioning keeps us from getting bogged
down in the present-day problems by focusing on creating a
positive, appreciative future.
• The 4 to 1 Ratio: We all try to deliver a daily average of four
parts praise to one part constructive criticism. Both aspects
of this equation are important. The four parts praise is pretty
significant—it really pushes people like me to make sure we take
time to notice the myriad things that go right every day. And the
one part constructive criticism is equally important, not least
because it lends credibility to the four parts praise. Without
helping others see how they can be even more effective, the praise
can start to seem empty. Put together the two create a primarily
positive environment, but one that’s positively helpful, as well.
3. Live it
Although most folks will agree with the suggestion that it’s good
to have an appreciative culture, many organizations fall far short.
But without actually living it, walking the talk, not a whole lot is
going to happen. Here are some of the areas where I’ve found that
it’s particularly worthwhile to invest my appreciative energies:
• Appreciate Yourself: Like all meaningful organizational
change, I believe that an appreciative environment absolutely
has to come from within us as leaders. Which means that before I
could even begin to be more appreciative of others I had to learn
to treat myself with the same respectful approach that I wanted to
deliver to those around me. While I can’t prove this scientifically,
my experience is that if I don’t appreciate myself in a meaningful
way, the praise I give to others won’t connect, either.
Peter Koestenbaum, in Talk Is Walk: Language and Courage in
Action, writes that, “You need a friend even if you are that friend.”
For me this meant learning to speak to myself respectfully,
to appreciate myself for what I achieved (while still of course
pushing myself to get better at the same time—don’t worry, I’m
not slacking).
• Appreciate Others: It’s just too easy to lose track of the
positives. They’re always there—I just have to take time to notice
them. In service of which, I’ve adopted an almost daily routine of
making myself pay close attention to the many positive things,
the great people and really wonderful food and service, that
surround me. There are a few zillion examples every day. I also
try to do a bit of journaling almost every day, a part of which is
regularly making lists of people and things that I might have failed
to appreciate of late.
• Train and Organize to Encourage Appreciation: Part of our
job as leaders is to help the folks we work with to be successful.
And in our world, one way we can do so is by being appreciative
of those we work with and serve. While it’s nice to think that
appreciation is so much the “right thing to do” that it will spring up
on its own, the reality is that one of the most effective things we can
do organizationally is to set up systems and structures that make
it easy—even require—people to
be much more appreciative than
they might normally be on their
own.
• Start Doing “Appreciations”:
The idea is simply that each and
every meeting we hold always
ends with a few minutes of
“Appreciations.” Appreciations
can be of anything or anyone:
someone in the room or not
in the room; something work-
related or not; accomplishments
past, present, or future. No one
is required to say anything, but
people usually do. And this one
small exercise has made a huge
impact over the years. The people
in the meeting almost always go
back out into the organizational
world with positive feelings.
And because we do it at every
meeting, it really disciplines
us to devote time and mental
energy to positive recognition.
• Stay in Synch: We’ve also learned the hard way that some staff
members are embarrassed by public praise. It’s most effective to
compliment people in the way that they most appreciate being
appreciated. For some that’s in public, others in private, some in
writing, some with gifts, some with a pat on the back, some with
eye contact and a head nod.
• Appreciations in the Staff Newsletter: We basically follow
the same format in our monthly staff newsletter. Each issue
contains three, four, or even five pages of appreciations and
thank-yous sent in by various staff members.
• Code Greens: This is the name for the form we use to capture
and communicate the compliments we hear from customers (the
opposite, of course, is a Code Red). Could be big, could be small,
 POSITIVE APPRECIATION
ading, Part 1: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business
but any positive comment we hear should be written up as a
Code Green. These are shared with as many people as possible,
sometimes by email, sometimes through bulletin board postings,
sometimes by reading them aloud at meetings. The important
thing is that the information is shared and that the people who
work in the organization hear the positive feedback that their
work has earned from customers.
• Performance Reviews: These certainly aren’t unique to our
organization, nor, I’m sure, are we the only organization that
struggles to do them in a timely way. But they are a very good
tool for keeping us focused on the positive achievements of
those around us—every review here starts with a summary of the
person’s achievements.
• Specificity: In all of this positive recognition I’ve continued to
learn that praise means more when it’s specific. While general
thanks and kudos never hurt, it’s more helpful to be clear about
what it is we really value, so that others know what they can do
more of down the road to be even more effective in their work.
• Going the Extra Mile: Since we work to treat our staff here
like customers, “going the extra mile” applies to them, too.
That means doing the unexpected (as in good things, not goofy
stuff like dumping water on them) for co-workers, showing
appreciation and creating the sort of positive feelings that we all
want to experience. Something as simple as a Post-it note stuck
to someone’s computer screen, a handwritten card that actually
comes in the mail, a quick unexpected email, a flower, a bouquet
of fresh asparagus from the Farmer’s Market. . . these little things
can make an enormous difference to people in the organization.
• The “3 and Out Rule”: This is an internal mechanism that I’ve
come to use regularly and, in writing this piece, realized I should
share more actively. When I’m having a really rough day positive
appreciation is the easiest way I know to turn things around.
Appreciate, appreciate, appreciate...the old baseball saying “three
and out” actually works pretty well and it’s kind of
catchy. When in doubt, three and out.
By the time I’ve gone and appreciated at least three
folks, it’s literally almost impossible for me to still
be in a bad mood. And in the process of turning my
own day around, I’ve contributed something small
but upbeat to those with whom I’ve interacted. They
in turn are more likely to do the same for others.
And in the end, everyone—the organization, the
staff, the customers, and the community—will be
better off for it.
4. Measure it
We probably don’t do this as much as we should.
But we do have ways to measure appreciation, both
formally and informally.
• Staff Survey: We’ve based ours on the 12 questions
advocated in the book First, Break All the Rules
by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman (which
I highly recommend if you haven’t read it). These
include things like:
- In the last seven days have I received praise for
my work?
- Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care about me
as a person?
- Do my opinions seem to count?The surveys are reviewed by each
business and department, providing a basis for organizational
“self-improvement” and a good sense of where we’re successfully
creating a positive, rewarding workplace.
• We also at various times track things like “extra miles” (going out
of the way to do something extra for peers or customers), personal
stress levels, Code Greens, etc.
• Turnover: This is a familiar way to measure how much people feel
appreciated. Our rate has regularly stayed well below industry
norms—and I appreciate everyone here who has helped to make
it that way!
5. Reward it
• Thank-Yous: Sometimes a simple note or an “appreciation”
(as above) at a meeting can make a huge difference to those who
are appreciated. Almost all of the verbal appreciations at our
meetings get written up in the notes and then distributed. Believe appreciate them in advance for openly owning and sharing their
it or not, others who weren’t at the meetings regularly read them feelings, whatever they may be.
and notice whose names appear. Quick handwritten thank-yous
make a huge difference. And I try to thank pretty much everyone I will share one unsolicited note that came to me from a front-line
on shift every time I leave work. staff member, and which captures this idea more effectively than
I ever could. Tim Miller, who works in Mail Order, wrote to say,
• Appreciate the Appreciators for Being Appreciative: In
“Congratulations on the anniversary! Thank you for creating such
order to really seed the success of an appreciative culture I think it’s
a great company to work for—seriously. This continues to be the
important to make sure that those in the company who are already
most interesting and fulfilling job I’ve ever had. I always wanted
the most appreciative be recognized regularly for being that way.
to work at a place where it
The more we acknowledge that their positive
feels like I make a difference in
touch has helped take the organization to higher
people’s lives, and where I feel
levels of appreciation the more likely they are
like I’m listened to, and that’s
to keep doing it! Which is, to state the obvious,
what you’ve done. Keep on
exactly what we want—their appreciative nature
keeping on!”
is, in itself, of great organizational value.
• Service Awards: We have a series of awards Ultimately, I don’t think you can
that we give each month to the special service isolate formal appreciation from
providers in our organization. I don’t think it everything else that’s done in an
makes all that much difference what the rewards organization to demonstrate its
actually are, just that we have them. We also value. To quote Katie again, “All
offer rewards to those who recognize the work of the things listed above have
of others—the individual who nominates the one thing in common—none
winner of our monthly Service Star award gets a are vital or at all necessary
cash bonus (as does the actual winner). to conducting business on a
• Share the Success: This is where we get to daily basis. I can only imagine
pay bonuses, gainsharing, or give out assorted their cost to the company, and
cool things in appreciation for attaining group it’s hard to assign a Return on
achievement. Investment to them. But, these
signs of appreciation pay off in
• Giving to the Community: I think that
lower than average turnover,
helping those in need around us demonstrates
a special culture that makes
an appreciation of how fortunate we are to be
the organization incredibly
able to do what we do. It inspires generosity of
different and desirable as an
spirit and goodwill within the organization, as
employer, and all together a feeling of treating one another with
well as in the community at large.
respect and care. I also love being a part of a company that works
We contribute 10 percent of the
so diligently in caring about its people so much and giving so much
previous year’s profits to causes
back to the community.”
every year, which means a lot to
the staff and to those in need in
Thanks
our area.
In closing I want to say thanks to everyone who’s helped me to
learn what I’ve learned on this subject over the years, and to
Why Bother?
everyone who’s been (and continues to be) willing to work with
Above all else, most everyone
me as I learn how to do this more effectively. Their assistance,
wants to feel valued, to know that
insight, and patient teaching have been a huge help to me and
their efforts make a difference, to
others who work in, around, or near our organization, and to the
be part of something greater than
community—both the business world at large, and the community
themselves. And when they feel
that their work is contributing
here in Ann Arbor, of which we’re fortunate enough to be a part.
positively toward those ends For info about the book, see page 5!
they’re far more likely to reach
way beyond the norm of what
most people would otherwise
do in their work. By maintaining
an appreciative culture, we set
a positive example for everyone
who comes to work with us. I’m
confident that when folks leave
Zingerman’s—either at the end of Join us for one our two-day ZingTrain seminars and
their shift, or to move to a new job elsewhere—they usually take learn about the tools you can use to successfully
at least some of this spirit with them. Which means that the world create a culture of appreciation in your business:
around them is slightly better off. I’ve also realized that there’s
really no in-between when it comes to appreciation. The absence
of it is not neutral—saying nothing leads most people to think that
their work is not valued. And when they feel that way, the negative
LeadING with Zing
Jan 31-Feb 1, 2011 • Ann Arbor Seminar • $975
energy starts to creep into people’s work. The culture starts to go
Guaranteed to get you thinking about running your
downhill. And I can’t believe that anyone wants that.
organization in new ways that can help to increase job
satisfaction, reduce the burden on managers, cut back
Finally, life is short. I’ve learned by screwing up regularly over
bureaucracy and build up better bottom-line results!
the years that no one can read my mind. If I think something
someone’s doing is great but I don’t tell them, they have no way Register online at www.zingtrain.com
to know.
Does It Work?
I think so, but the best testimonials though really would come
from the people who work here, or in any of the many other
organizations that do this as well as (or better than) we do.
Feel free to ask anyone who works at Zingerman’s for his or her
two cents on the subject. I don’t know what they’ll say, but I’ll
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
­3
ISSUE # 223
 When it comes time for me to pick this list every autumn...I struggle. If what we did was about being a one hit wonder, it’d be easy for me to pick a top item or two and be done with it. But the truth is
that there are hundreds, actually thousands of really great foods here and trying to narrow my mind down to twenty-nine is actually impossible. Rather than fixate forever, I’m going to just go with my
gut on what I want to put on here this year. Please know that the fact that something’s not on this list doesn’t mean that it’s not great—don’t let my lack of space or in the moment failure to remember
something truly special stand as a black mark on it your personal food file. There are simply way more wonderful foods to write about here than I have room to write in. C’est la vie. As per Natural Law
#9 (see Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Part 1, page 54) that is most definitely a very good problem to have!
In fact, with that in mind, I want to take just a minute or so and express my enormous appreciation to . . . really, to everyone! I feel so fortunate to be partners with Paul and so many others, to work with
six hundred or so super smart, highly creative, pace-setting people, to buy from hundreds of caring artisan producers, and to sell to many thousands of caring, mindful and quality-oriented customers in
what I think is one of the most unique communities in the country. Not everyone gets the chance to do that every day, and I’m mindful of always remaining appreciative for all that I have, of taking none
of it for granted (ever!), and of regularly reupping my commitment to do a bit better every day that I go to work! Thanks to everyone who’s helped make that a reality! I’m deeply, deeply grateful!
With that little intro out of the way, here are 29 products to put on your holiday lists; one for each year we’ve been open!

Primo Grano Pasta from the Abruzzo

Buying better pasta is one of the easiest ways I know to upgrade the quality of
one’s cooking (unless of course you don’t eat pasta). Seriously, it’s as simple as
that. You just start with better pasta and presto your meal can go from a solid B
to an A+. I’m not overstating this; at least to my taste there’s a sort of majorly big
difference between the pretty good “artisan” brands they sell in most upscale supermarkets
and a handful of really, truly great artisan pastas like this one. It’s the difference between
buying a pretty good farmhouse cheddar and a piece cut from one of the Neal’s Yard Dairy
selected and matured wheels of Jamie Montgomery’s best cheeses. The depth, character,
complexity and everything else just goes up a couple of notches. Are you going to suffer
from eating mass market pasta? Of course not. It’s perfectly fine. But what I’m talking about
here is taking your meal up from “perfectly fine” to “pretty darned fantastic,” at the cost of
a couple of dollars.
The Primo Grano pasta from the family-owned Pastificio Rustichella, in the Abruzzo region
of Italy’s east coast, is one of a handful that can make that happen. It’s made from a special
wheat that Gianluigi Peduzzi has spent around seven years developing in the interest of
replicating the flavor of the grain grown back when his father got the pasta factory going 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 you’re cooking—unsalted pasta is like unsalted potatoes—
something serious gets lost at the expense of a few cents worth of salt.
Right now I think we’ve got the best collection of artisan pastas we’ve ever had. It’s really
kind of an all-star line up, and one that I think is probably not quite understood in its
entirety. It’s all too easy to assume that what’s on the shelves at the Deli is only slightly
better but a lot more expensive than what’s in the “specialty” section of the supermarket
these days. But really, I can’t say enough about how good these are. Martelli and Morelli
from Tuscany, Faella from Gragnano, Rustichella from the Abruzzo and the others, really are
pretty amazing. For anyone who loves pasta, a box of six or eight different kinds would be
a very special gift.
For more on what makes better pasta better see the Pasta chapter in Zingerman’s Guide to
Good Eating.
Above and beyond all that, due to Walter’s generosity and commitment to helping enhance
his grandfather’s early work and loyalty to Ann Arbor, $4 from every bottle of this most
excellent oil will end up in a fund for research at the Cardiovascular Center here at U of
M. Delicious. Delicate. Respectfully big olive flavor that’s slightly spicy, delicately assertive,
is oil is being made by really nice people in the spirit of generosity and giving back to the
world. All of which is probably a good recipe for achieving greatness in pretty much anything
in life.
Naturvie Olive Oil from Spain
Only recently arrived, this oil comes from the western part of Spain (the land
of Iberico ham if you’re into great pork), from a family-owned farm just a bit
south of the beautiful walled town of Merida. The folks at Naturvie actually do
their growing biodynamically, but more about that to come in future essays. The key for the
moment is merely that they’re doing a very nice job of mindful, sustainable farming. As, I
suppose, is fitting, the oil’s following around here is growing organically as well (I’d like to
tell you sales of it go up when the moon is full, but methinks that would be a bit too much
of a poetic fiction).
Naturvie is made from the Cornezuelo varietal, an interesting old school olive that’s unique
to that area. All the olives for this oil are taken from trees planted no later than the year
1800. You read that right. All the trees in use are over two hundred years old. This isn’t just
a nice story—very old trees of this sort have very low yields but produce oils with very
interesting, complex flavors. The olives are handpicked and then delivered to the press
in under three hours. The complexity of the oil’s flavor reflects the age of the trees, the
care taken in handling and the quickness of the press. The flavor of the Naturvie oil is an
interesting blend of sweet and spicy, almond and olive . . . really a very nice oil and one
that’s little known here in the US.
Pasolivo from the California Coast
I’ve had a long and very rewarding relationship with this oil. I’ve loved this
oil since the first day I tasted it, which is probably ten years ago now. At the
time, California oils were just beginning to move towards the top shelf spot
they now have earned. I first tried it at a food show in San Francisco, and we had it here
five or six months later. It’s made in Paso Robles in central California by Joeli Yaguda from
Tuscan varietals, which means a green, peppery, big ol’ olive flavor characteristic of the
Chianti region of north central Italy. All the olives are handpicked and then pressed on the

A Trio of Terrific Olive Oils
Honestly there are so many amazing oils on the our shelves right now that I’m having a
hard time holding back from just making a list of nothing but olive oils. In the interest of
diversity, I’ve pared my momentary preference back down to three for the purposes of
fitting everything onto the six pages I’ve got to work with here. If you’re dying to delve more
deeply into the depths of my olive oil insanity drop me a line at ari@zingermans.com and
I’ll share more.
Owens Creek Olive Oil ­ Buy 2 bottles of Owens
Creek
get 20% off in November
from California at Zingerman's Deli.
If you’re not sure which oil to give as a gift
this season, I’d say start here. It’s from Owens Creek
Ranch, the farm of Walter Hewlett and family, in the central valley of California. Made
from Sicilian varietals, handpicked and pressed within 24 hours, the oil is delicious.
I’ve been using it regularly since we first got it in late last spring. I’ve written at length
to tell Walter’s story: about his grandfather, A. Walter Hewlett who was a pioneering
cardiologist at U of M in the early years of the 20th century; about his father, Bill
Hewlett, who co-founded the world famous Hewlett-Packard electronics company;
and about his skills as a musician, an academic with more advanced degrees than—I
don’t know but he has a lot more of ‘em than I do—and his successes as a runner
of marathons.
farm’s own Pieralisi press within hours of being taken off the tree. Seriously, the oil’s been
exceptional every year that we’ve had it. I eat it regularly now just as I did when we first
started getting it—a sign to me that it’s a product that’s got serious quality issues (in a GOOD
way!).
Over the last two years, Joeli has worked hard to develop a special Pasolivo tin. While pretty
much the entire industry has long since been going out in bottles, Joeli’s become convinced
that the best way to care for the oil is to store it in tin, away from the damage caused by
light. Of course the rest of the industry has stayed away from tin to avoid having to deal
with consumer confusion—tins historically have had a less than high-quality connotation.
Stereotypes here, as in most things, have their holes. While there are certainly low-end, not-
great oils that are sold in tins, the truth is that there are modern-era tins that allow for far
better product storage and care. And so rather than go with the flow, Joeli went ahead and
did what she felt was the right thing for the oil.
Over the years, I’ve gotten to know Joeli—in fact, we’ve become good friends, appreciating
the better parts of the food world, laughing together through adversity when it’s arrived.
Recently, it seems she’s had more than what I’d say is her fair share of the latter. Sometimes
not so great stuff happens to really great people. So . . . really out of the fact that a) I’ve long
loved the oil, b) I really like Joeli and c) I’d like to support both her and their product in a
time of need, I’m putting the word out to everyone I know to buy and support Pasolivo. I am.
It’s on my counter for high frequency personal consumption. And it’s on my gift list—along
with the Naturvie and Owens Creek oils—to send to friends around the country this fall.

continued on p. 6

­4
ISSUE # 223 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
 A few random and not-so-random questions (and answers!) about
A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to
$29.
99 BUILDING A BETTER BUSINESS
What’s it it?
Well, it’s the first part of
a series. The series title
is Zingeman’s Guide to
Good Leading. This is
Part 1: A Lapsed Anarchist’s
Approach to Building a Great Business. Part 2 is in the early
stages of getting done. It’ll be A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach
to Being a Better Leader.
Who’s selling it?
The Zingerman’s businesses all have it on hand. The
Delicatessen, Bakehouse, Creamery and Coffee Co. sell it
on site. Mail Order (zingermans.com) has it on the website.
ZingTrain does as well at www.zingtrain.com.
Who else is going to sell it?
Well, any other business that wants to. We’ve got wholesale
pricing ready to roll. If you know a shop that wants to sell it,
send ‘em our way! Email zingpress@zingermans.com
So, what’s in the book?
Part 1 is about about building a business so it includes essays
on our 12 Natural Laws of Business, writing mission statements,
visioning, guiding principles, building a sustainable business,
and other stuff like that. The essays are framed as “Secrets”
in honor of all the people who want to know the “secret” of
our success. It’s certainly not everything! “Secrets” #1-#18 are
in this book.
If this is Part 1, what comes next?
Part 2 will pick up with Secrets #19 through . . . however
many end up in there. It’ll be essays on servant leadership,
stewardship, energy, belief, hope, managing yourself and
more stuff like that.
What’s an anarchist, anyways?
The anarchists were a significant group of thinkers whose
historical peak was probably from the middle of the 19th
century through up until maybe WWII. They came from all
countries and all classes. The most overt premise of anarchist
thought was that we needed to get rid of government in
order create a truly free society. The underlying approach
though was all about freedom and respect for the individual—
guide to good leading, part 1
freedom from restrictions that were imposed by the state, or
any other group.
They’re not exactly mainstream history
material. How did you get into studying them?
When I was getting my history degree at U of M, the anarchists
were one of the main groups of thinkers that I studied. I
was very drawn to their passion for free thinking and free
choice, for respecting individuals, for encouraging people
to be themselves and not be limited by long standing social
norms or by bureaucratic rules they hadn’t participated in
making. Anarchists believed that people could actually work
together to make things better rather than beating up on
each other, and the anarchists worked to encourage win-win
collaboration instead of the usual win-lose conflict.
Although hardly anyone knows it, the country’s leading
collection of written anarchist material is here in Ann Arbor,
on the 7th floor of the U of M Grad Library. It’s called the
Labadie Collection.
Why “Lapsed Anarchist”?
Long ago I gave up on the idea of getting rid of government.
I still believe in anarchism conceptually…but this is pretty
much where the “lapsed” thing comes from.
Then, I’d agreed to speak at the Jewish Studies department
at U of M last fall. Deborah Dash Moore, who heads up the
department, had called the talk “Anarchism and Rye Bread.”
As the date for the talk got closer, I realized that I’d better do
a bit of homework to refresh my memory and get my anarchist
history straight.
I started rereading all sorts of hundred-year-old materials I’d
studied while I was in school, stuff written by people hardly
anyone has ever heard of any more—Emma Goldman, Rudolf
Rocker, Voltairine de Cleyre, Jo Labadie and really great oral
histories of anarchism done by Paul Avrich.
What really caught me off guard is how much of what they
were writing was:
a) parallel to what we do here in the ZCoB, and
b) amazingly similar to modern day, cutting edge, progressive
business writing.
They talked a lot about building positive workplaces, respect
for individuals, how organizations have to be made up of great
free thinking individuals in order to be great themselves,
how people in the world (and the workplace) needed to be
respected and encouraged to be themselves in order to live
full lives and contribute fully to the world around them.
This made me think that what we do here in the ZCoB could
kind of accurately be called “Anarcho-Capitalism,” with our
emphasis on treating everyone as an equal, on freely chosen
collaboration, independent decision making, effective self-
organizing, sharing information openly, diversity in every
aspect, contributing positively to everyone and everything
around us. It’s about using the free market in positive ways,
to benefit everyone involved, not to just maximize profits for
shareholders. These are among the “secrets” you learn about
in the book!
nice words that some some realLy
great people are say ing about
Zingerman’s and the bOok. . .
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America in which the company leaves added value
everywhere it does business. Every one of its
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others. The design is a beautiful virtuous cycle in which
each of Zingerman’s stakeholders wins: employees
grow; customers are delighted; communities flourish;
suppliers thrive and profit.”
—Danny Meyer, CEO, Union Square Hospitality
Group and author of Setting the Table
“Zingerman’s is one of my favorite success stories
because it proves that doing the right thing—for your
employees, your customers, your vendors, and your
community—comes back to you over and over. This
book is the bible of karmic capitalism.”
—Chip Conley, Founder, Joie de Vivre Hospitality
and author of Peak

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NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
­5
ISSUE # 223
 continued from p. 4
Two Vinegars
It’s hard to go on about great oil without getting into vinegars to pair with ‘em. Again,
my list of favorites is far too long to even come close to getting them all on here—but
here are a couple on my mind for the moment.
Txakoli Vinegar
Rarely seen but really, really good vinegar from the Basque Country in
northern Spain. We spent, literally, nearly three years working to get this
special, small-production vinegar over here; I’m glad we did because I’ve
been partaking in it regularly since it arrived. Made mostly from the indigenous
Basque grape variety Hondarribi Zuri, Txakoli (pronounced CHA-koh-lee) is the everyday
wine of the region. The wine itself is fresh, light, a bit honeylike, but without being at all
too sweet. It’s the work of a winemaker by the name of Emilio Luengas, who set to work on
it nearly ten years ago. Sr. Luengas and his colleagues make only about 1200 liters of the
vinegar a year—it’s a story you’ve heard around here so many hundreds of times over the
years that it should probably make it into some sort of Zingerman’s mantra: supply is small,
flavor is really big, I love it and I hope you will too. It’s not like anyone NEEDS this vinegar to
live, but it sure is delicious, and a great gift for anyone you know who likes special stuff.
Joseph Vinegar
It’s like five years now since I first accidentally stumbled on this amazing
Australian vinegar in a small shop in Melbourne. Seriously, it’s amazing stuff.
Sweet, rich, complex, delicious, mouth-watering, marvelous. For everyone
who loves balsamic vinegar, I wish only that you’d take a small taste of the
Grilli family’s little known jewel. It’s not balsamic and it’s not meant to be but some of that
same soft, sensual, hard-to-steer-clear-of-once-you’ve-had-it sweetness is there. To make
the vinegar the Grillis, take the fresh grape must from just-harvested Colombard grapes and
then cook it down over open wood fires to half its original volume. I actually got to watch
the process in person when I was there. The fire and the cooking were set up on the edge
of the vineyards; within about an hour of our arrival it had cooked down about 20 percent.
They then add more grape must (juice) to top things off and cook it all down again. The next
day they set the reduced must into previously-used-for-wine, oak barrels where it then
stays for a period of years. In the barrels it starts to turn into the rustic sort of sherry-like
wine that Italians call “vino cotto,” or “cooked wine.”
The Grillis then blend this vino cotto with old vinegar along with corks that have been
sitting in the old vinegar that’s already aged up in other barrels. The corks basically act like
a starter would in bread or cheese; they bring the old cultures into play and help begin the
conversion and flavor development. It takes about twelve months for the conversion to
take place using this traditional process. In total, the vinegar is aged in the barrels for at
least five years. While we were watching the fresh grape must cook, Joe made us bruschetta
the way his grandparents did it for him when he was growing up. Bread toasted over the
wood fire of the grill, dressed with a bit of olive oil, sea salt and lots of the vinegar. It’s
really great. Excellent with some anchovies on top as well. While I’m sure the majority of
Americans will live their lives just fine without ever tasting it, the truth is that if you like fine
food I really believe this is a DON’T MISS product.
Butternut Squash Seed Oil from ­
Stony Brook Farms
One of the best new foods I’ve tasted this year. Made in upstate New York
by Greg Woodworth and Kelly Coughlin, by pressing the seeds of locally grown
butternut squash. This is one of those easy to use, truly delicious foods that no one you
know is likely to be able to identify but is almost as likely to fall in love with. I did. It’s very
rich and a little goes a long ways. I was writing about it last summer when I started to think
of it as the “foie gras of finishing oils.”
If you try the oil, start with the visuals. Pour a little on a white plate or into a glass bowl
where you can see it’s full spectrum. It’s kind of deepish gold in color with a hint of green
shimmering just under the surface. If olive oil is on the green end of that oft-used “green-
gold” color descriptor, the squash oil is on the other end. It’s only a teeny bit green, mostly
gold and deep, dark, a touch mysterious maybe but actually almost luminescent if you let it
sit in the sunlight. Texturally, it’s really thick—a lot more so I think than olive oil. If you put
your nose near it, it has a great aroma, something akin to the smell of caramelized squash
when you take it out of the sauté pan.
The oil is really rich, buttery, nutty, nice nose, a touch toasty. It’s almost pine nutty, if
that’s actually an adjective, with a very clean finish. Salad is an obvious option, but it’s
great drizzled onto fish, sautéed, roasted or steamed vegetables, and quite excellent on
mozzarella with roasted peppers. Outstanding, actually, on avocados with some blue cheese
and toasted walnuts.
Marieke’s Gouda from Wisconsin
I think when I first met Marieke Penterman it was at a little cheese gathering
outside of Madison. She and her husband, Rolf, were only just getting going
in their new business. They’d arrived a few years earlier from the Netherlands,
coming over in the hope that they’d have an easier time finding land on which they could
farm, and then, eventually make cheese with the milk. When I first tried it, the cheese was
already good. Happily though, that was just at the beginning. When I tasted her cheese
again a year or so later it blew me away. Her year-old raw milk Wisconsin gouda was really
something special. The couple, their five young kids and their herd of cows all come together
to make what I feel like now is one of the country’s most tip top tastiest hard cheeses I’ve
tasted in a long time. Buttery, caramelly, complex—an amazing after dinner treat for
cheese lovers or a great way to warm up for pretty much any meal! Makes a great gift
for almost anyone who loves good cheese!
­6
ISSUE # 223 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
Two Breads I’m Really High On
Roadhouse Bread
Although literally almost every
day I come across some customer
who’s just “discovered it,” the
Roadhouse bread has been my solid
Bakehouse favorite now for the last two
or three years. It was actually a favorite of 18th
and 19th century New Englanders, but for whatever odd reasons of historical trends, has
completely fallen out of fashion. Back then it was known as “Rye ‘n’ Indian” or also “Thirded
Bread.” Here we just call it Roadhouse bread since that’s where we serve so much of it. A
mix of wheat, rye and corn, subtly sweetened up with a bit of molasses, it’s really quite
excellent. I, as you might already know, like it in the very large 2 kilo loaf. Even though I
live alone that’s how I buy it; the loaves last up to about two weeks sitting in a paper bag
on the counter so don’t be too worried about shelf life if you like bread. The bigger loaves
just taste way better. They’re particularly well suited to shipping! I’m also a big fan of very
dark crusts—the darker the crust, the more the natural sugars in the grain caramelize and
the better the bread tastes! If you haven’t had this great bread yet, ask for a taste next time
you’re in the Bakeshop or Deli. If you go the Roadhouse, you’ll probably get it in the bread
basket that comes to the table. One way or another, check it out! It’s a great old American
bread that’s ready to grace your table this holiday.
Hand-Rolled Farm Bread
We’ve been baking this bread for over 18 years now and it’s long been one of
my favorites. But thanks to leadership of Zingerman’s Bakehouse co-managing
partner, Frank Carollo, and the hard work of the bread bakers, we’ve taken
it up a notch in the last six months by going back to the oldstyle
hand-rolling. It’s the same move we made—with equally
marvelous results—last year with our French baguettes.
What’s always been very good, gets notably better
almost overnight. You really can tell the difference.
The farm is just a touch nicer in texture, a bit more
alive in the flavor. As with the Roadhouse bread, I
like it in the bigger 3-pound loaves with very dark
crust. Order one up and enjoy!
Nick Spencer’s Old Style ­
British Bacon
I don’t have room here to give you the full story, but for the moment let me
give you the highlights. British marketing man Nick Spencer marries a nice American woman
and moves to the U.S. Missing his morning “rashers,” he eventually decides he’s going to try
making his own. Using old style, dry-curing techniques and pork from sustainably raised
heirloom hogs, he begins making traditional British bacon. Six months later, Nick’s driven
up from Chicago to speak and share his story here at Camp Bacon and the Deli starts selling
his sliced bacon by the pound. British expats everywhere (including Jamie Cameron who
works behind the cheese counter, which I’m starting to think we should rename “the bacon
counter”) love it and tell me regularly how much it reminds them of home. If you’ve been
to Britain and had a traditional breakfast, you’ve had some version of this old-style back
bacon. More likely than not though, you’ve not had one made from this quality of pork and
using the traditional dry cure. It’s very different from American belly bacon—the British
style is leaner and not smoked—but for those who are wired that way (like Nick and pretty
much every other English man and woman I’ve ever met) . . . Nick Spencer’s bacon is sort of
like coming home.
For more on British bacon see chapter 3 in Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon.
Butterscotch
Pudding at ­
the Roadhouse
Honestly I’m not 100 percent sure what it is that makes this pudding so darned good. I
don’t really eat much in the way of sweets, but I surely do love this. And so do loads of
other regular customers. When it’s not on the dessert list it evokes loads of requests; it’s
definitely one of the most oft requested items we make (understanding of course that
the frequency of request is tied directly to the frequency at which we’ve run out). But
regardless of how regularly it’s been on the menu of late, it is really great. Made with
butter, cream and a lot of naturally-made, dark Muscovado sugar (the same stuff that goes
into our pecan pie and Roadhouse donuts). Served sprinkled with a pinch of what the
French call fleur de sel, it’s really something special!
Cristal Peppers from the ­
Basque Country
The little known cousin of the much loved (by me at least) Piquillo peppers
from the Basque Country. If you like roasted red peppers a lot DO NOT MISS
these. I’m serious—they are that good. I could eat a whole jar with little more than a sprinkle
of sea salt, a splash of good olive oil and a loaf of bread from the Bakehouse. If you’re having
company, you will most definitely get the attention of anyone who loves great food simply
by buying a jar and putting these beautiful deep red peppers out on a small plate with the
above-mentioned sea salt and olive oil.
 Farmhouse Parmigiano-Reggiano
While there are hundreds of dairies in the Parma region making solidly good
and officially certified Parmigiano-Reggiano, not all those cheeses are of equal
quality. A small minority of the many producers do all the little things that take a
cheese up to the top. We’ve been buying ours from this same special dairy for probably fifteen
years now, and it remains really, really good. I have a piece on my counter at home that caught
my attention; not easy to do for someone who’s been eating Parmigiano-Reggiano regularly for
twenty years. You REALLY can taste the difference!!
Almond Pound Cake ­
from the Bakehouse
This is one that I wouldn’t have expected to fall
in love with. Not that I thought it would be bad. It’s just that
almond-type desserts aren’t typically my thing. But you know what, it’s really exceptionally
good. Rich, moist and packed with pure almond paste. Apparently, we’ve been making it for
years for the wedding cakes. “We all loved eating the trimmings,” Amy Emberling, co-managing
partner at the Bakehouse, said. “And then,” she added, “we started wondering if we shouldn’t
just make it to eat on its own.“
I’m glad the Bakehouse crew decided to go with it. It really is great. The texture is terrific. It’s
like a cake with no “low notes.” All the action is from the tongue on up and lilting into the
nose—it’s got great aromatics and a light delicate clean finish. It’s so flavorful it’s a real treat all
by itself. Or, try it with a little raspberry sauce, a dusting of powdered sugar or a scoop of coffee
gelato. It’s akin to an angelfood cake, but a bit more down to earth. Maybe it’s what the angels
eat when they’re kicking back over coffee on their day off?
I guess I’ve taken this cake on too because I kind of like upstarts. And, seriously, this stuff could
give our other coffeecakes—the original (super best-selling) sourcream, lemon poppyseed, hot
cocoa cake and (my other current favorite) the gingerbread—a very good run for their money.
Of course, working with an abundance mentality, as I always try to do, that’s not a bad thing—
there’s more than enough coffeecake love (and quality-oriented customers) to go around.
Adding one more great coffeecake to the Bakehouse mix can only strengthen our mix (get it?)
for all involved. From the local economy to the spirit of those who snack on it to those who are
adamant in their passion for all things almond, this stuff is pretty easy to pick as a winner!
Ethiopian Sidamo Natural ­
Process Guji Coffee
Speaking of coffee . . . Allen Leibowitz, co-
managing partner at the Coffee Company has
been very high on the recently arrived Ethiopian and I’m
inclined to agree. One thing I’ve learned with coffees is
that every brewing method makes for a different tasting
cup. While brewing won’t make a bad coffee good, it can
make a good coffee bad. And while a great coffee is probably delicious however you brew
it, certain styles of brewing seem to lend themselves to certain coffees. In this case, it’s the
Chemex method—it makes for a really clean, softly nutty, delicious cup of coffee with a nice
touch of subtle flavor of berries (I’d have to say blue or blackberries if you want to know; that
said, I’m talking subtle here—it’s definitely not anything remotely like a berry smoothie). Really
quite tasty.
“I’ve always loved Ethiopian coffees,” Allen shared. “We cupped dozens of them this summer,
and this was the one we picked. Honestly, we tried some that cost three times what this one did,
but this is the one we liked. It’s a natural process coffee. It’s from Guji, which is an area inside
the region of Sidamo. We roast it very light; a bit darker and you lose all of that berry flavor.
We actually discovered that by unfortunately overroasting a batch just a bit and it lost all that
berry flavor. But I really don’t think that we’ve ever had a better Ethiopian at any price.”
Christmas Cookie Club—­
an Ann Pearlman/Zingerman’s
Production
This is our second year of offering this special gift package based on local author Ann Perlman’s
best selling novel, The Christmas Cookie Club. I like pretty much the whole
package. I like Ann, I like that her two daughters used to
work at the Roadhouse. I like that a local author who has lit
up national headlines nevertheless chose to let us do the
cookies (even though I’m sure she could have quickly
found fifty lower-end, far bigger bakeries to do it with).
I like that the story is about getting support—it’s about
a group of women who get together regularly to share
cookies and support. The cookies they make mostly
get donated to folks in need in the community. The
book came out last year and is now available in
paperback, along with a follow-up, The Christmas
Cookie Cookbook: All the Rules and Delicious
Recipes to Start Your Own Holiday Cookie Club,
and the movie is in the works.
On top of all that, each package is filled with a
great set of cookies, all sealed up in a beautiful box to boot. In
addition to thin little ginger crisps and pecan butterballs which are out of Ann’s book, there
are also some of my long time favorites—the mint chocolate shortbread from the Bakehouse.
This trio of tasty treats is packed into a book-like box designed by our graphics crew. The whole
thing—especially if you pair it up with a copy of Ann’s book—would clearly make a great gift
for anyone who likes to read and eat cookies, which is probably a pretty high
percentage of people out in the Zingerman’s universe. Stay tuned for the Wendy
Finerman-produced (Forrest Gump and The Devil Wears Prada among other
famous films) movie, which is likely to start filming next fall! Ann’s been pushing
hard to have the filming done here in Ann Arbor so hopefully that will work out. In
the meantime, come on by and taste a cookie and celebrate some nice local success and
the start of a sweet holiday season!
Going Rogue—Bean to Bar Chocolates
from Minnesota
A great set of chocolate bars from Colin Gasko up in Minneapolis. Working from
beans all the way through to bars, he’s doing a fantastic job of getting full flavor into his
chocolates. Colin’s crafting several different bars, but I’m particularly partial right now to his
Hispaniola. Few folks know the name but it’s actually the Caribbean island on which two modern
day nation states—Haiti to the west, and the Dominican Republic to the east—currently coexist.
The cacao for this bar comes from the latter, from a small, quality-focused co-op. The native
peoples on the island were Tainos. Columbus and crew appeared in 1492 and started the process
of pushing them out and bringing European influence to bear. The people became independent
(again) in 1821, were quickly conquered by Haiti, and then fought a war of independence against
the Haitians in 1844. The island is actually best known here at Zingerman’s because of Carlos
Souffront, Deli cheese master extraordinaire, who was born there.
The key of course (I don’t really know why I bother saying it any more) is how it tastes, which
I think is terrific. Everyone’s taste is, of course, their own but I’m liking this one a lot. Very
nice texture—a touch on the less creamy side of things. In a good way. It’s sort of a sturdier
chocolate I think than many—kind of sleek, modern Scandinavian. Not soft and overtly sensual
in tropical sort of way, but more like the lines of Danish modern design.
El Rustico Chocolate Bars from ­
Shawn Askinosie
It’s been I think three years since Shawn Askinosie started making this special bar.
I loved it then and the truth is that I love it still, three years further down the road. I bought a
bar the morning that I sat down to start writing this piece, and I looked forward to it all day.
Dark chocolate that starts with the cacao that Shawn has personally gone down and sourced
from the Soconusco region of Mexico (known since the Aztec era for the quality of its cacao)
with hand-chopped bits of organic vanilla bean laced into it. Where most bars that use vanilla
have it in there like background vocals, when the El Rustico goes on stage the chocolate and
vanilla are singing a strong, well-balanced duet. Tangling lovingly. Delicious. My usual—full
flavor, good balance, long finish. Sounds like a good recipe for living life now that I think about
it. Buy a bar. Eat a square. Appreciate the work that the growers in Mexico and Shawn and his
staff in Missouri have made happen. The only work we have to do with it here is to focus fully
on enjoying when we nibble on it. No? Get going. Eat.
Zingerman’s Creamery ­
Cream Cheese
A classic here too, the Creamery cream cheese is
ten years in the making and I love this more than ever. There’s
no way around it. I feel fortunate to have it. 99.999999 percent
of the American population is living in what, in essence you might
say, is some sort of original cream cheese sin; Most people have no idea that
they’ve never had a chance to eat the real thing, the way it was made before all the
stabilizers and stuff were added. They don’t realize it but they’ve never tasted cream cheese
the way it was once made. The scene is actually so dismal that . . . it’s, I guess, akin to the way it
is with wild rice—but probably worse. Hardly anyone knows that real cream cheese (as it was
made over a century ago) even exists in 2010, let alone has the chance to eat it. Anyways, it’s
been ages since I’ve written about this stuff so I decided it was time to get it out there again.
Woe to the artisan producer who fails to tell his or her story regularly.
Will everyone love it as much I do? Probably not but . . . that’s their prerogative. Not everyone
loves farmhouse cheddar or real rye bread or dark chocolate either and that doesn’t make
them bad people. Just means they probably eat a lot differently than I do. And no one who grew
up just fine on Philadelphia Cream Cheese is walking around worrying because they can’t find
some handmade alternative that costs like six times as much. But for those of us who’ve had it,
who eat in the know, the factory made cheese is to the artisan version from the Creamery (or if
you have someone else near you that makes it) what Jim Northrup’s driveway rice (see page 10)
would be to the really wild wild stuff he sent us from Perch Lake.
Details? The Creamery crew makes it all by hand using milk and cream from the Calder family’s
farm, about 45 minutes southeast of us. Fresh milk is set with vegetarian rennet, ladled into
linen bags, allowed to drain naturally, lightly salted and lastly enriched with fresh cream. The
flavor is very, very good. If you’re like me and you taste it regularly you know what I’m talking
about. No offense to the really amazing gelato that Josh and the creamery crew make, but I’m
a savory eater not a sweet eater and I’d honestly rather eat a nice cream cheese “cone” more
than I would a similarly sized one of gelato. That may sound crazy but it’s true. A scoop of cream
cheese on a cone would be a good way to start the day. Of course you don’t have to have it on the
cone—just put it on a Bakehouse bagel or a slice of the Caraway Rye (I go for one cut from the 2
kilo loaf which comes at the end of each week—it’s not formally on the iPhone calendar or in the
Old Testament, but Friday, as a few of you I’m sure have already found out, is Ryeday!)
Of course the other great thing about this cream cheese is that it’s an extremely excellent base
for a dip or spread. If you’re thinking holiday entertaining or just making a sandwich for
lunch, it’s hard to do better. A bit Tunisian harissa sauce from the Mahjoub family; a
spoonful of Italian olive paste. A bit of jam or jelly of your choice... or order a cone
of it at the Creamery!
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
­7
ISSUE # 223
 Great Food From Zingerman's Ma
The Weekender 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.
The Weekender, in our cartooned gift box (illustrated) has a loaf of Zingerman’s Artisan Bread,
a couple Brownies (Walnut-studded Magic Brownie and a Caramel Dulce de Leche Buenos Aires
Brownie), a French-Style Salami, a jar of Dijon Mustard, a small jar each of Italian Honey and
Preserves, a half pound of 1 Year Aged Zingerman’s Vermont Cheddar and a nosher-sized version of
our extremely popular, extremely good Sourcream Coffeecake.

The Ultimate Basket

This is the gift basket built to impress. Unequaled food glory. While the recipients
might be briefly stunned by this overflowing, gigantic mountain of food (over a
foot tall, a foot deep and almost 2 feet long!), it won’t be long before they dive in.
Includes an assortment of four different Zingerman’s Brownies and our Ginger Jump-
Up Molasses and Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, San Giuliano Sicilian Biscuits, Dijon Mustard,
John Macy’s Cheesesticks, 1 Year Aged Zingerman’s Vermont Cheddar, Smooch Lion
Gummis from Germany, Ginger Chimes Candies, French-Style Salami, Zingerman’s freshly
roasted Coffee, Garden of Eatin’ Tortilla Chips, Salsa, Jules Destrooper Belgian Cookies,
Peeled Snacks Naturally Dried Fruit, Olives, Fralinger’s Bathing Beauty Saltwater Taffy, a
Zzang!® Handmade Candy Bar and Spiced Almonds.

Oil & Vinegar Odyssey

Two of my house standards, laid side by side in our cartooned box. And for the cook who’s
ready to branch out beyond bottled salad dressing, my classic, fool-proof vinaigrette recipe.
Includes Zingerman’s Peranzana extra virgin olive oil from Marina Colonna, rustic and fruity,
with an apple-y aroma and a finish that has a whisper of almond. Also Rioja red wine vinegar
from Spain that's naturally converted, barrel aged for four years and has mellow, deep flavors
of raspberries and red grapes. Independent of each other, this oil and vinegar have a hundred
uses in the kitchen. Bound in a vinaigrette they will have you throwing out your store-bought
vinaigrette after the first use.

Cinnful Cinnamon Roll Gift Box

Almost anyone can make a cinnamon roll smell good while it’s baking, even among the cell
phone kiosks at the mall. Unfortunately, most have little more than aroma to offer. You won’t
taste much beyond sugar and cinnamon. The real challenge is to fashion a cinnamon roll that
tastes as good as it smells. These fit the bill. Warm them up, break one open and put your
nose up close. You’ll smell sweet butter, Indonesian cinnamon, real vanilla. But the real treat
is next. Take one bite. That’s all you’ll need to forget the litany of cinnamon roll disappoint-
ments life has dealt you. Our handsome round wooden gift box includes ten cinnamon rolls
baked in a reusable metal tin with serving instructions.
ail Order Makes a Great Gift!
Zingerman’s Holiday Stollen
Our delicious German style holiday cake is a long-standing Zingerman’s holiday tradition for folks
looking for unique dessert ideas, great gifts and fine food for weekend brunch. If you haven’t had stol-
len before and wonder what all the fuss is about, just take a look at the ingredient list: real butter,
Bacardi® white rum, glacéed lemons, oranges, cherries, fresh lemon and orange zest, fresh lemon
juice, 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, it’s delicious and is per-
haps 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.

Cranberry Pecan Bread

Holiday only! Loaded with dried cranberries and toasted pecans, this loaf is the kiss-
ing cousin to our extremely popular Pecan Raisin Bread. Dense, chewy and crunchy,
cranberry pecan has a tart tang that’s very enjoyable. It’s delicious served with fresh
cheeses like a young goat cheese or cream cheese. And–stay with me here–it’s an
excellent shell for an adventurous chicken salad sandwich.

Sourcream Coffeecake: The Original

A legend. This is a Zingerman’s classic and perennially one of our
most popular gifts. Rich, moist Sourcream Coffeecake, loaded with
Indonesian cinnamon and toasted walnuts, baked in a traditional
bundt pan. Like all our coffeecakes it’s sent in our handsome, reusable
wooden ZingCrate. All in all, it’s very impressive, extremely delicious.
And it lasts. A week or two after delivery, wrapped, it’ll still be soft and
scrumptious, melting in the mouths of a family or hungry office staff
member. In theory at least. Personally, I’ve never seen one last more
than an hour or two.

Triple Coffeecake Temptation

Take our three most popular coffeecakes (Sourcream, Hot Cocoa and
Gingerbread), gift box them, and you’ve got a gift that—if my math is
right—is about three times as good as one cake alone. Makes a great
professional present. Three nosher sized cakes, housed in a our big,
beautiful, round wooden crate. Serves 15-21.

American Bacon Club

Five to date. That’s how many vegetarians I know who’ve fallen off the bandwagon
thanks to these bacons. I’m not using those examples as a proposal for torturing
anyone; I’m just saying any food that’s so good it can break a strong will has to be
worth trying. We’ll ship to the lucky recipient from October to April, just in time
for weekend frying. Each package is about a pound.

Three Months Six Months Get the Book

Bacon Bar plus Previous Bacons plus Add Zingerman's Guide BONUS!
Applewood Smoked Virginia Dry Cured to Better Bacon to Free awesome
Kentucky Dry Cured Tennessee Dry Cured complete the porcine Pig Magnet ­
Long Pepper Arkansas Peppered experience. with 1st shipment

Items on this spread ship from Zingerman’s Mail Order

CalL 888.636.8162
 Zingerman’s Bakehouse Bagels
Speaking of which, I am ever more appreciative of the bagels from the
Bakehouse. Frank and the bread bakers have continually worked to improve
on an already very good product. And of late, there are those who find the
traditional techniques to make a bagel yeild a product that’s a bit too chewy for their taste and
. . . that’s their call. But having tasted bagels all over the place, there are few of the old style
ones left standing. I’ll say, from the heart, that these are some of the
best bagels.
A few weeks ago a woman stopped me to say that our bagels
were the closest thing she can get to the much-loved Montreal
bagels she grew up on and that they were the only ones here
she would eat. Given that few Americans know that Montreal
is the alternative capital of the bagel world, I’ll just say that
that’s quite a compliment. Montrealers take their bagels every
bit as seriously as New Yorkers (they just don’t make remotely as
much noise about it). Anyways, very few folks in America get the
chance to eat hand-shaped, truly boiled, baked on boards and then
stone hearth bagels. I feel fortunate to be one of them. Toast one
up today.
Christmas Berry Honey from Hawaii
Having just spent six days in Maui earlier this fall (doing ZingTrain work with the
Old Lahaina Luau group—they’re great, in case you’re going), I’ve got a much-
heightened sense of Hawaii. We were fortunate to be working with folks who
have a strong love and dedication to Hawaiian history, language, tradition, and food,
all of which radically enhanced the richness of our experience. I’m working on getting a few
Maui products into our businesses, but in the moment this is one of my favorites from the
islands. It’s too good and too timely (Christmas berry?) to pass up. Great butterscotchy flavor,
it’s a late season honey which means that the yields are very low.
The plant came to the islands originally from Brazil. It’s in the evergreen family, grows to
about six feet with lavender to white flowers and bright red, Christmas-colored berries. Birds
apparently are big on eating the berries. The bees like to land on the blossoms. I like to eat
the honey they end up with! Very good by the spoonful, in tea or with cheese—try it with that
Comte or a bit of Marieke Penterman’s Wisconsin raw milk gouda.
Aji Amarillo: Amazing Yellow Chile ­
from Peru
Some people get excited about big TV appearances and book releases. I get going
when we’re able to get really amazing but almost unknown (in Ann Arbor) traditional
foods from other parts of the world. So with that in mind I’m super psyched that this amazing
chile has arrived in Ann Arbor from Peru. Aji Amarillo means “yellow chile,” but don’t let the
rather mundane literal translation lead you to underestimate its importance in the homeland
of the Incas. To quote Betsy Power, our importer who’s grown ever more passionate about
Peruvian foods in the last few years, “It’s the soul of Peruvian cooking.”
While I haven’t yet been in person (I’ll get there soon, don’t worry), I’m getting the sense that
Aji Amarillo is to Peru what green chile is to New Mexico. While the latter likely means little to
those who don’t haven’t spent time in the Land of Enchantment (see the essay I wrote on it ages
ago on the Roadhouse website), I’ll just say that visiting New Mexico during chile season it is a
big deal. It’s in everyone’s home. It’s on every menu and at every market; New Mexicans long
for it when they’re away from home for more than a few days. I’m getting the sense that much
the same is true for Aji Amarillo. Rick Bayless taught me ages ago that chiles are actually the
key to the flavors of the food in many Central and South American dishes. Although up here we
tend to think of the chiles as accent, in their respective homelands, chiles are actually the key
flavors on the plate, not the pork, poultry, beef, or fish that might get more attention up here.
Basically chiles are the chimes that ring the bell of Latin American cooking.
This particular source, through the work of the above-mentioned Betsy Power, comes from
one of the first organic farms in Peru. They’re near Chincha, grown at the edge of the Peruvian
desert. It sounds like they’ve done some very nice work to train local growers in organic
techniques, provide health care and infrastructure. The flavor of the Aji Amarillo is hot for
sure, though not enough to smoke you out. Well, that’s a personal judgment—everyone’s heat
preference is their own. For me at least . . . Aji Amarillo is notably hot without searing my
senses. It’s got a light, slightly citrusy flavor to go with the heat.
Peru is probably the homeland of the original chiles. They use any number of chiles but as
Betsy Power put it so nicely, the Aji Amarillo is the star of their chile show. Use it in ceviche
for sure. I’ve been doing a simple chile sauce (a bit of olive oil, warmed, with a touch of flour
stirred in and then ground yellow chile added. Stir in a bit of warm water. Simmer softly for
a few minutes. Add a bit of sea salt to taste). I like it with . . . pretty much everything! Fish,
scallops, vegetables, meat of most every sort. Comes in a paste too so you can spread it on
sandwiches. If you like pepper jelly, you could up the Aji ante a bit and spread it on some slices
of rustic Italian bread with your favorite jam. Chile and jelly sandwiches.
­10
ISSUE # 223 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
Really Wild Wild Rice
It’s probably been ten years now since I wrote the chapter on really wild wild
rice in Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating. But this all-American food has been
on my mind and my table a lot again of late, inspired in part by dialoguing with
Meg Noori, who teaches Ojibwe at U-M and is doing amazing work to get language
down in writing and up in regular use. (Email me and I’ll fill you in on my covert campaign to
make Michigan the “Aanii State.”) But in the moment I’ll share a couple or six key points about
what makes this totally traditional aquatic grass (yes, wild rice is not a rice; you can chalk the
name up to more confusion from the early European settlers here—they thought it looked like
rice so that’s the name it got.) so good.
Confusion remains the norm even now, hundreds of years later. The problem today is that
hardly any of what’s sold as “wild rice” in this country is actually wild any more. Sad but
true, something like 90 percent of the product sold from supermarket shelves and cooked in
restaurant kitchens is actually an odd cultivated (that’s right, not wild) cousin. While the latter
probably isn’t genetically modified, it easily could be. The total truth is that the real thing—
really wild wild rice—and what amounts to a commercial counterfeit—have almost nothing
in common other than a modestly shared appearance and half a name. It’s some sort of agro-
culinary silliness without the soul. The commercial bastardization of the authentic article is
basically baseless. I’m sure at some out of touch (and out of tune) level, the people who did the
work to make it happen were nice enough. But those who grow it, have, I think ended up in a
situation that is akin to marketing goldfish (crackers) as wild salmon. The shape and color are
kind of the similar and the word “fish” is on the label of each, but beyond that . . . you tell me?
Just to get the point across again before I move on to the more positive part of this—telling
you about how great the real stuff really is—Jim Northrup, author of Rez Road has sworn off
even using the name wild rice. He says it’s been so degraded as to be basically banned from his
conversation and his regular newspaper column. Instead he’ll only use the Ojibwe word for it,
Manoonmin. He also told me that on the reservation in Minnesota, the cultivated paddy grown
stuff from California is known as “driveway rice”—you can use it, he says, like rock salt on the
road when it gets slippery.
By contrast is honestly probably one of the world’s most spiritually-sound, culinarily-
compelling, historically-interesting foods. There are, of course, many others and I’m not trying
to rank them. I just merely want to continue to convey how special really wild wild rice is. As I
said above, really wild wild rice is not actually rice—it’s an aquatic grass that’s native to much
of the northern part of North America. Having had its habitat encroached upon by the sprawl
of modern cities and pollution problems, it’s now mostly found in Minnesota (some still here
in Michigan, the Aanii State) and then a good bit up in Canada. It grows (this is the real stuff,
not the substitute) on the lakes and rivers and is harvested every year in late summer or early
autumn depending on the sun and other good stuff like that.
Really wild wild rice is still totally hand gathered—two humans, a canoe, one long pole to push,
two sticks to “knock” the rice into the front of the canoe, one “Creator” (to use the Ojibwe
term), a little luck, and a good bit of skill. Ricers have their secret spots in the same way fly
fisherfolk do. The “green” rice is gathered, parched, husked, winnowed and dried for storage.
Unlike the pseudo stuff (which takes upwards of an hour to cook and still isn’t really done—
see the Jim Northrup quote in the Guide to Good Eating) the real thing is actually incredibly
convenient. It’s an enormous amount of work to gather and get ready to eat, but once we
buy it, it’s actually naturally fast once you get it into the kitchen. Just put it in boiling water
and simmer with some salt for about 15-20 minutes (times vary depending on the lake and the
vintage), drain and eat.
Honestly I kind of like to eat it just like that. Simple. Delicious. It’s nutty, its nice. It’s subtly
earthy. Beautifully in balance and extremely clean, with a lovely long finish. So yeah . . . I really
kind of just like it the way it is, either as a main course, or on the side with most anything else.
But I wouldn’t be a good Ojibwe-phile if I didn’t like to dress it with either a bit of hot bacon fat
or, alternatively, some maple sugar (or syrup, which is, of course, just maple sugar with more
liquid left in). In fact, it’s actually good with a bit of both; I guess it’s an Ojibwe alternative to a
bacon and pancake breakfast.
On top of all that, really wild wild rice is a very healthy food. Look it up online—I’ll spare you
the nutritional details here since space is short. It’s also an enormously important element in
Ojibwe history, culture, religion and economics, all in one amazing, native American (or Native
American depending on how you want to hear the word) food. I just ate a little bowlful for my
midday snack and I’m totally satiated.
In the moment, I’m eating the stuff we have at the Roadhouse which came, literally, from Jim
Northrup’s personal stash from this past summer’s “ricing.” I can’t really tell you that a great
writer’s rice is necessarily going to be better than any other ricer’s, but Jim’s been ricing for
nearly six decades now, and at least I think Jim’s is exceptionally delicious.
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See pages 8 & 9 for featured holiday
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 Fresh
Candy from
Zingerman’s ­
Candy Manufactory
It’s kind of strange when you think about it, but
actually a couple entire generations of Americans
have been raised without ever eating fresh candy.
Seriously, while per capita candy consumption is
probably higher than ever, the truth is that unless
you work in the factory and get to take home some
seconds from that day’s production, no one in the
U.S. is eating fresh candy. Not surprisingly—artisan candy
is a food like any other—you can most definitely taste the difference the freshness makes.
How do I know? Because we have our own little artisan Candy Manufactory, right here in Ann
Arbor which means we all get to consume candy that was made within a matter of days and
weeks.
On top of the freshness factor, the other thing hardly any Americans have gotten to eat is
candy made from really great ingredients. While nearly every other element of the food world
has been elevated in the last twenty years thanks to the work of all the amazing artisans in
the US (including those within our own organization at the Bakehouse, Creamery, Candy and
Coffee companies), candy remains something that is still almost always only consumed in its
mass market, highly industrialized commercial form. Thanks to the work of Charlie Frank
and his little crew (thanks Sara!) at the Candy Manufactory you and I are able to avoid that
problem. We get to eat fresh Zzang! artisan candy bars, made from the same kind of excellent,
full-flavored ingredients that we use everywhere else in the Zingerman’s Community. And not
surprisingly, you can totally taste the difference. It’s a rare day that goes by that some first
time candy taster here doesn’t declare something along the lines of “Wow! I’m never going
back to the other stuff!”
If you haven’t had a chance to taste a handmade Zzang! bar—we have four varieties: Original,
Ca$hew Cow, What the Fudge? and Wowza—definitely stop by the Bakehouse, Deli, Coffee Co.
or Roadhouse and ask for a taste today. If you’re not near here, check the Candy Manufactory
website to see which towns across the country now have local shops selling them. And if
you’re looking for a gift for a candy lover near and dear to you, don’t miss out on the new
four-packs with the special gift card insert. Easy way to win friends and influence people in a
very fresh, full-flavored traditional way!
Two-Year-Old Comte Cheese ­
from Valoreille
Comte is hardly new on our counters. This isn’t really even from a new
source—we’ve been buying this classic mountain cheese from Eastern France
from friend Daphne Zepos and the folks at the Fort St. Antoine for many years now. But this
batch is so good as to be impossible not to include here. I gave it a wholehearted 9.8 on a ten-
point scale, and I’m not an easy grader. The Deli retail crew liked it so much they sold half a
wheel in the first few days the cheese was in. Lest you think that’s not all that impressive you
should know that each handmade round of Comte comes in at about 80-plus pounds.
This outstandingly compelling Comte comes from a fruitiere (village creamery) called
Valoreille, right in the middle of Valoreille village, very close to the Swiss border, about 1200
feet up. If you’ve never had a good wheel of Comte (or even if you have) I would all out
totally really recommend getting over to the Deli to do up with a bit of this one. Seriously, it’s
that good. While mass market Comte can be rather on the mild side of things in a “nice but
who needs it?” kind of way, these wheels from Valoreille are something special. They’re gutsy
without being over the top, clearly in the same family as say Gruyere. Nutty, buttery, bold, this
is the kind of Comte that puts its arms around you and gives you a big hug or a firm handshake,
all the while holding meaningful eye contact. Honestly I’ve been eating it just as is along
with some buttered French Mountain Bread (from the 2 kilo loaf). But it’s great on salad with
toasted walnuts and walnut oil. Or in a fondue Comtoise for some cold weather entertaining.
Supremely good cheese. Check it out ASAP!
holiday events
The Top Foods of 2010 w/ Ari
Wednesday, December 1st • 7pm
$35 (save $5 if you sign up and pay 2 days in advance)
Join us for an evening of stories and tastes with co-founder
Ari Weinzweig and we’ll cover the best of what we’ve discov-
ered in the world of food in 2010.  This annual tasting sells out
quick, so reserve your seat today!
Please call 734.663.3400 to save a seat · See our full schedule at www.zingermansdeli.com
Cornman Farms Beef at the
Roadhouse
I’m not a big meat eater. But the beef that Alex has been raising
at Cornman Farms is really pretty fabulous. Please know that the beef
we buy from Niman Ranch—grass-fed and finished on corn is also very, very good. Both the
Niman and the animals that Alex has at Cornman are humanely raised and receive no added
growth hormone or antibiotics. Both are good; the Niman is a bit sweeter and a touch fatter in
the flavor. I think it’s more what most folks around these parts these days are used to. But the
beef from Cornman is, I think, pretty special. It’s pasture-raised all the way through and then
dry aged for over four weeks to intensify its already excellent flavor. If you’re not familiar
with grass fed beef, I think it has a cleaner finish and a slightly lighter flavor than beef that’s
finished on corn. Try it in whatever form it appears on the menu each night—steaks, burgers,
chicken fried steak, Salisbury steak, and any number of other specials.
First Flush Darjeeling Jungpana
On the list of top ten questions I get asked almost every week, there’s almost
always some version of: “If you could only take one ___ to a deserted island
what would it be?” I think of it more like if I could only take one thing to an
all day meeting; no offense to nature but the odds of
me getting stranded on some island with nothing on it are next to
nil, whereas, not complaining, the odds of sitting through an
all day planning session are fairly high. Which is why the
radically more relevant question actually could be,“If I
could take only one tea with me to an all day partner
offsite, which one would it be?” The likely answer, right
now at least? Although there are actually half a dozen
teas I’d actually happily take with me to the meeting,
what I’ve been drinking for the last few days has
been the new season—2010—First Flush Darjeeling.
This year it’s from the Jungpana estate in West
Bengal. Even for mountainous regions, the Jungpana
garden is particularly hard to get to. There was no
road going in to it until recently. The tea came out and
supplies went in only by mule. Today the tea still has to
be carried down five hundred feet on 380 concrete steps
to get to the road.
Anyways, all that background left aside, the reality is that First Flush Darjeeling has long been
one of my favorite teas. And this one’s making me really happy. Better, I think than any I’ve
had in a long time. Amber. Alive. Nutty. Hard to describe. Like a lock with fifteen tumblers.
Starts out turning your taste buds one way, then back a bit, then back in the direction you
started out in. “Mysteries of the universe” might be excessive, but it really does have a kind
of hard to describe, full mouthfeel that sort of spreads out first sideways, then slowly from
there to the top and down the bottom. It’s a long nice finish that sits well on the palate. It has
some of the tannins that I like a lot. If you don’t like them, first flush probably isn’t the tea for
you. Vanessa Sly (the Deli’s tea mistress) and I have tasted dozens and dozens of Darjeelings
over the years. Interestingly both of us decided independently we loved this one way more
than any of the others. If you want something more well-rounded, I’d day stick with Yunnan
or Second Flush Darjeeling (don’t get me wrong—I like those too). But if you want a tea that
will take you radically left of center, intentionally out of balance in a way that will lift your
taste buds out of any spell in the middle of the market, this tea’s for you!
BAKE! Classes
I’m cautious about putting this in here because, truth be told, I think most every
single BAKE! class coming up in November and December is already sold out.
But, I guess that’s the point—Shelby, Kandi, Barb, Alejandro and everyone else at
BAKE! has been doing one amazingly good baking class after another for nigh on three years
now. They’re so good that the classes are selling out so fast we can barely schedule enough of
them. This, as per our Twelve Natural Laws of Business (email me at ari@zingermans.com or
see Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading for more on those), is a very good problem. If you’re
this far into the newsletter then you’re sort of on the inside so to speak, so here’s an insiders
gift idea. Give a gift certificate for a BAKE! class to anyone you know who loves bread or
pastry (or both) so that they can actually get into a class this winter or spring. Check it out at
BAKEwithzing.com!
Zingerman’s Pre-Holiday Planning Party
Thursday, December 9th • 4-7PM
This event is free!
Whether you are trying to decide what gifts to get friends and loved ones, trying to
pick out the perfect gift baskets to give all your office staff or planning a holiday party
for your family or colleagues, we’ll have everything you’ll need to make your holiday
plans tasty and stress free. Plus, have a taste of some of our festive favorites from
Zingerman’s Catering & Events 2010 Holiday Menu!
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
­11
ISSUE # 223
 2010 Holiday Menu
The No-Stress Solution for Your Holiday Celebration
Have you been dreaming of a holiday party but having nightmares about the
hassle of putting it all together? Zingerman’s Catering has a great holiday
menu full of full-flavored foods, festive beverages and decadent desserts
for office parties and family get-togethers this season!
Try our seasonal favorite, Mozzarella Pinwheels! These delectable
crowd pleasers are made with hand-pulled fresh mozzarella layered with
prosciutto di parma or pesto and oven dried tomatoes. We cut it in slices to
create a beautiful spiral of flavor.
Or try our new barbecue brioche Zingers! Featuring zesty barbecue
chicken, cuban pulled pork pork or hand pulled barbecue beef brisket
with mini salted brioche rolls. These mini sandwiches have actually drawn
applause when served!
For a full selection of holiday fare and for more
GroOm’s Cake,AnyoNE?
I say the more cake The betTer…
Groom’s Cakes have a long and unclear history. Some say they’ve been around since 17th century
Europe, when cakes we might recognize were first baked. Others say they’re a tradition from the
early American South. Since many American baking traditions have their roots in Europe I suspect
there’s some truth to both theories.
These days having a Groom’s Cake is optional and the time to serve it varies from wedding to
wedding. When couples do choose to have them the cakes are almost always much smaller than
the wedding cake, are decorated in a way that reflects some personal interest of the Groom and
they frequently have a chocolate or dark exterior. Sometimes the cake is served at the wedding,
displayed on a table near the wedding cake. An alternative is to serve it at the rehearsal dinner,
which is often hosted by the Groom’s family.
Want to add a very traditional touch to your wedding? Make pieces
of the Groom’s cake parting gifts for your single female guests. Send
them off with a nicely wrapped piece of cake to put under their pil-
low to dream of their future wedding. (Or maybe they’ll just eat it and

information, check out www.zingermanscatering.com enjoy!)

Amy Emberling
Bakehouse co-owner & cake lover

The Deli’s Dream

is Coming True!
On Paul Saginaw’s birthday, September 9, the Historic District
Commission voted 6-0 to issue to Zingerman’s a “notice to proceed”
with our expansion plans. Read more details about plans and next steps

ThanksgivinG
at www.zingermansdeli.com/deli-construction-news.com. Our vision
of 10,400 beautiful square feet to expand our seating, kitchen
production, storage and guest restrooms is becoming reality!

to-go Menus
Stay tuned.

frequently asked questions about the Deli build-out

Make FulL-Flavored When will it happen?

Our fingers are crossed to start construction
What’s happened already?
To give a little background, the Zingerman’s

Feasting Easy! early in 2011 and complete construction by mid

2012.
What will it look like?
Countdown to Turkey Day Take-Out The project is designed to fit into the context of
Deli Campus is located in the Old Fourth Ward
Historic District at the corner of Detroit and
Kingsley Streets. Five of the current buildings
on the Deli Campus are considered historic
resources. We lovingly refer to those buildings

from Zingerman’s Delicatessen

the Old Fourth Ward Historic District. The Deli’s as the Deli, Next Door, Annex (orange building),
new addition is envisioned as a simple two-story Garage and Kingsley (a fire-damaged structure).
Featuring local brick masonry building, harkening back to an The Deli and Next Door are the “jewels” of our
turkey breast early 20th century industrial loft building in its Deli Campus, the most recognized and most
from Harnois materials and massing. Although this will be a photographed of our buildings and constitute the
and Son Farm in Whitmore Lake, MI, new structure it will respect the historic Deli main entrance to the “Zingerman’s experience.”
hand-selected by Chef Rodger, matched and surrounding neighborhood. They will be preserved, honored and remain
with traditional celery and sage stuffing, the street-side face of the Deli in this project.
The intention of the project design is to be sus-
brussels sprouts with butternut squash The Garage and Kingsley structures were the
tainable and environmentally friendly as well
and chestnut cream soup, Thanksgiving primary impediments to utilizing the adjacent
as welcoming and efficient for all. There will be
dinner from the Deli provides a truly tasty site for the necessary expansion of services
a two-story addition (about 9500 square feet)
holiday. They’ve put together complete in the form of a new addition. So obtaining
to the historic deli building, positioned directly
holiday feasts for 4 that will have you permission to remove these structures was our
to the east on the property at 322 E. Kingsley.
exclaiming “Now that’s something to be first goal.
Building on this adjacent property requires
thankful about!” the removal of the badly damaged wood frame After being issued a certificate of appropriateness
Available Monday, Nov. 22-Wednesday, Nov. 24. View the full Deli Thanksgiving menu structure at 322 E. Kingsley. by the Historic Distric Commision to remove
at www.zingermansdeli.com. Call ahead for pickup: 734-663-3400. the Garage, Zingerman’s conducted several
The new addition will house the cooking oper-
working sessions with them, worked to obtain
ations, various dining areas, staff and building
other necessary approvals from the Planning
support spaces, essential storage, and guest
Commission and City Council, and was then
amenities (toilets). Plans are intended to make
“The Greatest Turkey Recipe in the the entire Deli and campus much more acces-
finally ready to appear again before the HDC on
September 9, 2010. At this juncture, its members
sible to guests and staff. Currently the Annex
History of Thanksgiving!” is ingeniously incorporated into the new addi-
voted 6-0 to issue a notice to proceed to the
project plan that allowed for the key demolition
tion, blending old and new. And in place of the
Hailed by Esquire magazine, Zingerman’s Roadhouse’s of the fire-damaged Kingsley structure.
Deli’s well-used outdoor tent will be a perma-
pit-smoked turkey with Zingerman’s exclusive
nent pavilion designed to offer the familiar,
Spicy Coffee Spice Rub has never been easier to What are the next steps?
casual outdoor enjoyment of the Deli’s central
serve at home for the holidays. All you have to do
courtyard. If all goes well, we plan to have a shovel in
is call 734.663.3663 to place their order and conveniently pick it up at the
the ground very early in 2011 and complete
Roadshow Trailer.
When will the project be built? construction by the spring of 2012!
Check out www.zingermansroadhouse.com for the full Roadhouse special holiday menu. It’s possible that some preliminary work might
Pre-orders available with 48 hours notice starting Nov. 15. Call 734.663.FOOD (3663) begin as early as the end of 2010 but the project
will definitely be underway by the start of 2011.
The goal for its completion, dependent of a
myriad of factors, is mid 2012.

­12
ISSUE # 223 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
 3723 Plaza Drive · Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 · (734) 929-6060
GifTs to Get CofFeE
GEeKs geEkEd
Recently I was enjoying a coffee brewed in a French press that I have at home. This particular
press pot came from my parents’ basement. It’s somewhere between 30 and 40 years old and
still works and looks like new. Like most good tools, it is elegant in its simplicity and built to last.
We carry a collection of the best coffee brewers available and they all share those same
qualities. Most have no moving parts and just need great fresh coffee, a filter and hot water.
They are time proven designs that you can continue to use and won’t need to throw away.
Here are just a few of the brewers that we have to offer for the holiday season. Stop in to see
our full selection. We can also show you how they work and even make you a cup with one.
limIt
Timeed
! Al Liu for Atlas Coffee Importers will be visiting from Seattle to discuss the amazing
Holiday BLend 2010
This year’s holiday blend immediately brought to mind flavors of warm spice along with the
bright sweetness of candied fruits. The spiciness extends into a resiny sweetness on the palate,
with a long pleasant finish. Perfect by itself or paired with a dense holiday spice cake or fruit
cake.
Creating our holiday blend is one of the most exciting things we do and this year’s is truly
exceptional. As we roast throughout the year, we look for likely candidate coffees and squirrel
away a few bags of the best of each. Then, beginning in September, we start fine tuning. We figure
out the best way to roast each of the coffees; which coffees we can roast together; and most
importantly what ratio of coffees to use.
The 2010 Holiday Blend starts with two Central American coffees—Costa Rica and Guatemala.
They form the bright fruity backbone and add a balanced sweetness. Next comes a Sulawesi
coffee which contributes fullness to the body and adds aromatic berry notes—think juniper.
We complete the blend with a very small amount a coffee that adds a great amount of flavor.
This is an exceptionally fine Indian robusta from our friend Nishant Gurjer at Sethuraman Estate.
We’ve been lovingly holding on to this coffee for a while. We bring it out sparingly, mostly for
special projects. Even in small amounts it adds a bouquet of warm spices. It also helps accentuate
the flavors from the other coffees—it’s truly a team player.
We hope you’ll enjoy our 2010 Holiday Blend as much as we’ve enjoyed crafting it. Please let us
know what you think!
Chemex
This classic brewer was designed by a chemist almost 60 years ago and inspired by
glass laboratory apparatus. Chemex brewers use a sightly thicker filter paper and
produce a very clean cup of coffee. We carry the latest version with a glass handle
blown right into the piece. (The earlier versions had a removable wooden handle.)
Available in 3, 6 and 8 cup models; all sizes of Chemex filters available too.
Bodum French PrEsS
We carry the classic line of Bodum French press pots. Bodum makes a wide range of press pots,
but we keep coming back to the classic “Chambord” model. This was Bodum’s first press pot
and has been copied numerous times. We like it because we can get replacement parts should
one drop and break.
Abid ClevEr DripPer
The Clever Dripper is a new and beautifully simple twist to the old Melitta cone filter. The
innovation is a little valve that keeps the coffee from dripping out until it is placed on top of
a cup. This leads to increased contact time between the grounds and water and a more even
extraction.
Technivorm MoCcamaster
Technivorm is simply the best electric brewer you can buy. A couple came into our shop and
told us about getting a Technivorm at their wedding 30 years ago in the Netherlands, where
Technivorm is headquartered.
It was the first coffee maker to achieve the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s Gold Cup
certification for its ability to brew at the correct temperature (198-204F) in about six minutes
from beginning to end. Lesser brewers would take almost twice as long causing the coffee to
be over extracted.
On the inside it is over-engineered. The massive heating coil wraps around a metal tube
providing indirect heating to the water and eliminating a common source of corrosion. And
here’s another thing we love about Technivorm—spare parts. It is so well built that in the off-
chance something is damaged or lost, we stock spare parts. It is a long-life product which is
better for the environment.
CofFeE evEnts
Second Saturday Tasting FreE!
November 13 & December 11 am-noon
Join us monthly for an open-to-the-public, no-reservation-required cupping.
Zingerman’s Coffee Company managing partners Allen and Steve give a tour of the
operation, sample new arrivals with guests, and explore the world of coffee from
seed to cup.
Relationship Coffees—Presentation and Tasting
Tuesday, November 30 • 6:30-7:30pm
FreE!
Our Guatemalan coffee is the end product of a fascinating set of rela-
tionships between the native Mayan farmers of Guatemala and ultimately, you, our
customer.
story behind this great coffee. Accompanied by a tasting of the coffee.
Holiday Tasting
Tuesday, Dec 21 • 10am-noon FreE!
Stop by and taste a few of our coffees as we demonstrate the different brewing de-
vices we have in the shop. Or stop in and shop for the coffee geek in your life.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
­13
ISSUE # 223
 3723 Plaza Drive · Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 · (734) 929-0500

creamery taSTings
Thank Goodness for Cheese
Friday, November 19 • 6-8pm • $25
Our own harvest feast, featuring cheese-inspired dishes and recipes ranging from creamy,
garlicky mashed potatoes to myrtle-infused gooey mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano-
laden green beans. We’ll even have Calder Dairy’s unrivaled eggnog on hand! We’ll all
be thankful for the bounty of the season, lovingly enhanced by the power of cheese.
$25 per person + 20% off your entire purchase at the cheese shop that night.

Gelato and Sweets

Sunday, November 21 • 4-5pm • $10
Pumpkin Gelato smooshed between two Nova Scotian oat cakes—creamy blue cheese on
pecan raisin toast; honey-almond City Goats. Whether you are looking to create a fun
appetizer, a sweetly elegant cheese course, or a decadent dessert this Thanksgiving, we’ll
treat you to a tableau of sweet dairy ideas. Join us for this specially-priced hour-long
tasting—and bring your sweet tooth! A steal at just $10 per person!

City Goats All Dressed up and Going to Town!
Wednesday, December 8 • 6-7pm • $10
Our fresh, hand-ladled goat cheese rounds put on their holiday finery at this tasting, where
you will learn about (and taste) many variations on our classic chevre. From chopped
rosemary to sweet pepper to fruit preserves and butters—even nuts and oats!—we’ll show
you how to take one of our most favorite basic cheeses to life-of-the-party status. Prepare
yourself to taste some really classy cheese.
Cheese Melts My Heart: a Fondue Party
Friday, December 17 • 6-8pm • $25
What could chase the chills away better than hunks of crusty bread ensconced in molten
mountain cheese? Learn the basics of and taste variations on everyone’s favorite comfort
food: fondue! Just in time for your New Year’s Eve bash (even if it’s simply spent cozied up
on the couch). Dip away, friends! $25 per person + 20% off your entire purchase at the
Cheese Shop that night.
Why I Love (and Hate)
Paw Paws
First things first, we owe huge appreciation to Mark Boone, who grows the paw paws that
we’re using in our gelato this year. His orchard is about 10 miles from Ann Arbor. Paw paws
are a lot more difficult to make a living from than, say, apples or pears, but Mark is a true slow
food guy who is dedicated to growing fruits that the bigger commercial orchards have no
use for. In addition to his amazing paw paws he’s got fantastic Michigan persimmons, aronia
(aka, chokeberry), quince, sea berries, medlan as well as some more common fruits. Mark
lives on a centennial farm and planted his paw paw orchard in 1986 because he was having a
hard time finding paw paws. He uses no spray and, interestingly, paw paws apparently have
no pests while they’re on the tree. They’re most susceptible to being eaten by opossums.
There’s a reason why paws paws aren’t in everyone’s fruit bowl on the dining room table,
even though they’re a native Michigan fruit and taste really good. They’re a challenge to
harvest and difficult to work with but the reward is in the taste. They’re also really interesting
given that they’re a lot more like a tropical fruit (think mangoes) than anything you’d expect
to grow in the upper Midwest.
So, why is this my favorite fall gelato? I think the easiest way to answer that is to just ask
you to stop by the Creamery, Deli or Roadhouse and ask for a taste. I love the creamy, sweet
(but not too sweet) tropical taste of the paw paw folded into fresh Calder milk and Guernsey
cream. I love it especially because this warm-weather flavor comes to us just as fall is turning

creamery specials!
to winter here in Michigan. Tasting it is like putting off the cold weather just for a little bit.
The last thing I’ll say about it is to get here soon. The paw paw harvest is small and we can
only make enough to have around for a couple of months. Once it’s gone, you’ll have to wait
until next November.
November
Lincoln Log Josh Miner, gelato maker at the Creamery

$19.99 per pound (reg. $24.99)

Coming Coming
This dense, soft-ripened goat cheese is the Creamery’s take on the classic bucheron.
November 1 December 1
When young, the Log is creamy with a mild flavor that finishes clean with hints of citrus
and just a slight bit of mushroom at the end. As it ages, the paste becomes firmer with
hoLidAy Harvest Paul’s

Gelato
a more fudge-like texture and deeper flavor. Covered in a thin bloomy white rind, the Pumpkin Peppermint
Lincoln Log is one of our most popular offerings.
Cinnamon Pistachio
December flavors! Maple Pecan

Detroit StreEt BrIck Paw Paw

$20.99 per pound (reg. $25.99)

Gelato by Mail!
2006 and 2007 AMERICAN CHEESE SOCIETY WINNER. A dense, lemony goat brick covered
with a snow-white mold rind and liberally studded with freshly cracked green pepper-
corns. As it ages, the pepper becomes more assertive and the cheese develops more goat
flavor.
Thick, creamy, elegantly luscious . . . eating
gelato is an event, a special occasion that Flavors
borders on a religious experience for ice We’ll send 6 different flavors, 12 oz of each.

Learn to Make cream connoisseurs.

Josh Miner—our gelato expert in residence—
Dark Chocolate—made with Scharffen Berger cocoa.
Vanilla—made with real vanilla beans from Madagascar.

F resh MozZaRelLa!
has created six flavors to make gelato lovers
swoon. He uses fresh milk from our local Peppermint—with big pieces of candy cane.
Calder Dairy, organic Demerara sugar and Gianduja—the classic blend of hazelnuts and chocolate.
an array of great ingredients to produce Dulce de Leche—made with Argentinian caramel.
Saturdays, Sept-May • Noon-2:30pm • intense, direct flavors. Each flavor is built
Raspberry Sorbet—made with Michigan raspberries.
$50 • Reservations required from scratch in small batches then sent
directly to you.
Come learn with the masters of mozzarella Your box of six gelati is shipped frozen
how to stretch your own from-scratch fresh with dry ice from Zingerman’s Creamery.
mozzarella at home. We will guide you through
the steps to set up the curd from milk and
Cal l 888.636.8162 or If you order two different things going to
the same address, they will arrive in two
teach you the technique we employ to stretch go online to order! boxes. Overnight shipping required.
the rather plain-tasting curds into marvelous
Sorry, no flavor substitutions.
mozzarella of your very own!

­14
ISSUE # 223 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
 what's bakin' at
Bakehouse Holiday Treats
PanetTone
Made the old-fashioned way (without use of commercial
yeast), it’s leavened with a natural starter that takes over
20 hours from start to finish. Unlike the industrial versions,
there are no diglycerides, (which are what keep them
“fresh” for six months after they’ve been baked.) After they
come out of the oven they have to be hung upside down
to cool, a technique that keeps the rather rich dough from
sinking into itself.
The panettone is studded with Red Flame raisins from the
West Coast and candied orange and lemon peel that we bring
over from Italy. There’s plenty of our usual great ingredients
too—sweet cream butter, lots of
vanilla bean (half a bean per
panettone), honey, toasted
almonds, fresh egg yolks
and a hint of cocoa
powder on top.
Made in very small
batches. Pre-orders are
encouraged!
What is a
buche de noel?
Come to our BAKE! hand-on baking class
and find out!
Friday, December 17, 2010 • 1:00pm-5:00pm
We demystify this holiday classic dessert for you and make all it’s components:
fluffy vanilla chiffon cake, walnut rum butter cream, chocolate butter cream
and meringue mushroom decorations. You’ll wow your family and friends that
night and for seasons to come.
You’ll leave BAKE! with the knowledge to make a Buche de Noel at home, a few
recipes and a Buche de Noel you made in class.
Reserve your spot at www.bakewithzing.com or 734.761.7255
fuL l-FLavored piEs
tO bRIng To the PArTy
Pecan Pie
We’ve 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 Muscovado—the real traditional
brown sugar—you’ve got one pretty darned good pecan
pie.
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 one’s 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 it’s particularly hand-
some on a well-dressed holiday table, but I have to admit,
it tastes just as good off of paper plates too.
available in
December
Buche de Noel
Our version of the traditional French holiday dessert: a light vanilla chiffon cake
filled with walnut rum butter cream, rolled up and covered in chocolate butter
cream. It’s decorated with hand-made edible sugar mushrooms, holly and freshly
fallen sugar snow. Each log serves 8-12 so it’s 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 it’s a great centerpiece for a holiday table and fun to
decorate with edible treats of your own.
StolLen
If you aren’t familiar with it, stollen is a traditional German holiday sweet
bread. Ours is made with an incredible array of ingredients including sweet
butter, Bacardi® rum, candied lemon and orange, Michigan dried cherries, cur-
rants, almonds, sultanas, real vanilla and more. (I should mention that we don’t use
any of the diglycerides that you’ll find in most commercial stollens and coffee cakes—
they’re in there only to keep those cakes “moist” and to give them a longer shelf life.
CHrIsTMAs cOoKiE cLuB
We’ve packed little ginger crisps and pecan butter balls are made from recipes out of the
book by Ann Arbor author, The Christmas Cookie Club, plus one of our long time favorites,
the mint chocolate shortbread from the Bakehouse, into a book-like box designed by
our graphics crew.
Porter Rye
11/5 & 11/6
A moist and slightly sweet loaf made from a bit of organic
muscovado sugar, Bell’s Porter from Kalamazoo, MI, a pinch
of lard and lots of flavor packed rye flour.
$125 Scallion Walnut
/per person 11/12 & 11/13
Our crusty, slightly sour farm bread with toasted walnuts and
fresh chopped scallions. Makes a great instant stuffing.
Space is very limited! Register
online or by phone today!
Chernushka Rye
11/19 & 11/20
Chewy traditional Jewish rye with peppery chernushka seeds.
This one definitely has a following.
Pumpernickel Raisin
11/26 & 11/27
Chewy, traditional pumpernickel bread with juicy Red Flame
raisins and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
ChocOlate ChESs Pie Peppered Bacon Farm
One of the most popular desserts (when we put this pie on 12/3 & 12/4
“vacation” for the summer I thought some of our custom- Apple wood smoked bacon and black pepper in a crusty loaf of
ers were going to kill us). Happily it’s back. If you haven’t our signature farm bread.
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
Green Olive Paesano
12/10 & 12/11
chocolate custard baked into a pie shell. Top it off with
A chewy round of our cornmeal crusted Italian bread with
some whipped cream, eat, and enjoy!
savory green olives.
olD SchOol ApPle pie
Made with real, non-hydrogenated lard, this pie's crust Cranberry Pecan Bread—Available
literally melts around the apples giving the pie a “rolling EVERY DAY in November & December
hills” appearance that we often see in drawings depicting
When we sample it, there's a phenomenon of custom-
apple pies. In honor of traditional apple pie, we kept the
ers who grab a piece as they're leaving and come
filling completely simple: a little butter, a little Indonesian
back a few minutes later asking "what did i just eat?
cinnamon, a smidge of nutmeg, some sugar and Ida Red
that's amazing!" This bread is
apples from Nemoth Orchards in Dexter. We actually
a magic combination of our
almost named it Back to Basics Apple Pie. If you’d like to
San Francisco Sourdough,
try something totally traditional, at one time mundane
toasty pecans, and dried
but now hard to find...drop in for a taste!
New England cranberries.
jumbleberry pie
Filled to the brim with a jumble of juicy berries—raspber- Call ahead to order your special loaves from:
ries, blackberries, blueberries, and cranberries. Not too Bakeshop—3711 Plaza Dr. • 761.2095
sweet and not too tart filling inside. Flaky buttery crust
Deli—422 Detroit St. • 663.DELI (3354)
on the outside. A delight to eat.
Roadshow —2501 Jackson Rd • 929.0332
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2010
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ISSUE # 223