The Ethnic Epicure

Just outside of Eagle, Wisconsin, is the world's largest museum dedicated to the history of rural life - Old World Wisconsin. Over 50 buildings were identified across the state, disassembled, and re-assembled in one campus. And one part of the fund-raising effort to get this all started back in 1976 was a cookbook - The [...]

The Devil’s Playthings – Smoked Deviled Eggs

Idle hands are the devil's playthings and a bit of idle time led to to this take on Deviled Eggs. The History Channel tells me Deviled Eggs may be as ancient as 1st century Roman culture, where they marinated small song birds and stuffed them into eggs. In this case, my good friend Tom gave [...]

Summertime Musings – Roast Pork, Sauerkraut, Potato Salad

Saturday morning: Farmers market. Sunny, light breeze. My wife insists on beets. My children get churros from a Mexican bakery stand. Cucumbers, squash, greens, mixed sprouts, red onions, baby potatoes, the early harvest of summer. Oh, and sauerkraut. Jeff Ziebelman called me over and suggested I try a bit of their "Zauerkraut", delicious. Red cabbage [...]

In Praise of Sausage – Bavette, Milwaukee

A recent lunch at Bavette in Milwaukee, WI created a growing sense of wonder. On her site, Karen Bell talks about "honoring time old culinary traditions as well as providing a direct link from farmer to consumer" which are deeply held values of Great Lakes Cuisine, but the particular bit of wonder on this particular [...]