May 2007

Over the 25 years that we've been at Zingerman's, traveling to visit producers in their home settings has certainly been one of the most rewarding and important parts of my work.

I'm happy to report that a year ago I took the plunge, made the needed plans to be gone for a few weeks, got on the plane, survived the fifteen hour flight and, as a result, had the pleasure of visiting Australia and experiencing its food and wine first hand. Given that most of you aren't going to get Down Under this year, we figured we'd bring Down Under to the Deli so that you could taste a bit of Australian excellence without having to leave Ann Arbor.

Here are some of the food items from Down Under featured at the Deli through the month of May:

· Yellingbo Olive Oil
Of all the Australian olive oils that are showing up in the American market this one is by far my favorite. It's been that way for a while now, I guess ever since I first met Jeremy Melzer and tasted his family's oil three or four years ago. There are so many fancy looking oils on the shelves right now, and there are more and more Australian oils amongst them. But this one is special on all counts. The family, the flavor, the bottle, their commitment to community... every element of it is really a positive thing.

It really is a very vivacious, lovely oil. It starts out softly and gently, and then gradually grows more and more flavorful as you wait a few minutes after tasting. Its flavor is about a mile wide-by the time you're done tasting, you've experienced a big, buttery, banana-y flavor upfront. It's really exceptionally creamy. And it has just a touch of mellow pepperiness in the back as it finishes.

And the bottles are as beautiful as the oil. In shades of orange, brown and yellow with delicate accents of green, purple and red, the label shows one of the region's most interesting birds, a helmeted honeyeater. It's a rare and endangered bird that supposedly plucks the tastiest olives off the trees.

· Charmaine Solomon's Curries
Bottled curry sauces aren't really something we do a whole lot here at Zingerman's, and there are more than enough of them already available in the US, but these are really excellent Australian products made by great people (Charmain and Reuben Solomon) with a great story, and I'm really excited to have them here in Ann Arbor.

I asked them to send some over for us to taste. Six weeks later the samples arrived. I tasted and was impressed anew; full flavors, complex, nice finishes, all in balance, easy to use, no additives or weird preservatives. Like I said, curry can not be called my area of expertise so Gauri Thergaonkar, long time manager of the retail area at the Deli, who for obvious reasons of origin (she's from India) served as our in-house curry connoisseur.

"I always tell people how my initial skepticism about curry pastes in a jar was instantaneously transformed when I first cooked with yours," she wrote to Charmaine. "And I tell them how my husband walked into the house as I was making dinner with one of your pastes and said that it smelled like home."

We've got six or seven of Charmaine's sauces in house for this first run. There are recipe ideas with each bottle, on Charmaine's website, and in her books as well. Across the board they're great examples of why fast food doesn't have to be a bad thing.

· La Casetta Vinegar from Joseph Winery
I actually tasted this vinegar at one of Melbourne's upscale food shops where they had some open for sampling. Turns out that the winery was right on the route we were taking a day later so we set things up to visit. We arrived around lunchtime and talked to Joe Grilli, son of Primo Grilli who founded the winery back in 1973. It turned out that they were planning to do the annual vinegar production the very next morning, so we adjusted the itinerary again in order see the making first hand.

The vinegar is very slightly sweet, and really mouth watering; its flavor reminds me a bit of Madeira, a bit caramelly, smooth, very slightly sherry-like and almondy. It's really good on salad greens, or also on grilled bitter radicchio (after it's brushed with a little olive oil). It's outstanding with roasted peppers or anchovies. Like our other great vinegars, it's actually good enough just to sip. And I'll add that I've made Grandpa Adamo's bruschetta many, many times now and enjoyed it more with each pass.

· Leatherwood Honey
This is my kind of honey-historically interesting, unique, with a big, bold flavor and crystalline texture. And it comes only from one spot in the world-the Australian island of Tasmania, which, in turn, is the only spot in the world where the leatherwood tree grows. If you look at the map of Australia, you'll find Tasmania down at the southeastern end of it. The island has a pretty pristine environment and roughly a third of it is now protected national park, including the land on the western side of the island on which the leatherwood trees grow.

The leatherwood trees are pretty incredible-many are over 100 feet tall, and the best ones are two to two hundred and fifty years old. It takes the trees at least 75 years before they're ready to put blossoms out, so this isn't a short-term cash crop to get into. The honey harvest takes place in the Australian summer (our winter)-the blossoms come out first in the lowlands, then work their way up into the modest mountains of the Tasmanian rainforest.

The uniqueness of the tree and the environment in which it grows, not surprisingly, yields a very unique honey. It's very citrusy-struck me as notably reminiscent of lime. It's very aromatic, with a really lovely perfume. It's a very pale butterscotch in color and very creamy and crystalline in texture.

· The Coffee Buzz from Down Under
Now let me say that flat whites are so much the standard coffee service down under that most folks I talked to down there were stunned that I didn't really know what a flat white was. Granted, they have cappuccino and café latte too, but the reality is that those two are so overshadowed in popularity by the Antipodean alternative that most Australians can't even imagine a coffee counter without flat whites.

So... what is a flat white? Well it's not like it's from some wholly different planet than the lattes we're all so used now. But it is different. Flat whites are smaller-they've got less milk so they're a touch more coffee-oriented than an American latte. They also have less foam than a cappuccino. The foam is a bit finer in texture too-what the coffee bar pros call "microfoam."

Here at Zingerman's, we start with Espresso Blend #1 from the Coffee Company-a blend of beans from the Rainforest Alliance Certified Daterrra Estate in Minas Gerais in Brazil. The milk comes from Calder Dairy in Carleton-the same superflavorful stuff we use to make our cow's milk cheeses at the Creamery. And the skill of the coffee making... that comes from the crew Next Door or out at the Roadshow.

· Australia's National Dish: Meat Pies
It's sort of hard to convey the depth of meaning to which Australians are attached to their meat pies. I mean all this stuff I've written about above is fantastic food, stuff I would and do use at home for cooking all the time. But the truth of the matter is that if you really want to get at the heart of the old style Australian approach to eating, you can forget about everything I've told you above and get your hands-and mouth-around a good, old-fashioned Aussie meat pie.

To help celebrate our little Australian incursion into Ann Arbor we've been working on making meat pies here at the Deli. And of course, like everything we do, these aren't just any meat pies, but a traditional "two biter"—we are recreating the Aussie meat pie using fresh local free range beef in a puff pastry shell. A perfect meal on the go or for watching aussie football.

· Australian Mountain Pepper Berries
While olive oil, vinegar and curry all came to Australia from the agriculture and cuisines of other countries, what white men came to call "mountain pepper" is an offering unique to Oz. Although it has the word "pepper" in its name, Mountain Pepper isn't actually in the pepper family. The Latin name is Tasmannia lanceolata. It's a wild plant, the berry of which has a nice, numbing, peppery flavor.

You can eat both the leaves and the dried berries of the mountain pepper plant. The former add a nice color and flavor-you can use it any way you would black pepper. Grind the berries or sprinkle the leaves onto any dish at the table; use in marinades, sprinkle onto salads or fresh goat cheese. I've been using it a lot on fish and potatoes. Did an omelet with a bunch of coarsely crushed berries and some of the Creamery's Cream Cheese and some fresh spinach. Nice in salad dressings too. It's one of those small but meaningful ways you can add new vitality to your cooking.

· Wild Australian Lemon Myrtle,
The leaves of a tree that grows wild in the Australian rain forest, their compelling aroma conjures up a blend of lemongrass, lemon and lime oil. Lemon Myrtle is an extremely versatile herb well suited to everything from fish to chicken, pork or vegetables and in many Asian-style dishes.

· Wild Australian Round Mint
One of the most complexly-flavored mints I've ever tried-very minty with a slight hint of pepperiness in the finish. Round Mint is a unique Australian herb that grows in the wilds of the Outback, it's related to thyme, oregano and sage. The bushes show beautiful little purple flowers in the spring and the leaves are picked in summer and then dried. It's great sprinkled onto salads (great with feta cheese), fresh goat cheese, and tropical fruit. Try it too in lamb stew or with wild game. An easy way to add some wild Australian zing to your kitchen.

· Wild Australian Wattle Seed
A much loved Australian addition to cakes or breads. The seeds of a variety of acacia that's collected by Aborigines west of the Great Divide are roasted and then ground to amplify their natural nutty, almost coffee-like taste. Their flavor is great with chocolate and nuts. Add wattle seed to holiday breads of all sorts, add it to sauces and chutneys, meringues, whipped cream, frostings or other creamy dishes.