January 2008

I awoke yesterday recovered from a three-day visit with the flu. I awoke to a different world. The holiday season was over. I had finally depleted all the leftover cheeses and soups from my refrigerator. The snow was gone. It was sixty degrees out. Had I been in hibernation for a few months? It felt like it. I was famished. I mean like teenager, hollow-leg hungry.

The sun came up and afforded me the opportunity to take a walk and resupply before it snows again. Well, off to the Deli to load up on all those winter comfort foods that keep me warm, full and nourished.

Shopping at Zingerman's Deli in January is entirely different from December. It's quiet. There is no line anywhere. The staff seemed to be competing to see who can give the first sample of food. A perfect place for a post-flu, still-lightheaded, pantry-filling foray.

Edward's Breakfast Sausage
I headed straight for the Edward's Breakfast Sausage. These little links from Virginia are just about the best thing in the morning. Their aroma, as they sizzle in the frying pan, is the very definition of comfort food. A few bites will reveal that these sausages have great snap. Perfect with a couple of eggs fried in the same pan.

Pancetta Americano from Herb Eckhouse
The sausages are a great pleasure, but perhaps my favorite meat in the Deli right now is the Pancetta Americano we are getting from Herb Eckhouse in Iowa. Pancetta is Italian style bacon. Typically rolled, Herb Eckhouse leaves his pancetta flat, so it even looks like bacon. It just isn't smoked. This pancetta is so decadent I've been caught eating it raw, like prosciutto. When I have the time though, a few strips sliced up and sautéed are just the thing to liven up any pasta.

Gabietou (cheese)
True to form, cheese samples are thrust at me from over the counter. My stomach rumbling happily, I'm confronted with two cheeses. On my right is a relative newcomer to the cheese world. Gabietou is a silky smooth French cheese that was invented in 2001. Cheesemaker Gabriel Bachelet makes this cheese in the Western Pyrennees using a mixture of cow and sheep milk.

Hirtenkase (cheese)
The other is Hirtenkase. One of only two German cheeses at the Deli — if this one is representative I wish there were more. I think if this cheese had a more familiar name it would likely rival Parmigiano Reggiano as a best seller. As it stands, it's a hidden gem. The taste is a little nutty like a Gruyere, a little sharp like Asiago and is priced right for cooking and adding to fondues.

Edelweiss Emmental (cheese)
Speaking of fondues, the perfect winter food, I think, there's nothing like a little bit of easy-melting Emmental to add to a fondue. You know, the holey cheese. It comes in huge 220 lb wheels. Fortunately, ours come from close by — Wisconsin. The Edelweiss Emmental is everything you'd expect from a swiss cheese. It's smooth and a little sharp and a little fruity. It's made by hand the old fashioned way in giant copper cauldrons.

After loading up at the deli counter with cheese and meat I head over to the dry goods aisle to try a few oils, sauces and vinegars. I've got the time and there's no one else in the store and I've missed my usual tastings of fun foods that are sitting out on the counter to taste.

Bagna Cauda
The first thing I notice is the warm comforting aroma of Bagna Cauda, an olive oil and anchovy dip that is a classic appetizer in the northern Alpine regions of Piedmont in Italy. It is sitting on the counter in a little dish, heated underneath with a tea candle. I dip into it with a piece of Paesano bread. The Italians use fresh vegetables as well. It tastes of its ingredients: Garlic, anchovies, olive oil, and milck (sic). Hearty, simple and very, very good.

Sanchez Romate 25-year-old sherry vinegar
To clear my palate I reach for a sample of the Sanchez Romate 25-year-old sherry vinegar. From the sherry capital of Spain — Jerez de la Frontera, this vinegar has been slowly percolating through a series of wooden barrels for the last quarter century. It has dark, deep, sweet caramelized flavors but it's not as sweet as a balsamic. It has a nice brightness that I frequently put to use to brighten up a hearty winter stew. And it's just about perfect drizzled over roasted parsnips.

Maussane olive oil
My cleansed palate is now ready for a taste-off between two French olive oils. Maussane is buttery and complex, with herbal and olive-y notes. There is no other oil like it. And this month it's $10 off, making it both our most popular and our most tempting French oil.

Eric Martin olive oil
Eric Martin makes the other oil. Also from Provence like Maussane, which comes from the Baux de Provence in the South, the part that's all the rage with the tourists, Eric's oil is from the Northern part of Provence. A place less frequented by tourists, with a terrain sometimes described as "bleak." Prevailing wisdom tells us that harsher terrains make better oils, Eric's is certainly an oil worth tasting. Like the region it comes from, it might not have as ardent a following as the Maussane, but it is just as interesting. Besides, it's $5 off a bottle this month.

Stuzzichella sauce
I finish my taste tour with a spoonful of Stuzzichella heaped on another slice of bread. Stuzzichella is a spicy Italian sauce, chock full of good Calabrian vegetables like eggplants and artichokes. You can mix it into a pasta sauce or just eat it on crackers. It's got a great little kick that lasts long enough to see me out the door and back on the street.

It's cold and looks like snow again. I'm happy to be on my way home with a bag full of comforting foods, looking forward to curling up with a good book and staying warm.

Jess Piskor
Retail Scribe