An Interview with Mike Zoromski, Smokemaster at Nueske’s

*Note: Mike will be a guest speaker at this year’s Camp Bacon® where he’ll give us “A Look Behind the Smokehouse Door.” Recently, Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig had a quick chat with Mike about his background, and the smoky magic that happens at Nueske’s. 
Visit our website to reserve your Camp Bacon seat and find more info. Please join us! 

Pretty much every morning for the last 34 ½ years, the Deli kitchen crew has begun its day by cooking many pounds of Nueske’s amazing applewood smoked bacon! The same can be said for the Roadhouse over the past 13 years. Their wonderful product graces the menus at the Deli and the Roadhouse, shows up on sandwiches, in Bakehouse breads and Creamery pimento cheese. It’s a regular feature in our Mail Order bacon of the month club. It’s safe to say that without Nueske’s, Zingerman’s would be a very different place today!

It’s also safe to say that without the work of Mike Zoromski to design, build, and manage the artisan smokehouses in which all that bacon gets smoked, Nueske’s would be a pretty different place as well. To get a look, so to speak, behind the smokehouse door we’ve gotten Mike to make a rare public appearance at Camp Bacon this year!! What follows is an interview with him, and a chance to hear some behind-the-scenes, behind-the-smoke, sense of what makes the Nueske’s smoking so special. Come to Camp Bacon® 2016 and meet Smokemaster Mike in person!

How did you get involved with smoking? How did you get involved with Nueske’s?

I was so young and foolish back in ‘83 when I was asked if I wanted to work here, that I had no clue of what I was getting into. But what I do remember was that everything that Bob and Jim Nueske, (sons of founder, Robert “R.C” Nueske), and my brother Jeff taught me about smoking this product stuck with me. Even back then it seemed like I had a knack for doing it, but I was young and still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, so I left to get back into the building trade.

After fifteen years in construction, Jeff asked me if I wanted to come back. He needed someone to tend the smokehouses, so I came back and it was amazing. Everything that I was taught in 1983 came right back to me, almost as if I hadn’t left. I knew I was where I belonged, and I took it very seriously. I was going to make these smokehouses my own. Soon I started to see that each one had their own personality, and I knew I needed to figure them out so that the all the products came out looking and tasting the same every time.

What are some of the things that go into building a great smokehouse?

A controlled heat source, which distributes and disperses the heat and smoke evenly through the product, and a good consistent draft throughout the house that you have control of with a good damper system.

Many consumers love bacon but don’t really understand the details of the smoking process. I know some of the details will be proprietary, but can you take us novices through the process of smoking?

There are three basic cycles in almost every smoke process. There is a drying cycle, where you might have more of an open damper setting with smoke, and you slowly bring up the temperature. Then there are some critical meat temperature ranges that you need to get through in certain amount of time for food safety reasons. During that time you would have a more closed damper to hold the heat and humidity in, and during that that time you are getting a lot of smoke penetration into the meat. I have looked at the product during these early cycles, and you never believe that the product will end up with the beautiful deep color that it does at the end, but the smoke and flavor is getting in throughout the night. The last cycle in this long process is to start bringing up the smokehouse temperatures slowly to reach your final meat temperature. I like to use this time to put my final touches on the finish color, adding more smoke or adjusting the dampers. There is a science behind what really happens during the whole smoke process and there is always something new to learn.

What are some of the things that distinguish artisan smoking the way you do it at Nueske’s from the commercially smoked meats that people are used to buying in the supermarket?

Our competitors probably think we are nuts when we keep building single truck houses. They think the way to increase production is to build fifteen truck houses and mass-produce. Well, that’s not the way to hold onto what we have done for 80-some years. We use real Applewood logs in our houses, they use smoke injectors that burn wood sawdust, or even liquid smoke that tastes fake. We have a 24-hour cycle to get that full flavor; their process is about half that. Our houses are seasoned with a year’s worth of smoke on the walls; theirs are cleaned every day. You could probably run product through ours without putting any wood on and they would end up with more smoke flavor than a normal cycle with wood at one of those other places. That special attention that each rack gets in our houses is something that no mass-producing smokehouse could ever duplicate.

Are there seasonal differences in the smoking?

Yes, very much so. In the cold winter months, you have to control the draft more. The air is dry and it wants to get up and out, and if you don’t make those adjustments, you could end up with lighter colored meats. Then when the cold nights switch to the spring thaw and the frost turns to dew, we again make adjustments. Then comes the heat and humidity of the summer. Thunderstorms are tricky; they are unpredictable and usually bring a quick change in temps outside. Then, when the summer air starts to change to fall, and at the beginning there is a lot of dew, you start to see the differences again, then when the dew switches back to frost again, the draft in the houses start to speed up, and then we are back to winter. If I had a choice as far as how the houses best perform, I would pick the winter, because we have more control over the air flow in the houses.

Nueske’s has long used the applewood—have you smoked with hickory? How are they different?

I have not used Hickory here at Nueske’s. I have tried products that were smoked with Hickory and I do like the flavor, but it doesn’t compare to Applewood. Applewood has a much sweeter flavor and produces a deeper golden color. Hickory is a much harder wood that produces a bitter nut, so I think the differences in smoke flavor are similar to the fruit they produce, not that hickory smoke is bitter, but the oils that are trapped in the wood from a tree that produces an apple compared to that of a nut.

With the new cherrywood smoked bacon… Was it hard to learn to work with a new wood?

It’s funny how much your past helps you in everything you do. I spent a lot of time with my dad logging, making pulp and firewood, and all that time he would teach me about the different types of wood we would be working with. One of the trees we had worked with a lot in our area, was the Wild Cherrywood we now use here. The Wild Cherrywood is a lot different type of wood than Applewood; it is a solid but light wood, with a closed grain and a very bitter berry. When we were kids we called it a choke cherry.

When we decided to try it for our Cherrywood smoked bacon, I knew it would probably burn away faster than Applewood does. So on my very first try in our smokers, I figured I might have to use a little bit bigger size piece of wood than I do with Applewood, and I was right on. We use that much all the time now and the color is very good. A little lighter than Applewood, which I thought it would be, but by using the bigger pieces we get very close the color of our Applewood bacon.

I think that having that knowledge that was passed on to me from my dad really helped me, and it still does every day when I’m picking wood for the houses. I go through and select only the higher quality wood and the rest goes home to my fireplace.

Nueske’s products are clearly very special. But so is the company. What’s it like working at Nueske’s?

It is pretty special to work for a company that produces the products we do, and it has always been like working for family. I always admired Bob’s toughness on how he ran this company, yet I considered him a friend. It is no different with Tanya, she too is my friend, and I would never let them down. It’s quite an honor to have the title of Smokemaster of Nueske Meats.

What else should we know about your work at Nueske’s?

I now have three guys working for me in the smokehouses, including my son Matt. I also now have Steve and Dallas, and I couldn’t be more proud of the job they are doing. Every day it seems like they learn more and more about these smokehouses. It doesn’t take four guys to do this work right now; it’s about a two and a half man job. But with expansion on the horizon, we need to train them now, so that when there are more smokehouses to run, the products will continue to get the personal attention they need. These three guys have shown a lot of passion towards this job already, so it will be in good hands when I retire…someday.

Are you excited about coming to Camp Bacon?

Yes and no. I never considered myself to be a very good public speaker, but this bacon and my smokehouses are not hard to talk about. So I’ll try and pretend that I’m walking around and giving a tour of my smokehouses.

 Zingerman’s is very pleased to welcome our friends, Canadian spice importers, the Spice Trekkers (aka Épices de Cru, en Français) to Ann Arbor this week for a series of special events centered around the use of whole spices in cooking.

We still have seats  for tomorrow’s In Pursuit of Pepper dinner at Zingerman’s Roadhouse. Reserve your seat here.

Or click here for more information about the other public events at Zingerman’s Deli, and Zingerman’s BAKE!

A Dozen Different Peppercorns

BLACK PEPPER TELLICHERY RESERVE
Philippe de Vienne says, “Tellichery is probably the most famous and abused name in the black pepper trade. The town is one of many harbours on the south-western coast of India known as the Malabar Coast. The justly deserved reputation grew during the British period when the town was the export point for the area pepper. Over time the word Tellichery became synonymous with quality pepper. In those days the pepper from the surrounding mountains was exported through the now disused port of Thalassery as it is now called. The great peppers still come from the hills, most notably from the Wyanad area. Today other ports are used but the name remains, a sure sign of the reputation of the black pepper from this area. As the name does not benefit from an A.O.C. protection, it is greatly abused by people who want to project a quality image for their second rate pepper.”

The real thing is an inspiration. How do you know you have it? One obvious answer is buy from people you trust, as we do with the de Viennes. Another is to learn to know the smells and flavors that accompany the authentic article. The aroma of the de Vienne’s Telicherry Reserve is BIG. Stick your nose inside the tin and take a deep breath. Surprisingly, it doesn’t make me sneeze. It reminds of burnished old wood, of eucalyptus, of walking through the woods in northern California. The flavor is big too. Supermarket pepper by contrast, is rather one-dimensional, hot in a narrow and not all that enticing if still better than nothing kind of way. . It’s spicy but it’s hardly habanero-hot. This is a spice that livens the tongue, that continues to resonate without really ever taking over. The heat is rich, well-rounded, well off, worldly.

MLAMALA BLACK PEPPER FROM INDIA
The Mlamala pepper comes from the Cardamom Hills, near where the great green cardamom we get from the de Viennes (try it in the Armenian coffee at Zingerman’s Coffee Company) is coming from. It’s harvested in the hills facing the areas near the Periyar river where the de Viennes semi-wild Tribal black pepper (also amazing) come from. “Unlike tribal it is from a domesticated variety of pepper vines; hence the larger berries. Similar terroir, different varietal,” Philippe explained.

Part of the quality comes from the altitude—these Mlamala pepper vines grow at 2500 to 3000 feet above sea level. The area gets a lot of sunlight which, along with the good local soil, naturally fertilized by the farmers, yields large and full flavored berries. Careful and timely harvesting and processing complete the picture. It’s a delicious, full flavored, spicy regional black pepper. Use it any way you would use other black peppercorns, which, if you’re like me, means on almost everything. Salads, pastas, meats, seafood, soup, tomatoes. Honestly it’s even good on vanilla ice cream.

SHIMOGA PEPPER FROM INDIA
An especially interesting, lively black pepper from the Shimoga district in the Indian state of Karnakata. Also known as Mysore, it’s north of the Telicherry region. At times we’ve gotten some terrific coffee from the region. Today it’s the leading location for India’s burgeoning biotechnology businesses. Where Tellicherry goes big, wide and deep, Shimoga is focused, narrow, intense with an almost electric set of high notes, a sensual spicy warmth and a very long and lovely finish.

WILD TRIBAL PEPPER FROM INDIA
Speaking of the Cardamom Hills, here’s a wild offering—wild grown, black peppercorns, hand harvested in the Periyar Tiger Preserve in the Cardamom Hills. Why “tribal pepper?” Philippe de Vienne explained, “The Tribals, as they are called In India (not in a pejorative way) are the indigenous or first nations of India. They are essentially animists and live a semi- settled life. The government affords them a degree of protection—outsiders are not permitted without passes to the areas. When the Preserve was established the people where hunting tiger for the black market. They were encouraged to grow pepper in their villages using cuttings from wild vines that still grow in the surrounding jungle. So essentially, when you eat tribal pepper you have the original taste and flavor of wild pepper. The ‘wildness’ explains its quick hot bite and rustic flavors.”

At the same time, part of what’s making this wild Tribal Pepper so engaging to me right now is that it’s new—as in, “new crop,” just harvested a few months back. There’s a freshness and liveliness to its flavor and aroma that comes from being new crop—it’s actually been air-shipped to Montreal for the de Viennes, then boxed and sent south over the border to us. It’s got a lot of deep, balanced, long lasting pepper heat. High notes in the nose, low notes to underwrite those, and a really long slow lingering finish.

MUNTOK WHITE PEPPER FROM SUMATRA
While white pepper is less overtly popular in the U.S., it’s highly prized in Europe where its more delicate flavor fits well with many dishes. It’s here in Indonesia that the process has been essentially perfected over the centuries. “It is impossible to ignore the fact that it is thanks to the ancestral knowledge and practices in places like Bangka throughout South east Asia, that we learned how to transform perfectly ripe peppercorns into white pepper. This product so intrigued the Dutch that they went on to monopolize the trade of this most sought-after commodity, which they called Muntok after the harbour from which it was transported beginning in the 18th century.”

You can use white pepper really any place you’d use black. It’s a bit subtler, softer, less likely to take over a dish. Be careful. It can creep up on you slowly from behind if you put too much in. Philippe adds, “White pepper is often used ground in white dishes where black pepper would show black fleck. The French love white pepper for that reason, cream sauces, white fish and for the lighter flavour that balances well with subtle ingredients.”

8-PEPPER BLEND
This might be the best of all peppercorn worlds for the cook who values diversity of flavor. Most pepper blends are a waste of time because they mix white, black, green and pink and it’s silly. They don’t work well because the black and the white overtake the delicacy of the other two. But I still really wanted a pepper blend. I bugged my dad for years. But he didn’t like the idea. And then, literally, it came to him in a dream. He had the idea to add allspice to the blend. I love it. It’s one of the few original blends we have but it works with everything because it has so many aspects it works with almost everything.

PINK PEPPERCORNS
These are actually not peppercorns at all, but the pinkish-red berries of another bush, Schinus molle. Many Americans are familiar with their flavor, which contributes to the spicy taste of Teaberry gum. The de Viennes have sourced some especially excellent ones from the east coast of Madagascar. An intriguing and enticing addition to fish dishes, fresh cheese, lobster, or cocktails.

VOATSIPERIFERY BLACK PEPPER
Voatsiperifery does have a bit of otherworldly flavor, an aroma that for some reason I associate with old and long abandoned stone churches. Like cubeb, black and long peppers, voatsiperifery is a true pepper. Voatsiperifery comes from “Voa,” meaning “the fruits” and “tsiperifery,” Malagasy for this pepper vine. I’ve yet to go in person but one day—from what I know, the wild pepper grows very high on the trees and the berries appear only on the new grown shoots that appear annually. The Voatsiperifery berries look a lot like Java cubebs (known as comet-tails)—small round spheres about 3 mm across with a thin tail that’s a bit longer than the ball is round. Voatsiperifery has been used in Malagasy cooking for centuries and is ideal for seasoning fish and seafood recipes. The woody, floral fragrance of these dense, red-brown, peppercorns evoke citrus. Its subtle sweetness and moderate heat are great for desserts and chocolate. For a great red meat seasoning, blend Voatsiperifery pepper with other pepper varieties. A rare taste of Africa’s biggest island and an exceptional way to add some magic to your cooking.

LEMON PEPPER BLEND
Most “lemon peppers” out there are made be seasoning black pepper with lemon extract. The Épices de Cru offering is something else altogether—an all-natural lemon pepper. A combination of black and green peppercorns with Szechuan pepper, Thai lemongrass and the citrusy Andaliman pepper from Sumatra. The aromatic blend was born from Ethné de Vienne’s obsession with the bold and pronounced citrus flavor of Andaliman pepper. Its tongue-numbing capacities combine beautifully with green and black peppercorns as with Szechuan peppercorns and lemongrass. Ideal for seafood, fish, salad dressings and poultry. I really love it on fried seafood—shrimp, clams, oysters, or fish are all fantastic when you toss some of this blend—ground of course—on top just before serving.

SICHUAN IMPERIAL RED PEPPER
This is one of Marika de Vienne’s favorites. “It’s remarkable!” she told me not long ago. Sichuan Province is surrounded by high mountain ranges which means its historically been apart from the rest of China, and its food is quite different as well. While black pepper enlivens, Sichuan pepper turns your taste buds upside down. It has a lively lemoniness that plays tricks with your tongue, numbing and it and opening it to other flavors at the same time. Its frequently used in the region in conjunction with some wonderful spicy chiles. The region’s food is based on seven flavors (rather than the five that are generally thought of elsewhere): salty, sweet, bitter, acid, pungent (generally from garlic and ginger), nutty and spicy. While its known for its hear, it’s really ultimately about harmony. Chef-owner Danny Bowien of SF’s renowned restaurant Mission Chinese says, “the more I dove into Sichuanese cooking, [the more I realized] it’s really about balance and restraint and not having things be over-the-top spicy.”

LONG PEPPER FROM INDIA
Long peppers are about an inch or so long series of little black “peppercorns” that merge together into one “cone” as they grow. You can use long pepper whole in anything you’d do with black pepper. The flavor is clearly in the same family as what currently comes out of the pepper mill that’s permanently ensconced on my dining room table, but with some seriously interesting high notes and a sweet, round fruitiness that’s really lovely. I keep trying to think of a good way to describe it but . . . where Telicherrry black pepper’s flavor is a bit more direct with nice winy undertones, the Balinese long pepper is more of a roller coaster ride, sort of an accordion full of exotic flavors that play out in twists and turns as you eat it. I don’t know . . . those analogies may not get the idea across. Let me just say that it makes for some very interesting, very sensual, very spicy eating.

To use it, a spice mill is your best option. Long pepper is too long to work in most pepper mills. A chef’s knife can do the trick too if you’re careful, and a hammer and clean towel can work fine. It’s great sprinkled on the rounds of the fresh goat cheese from the Creamery. Spice fresh fish with it or use it to make a steak “au poivre.” Get Medieval and make a sweet-spicy dessert by poaching pears in white wine, vanilla, a touch of sugar and lots of long pepper

Francois Vecchio’s 3 Rules About Eating Cured Hams (Plus One Of My Own)

Francois Vecchio is one of the most knowledgeable (and nicest) folks in the world when it comes to the subject of cured meats of any sort. He happened to share this list with me a while back, and I’ve found it very helpful in assisting everyone I know to gain more enjoyment out of eating cured hams and salumi of all sorts. Although #1 and #2 were long familiar to me, #3, although incredibly obvious once he said it, was something I’d never thought of. We’ll call these “Francois’ 3 Rules Not To Break When It Comes to Serving Cured Ham.” Being more proper and of Swiss-Italian origin, he calls them, “reprehensible activities.” He brought them up in the context of Prosciutto di Parma but they’re totally true for good cured hams. So . . . if you want to get the most out of your investment in any cured ham —Prosciutto di Parma, Jamon Serrano, acorn-fed (bellota) Iberico ham from Spain, Herb Eckhouse’s, Newsom’s or Edwards’ Country Hams —don’t do this stuff, ok?!

1. Don’t trim the fat off the Prosciutto

Francois and every other European ham aficionado will tell you the same thing. The fat isn’t a bad thing—it’s THE most prized part of the product. I always come back to the story of one ham maker in Spain who was showing me how to trim a ham. You do remove the fat on the very exterior of the ham, which has yellowed and turned slightly rancid. But that’s it—the rest of the fat is to be left alone because that is, of course, where the best of the flavor is at! “If you take away the fat,” the Spaniard said, smiling (sort of) “I will have to kill you!” I know this is a bit like pushing dark crusts—it runs so counter to most people’s mindset that not everyone is going to be receptive. And of course we don’t ever want to lecture a guest or come across as preachy about this stuff so we need to say it gently, or better still, in the right setting with humor. But really, the fat is where it’s at. I guess, now that I’m thinking about it, it’s akin to cutting the crusts off the Farm Bread; not inherently evil but sort of misses the mark in terms of getting the full eating experience.

2. Don’t hold sliced Prosciutto for any time in your fridge.

I guess the model for ham buying would more akin to buying fresh fish than to aged cheese. While cured ham won’t go “bad” in a day (it really won’t likely literally go bad for weeks or even months), good cured ham is definitely more something you’d want to eat the day you buy it, maybe at most the day after. Once the ham has been cut it’s exposed to the air, and it starts to lose aromatics and flavor. Nothing inherently evil about it, it’s just if you’re going to spend good money to get really good ham, why not eat it at its best? With that in mind, I encourage you to just buy a little bit at a time—even an ounce or two at time is fine—and then come back and buy a bit more.

3. Never wrap Prosciutto around melon

This is the one of Francois’ rules that got my attention. It makes perfect scientific sense but since I don’t really have a science mind, I just never thought about it. But once Francois put it in my mind a few months ago I’ve started to spread the good word. And this column will, I hope, help to do that. So here’s the deal—if you wrap cured ham around slices of melon (the way they do in all those fancy food magazine photos) the water in the fruit will naturally pull the salt out of the ham, which completely degrades the careful curing done by the ham maker and throws the flavor totally out of balance. That doesn’t mean that ham and melon (or figs or whatever) don’t go well together—they certainly do. “Just,” as Francois says, “…use both hands—one for the Prosciutto, and use the other hand to pick melon, pear, grape or fig bites.” And he adds, “Drop all for a wash of sweet Orvieto!”…

To Francois’ list I’m adding a fourth point:

4. Always eat cured ham at room temperature

When it comes to serving cured ham follow the same guidelines as you would with cheese—get the ham to room temperature before you take a bite. If you doubt the value of this small step, taste a piece of the same ham right out of the refrigerator and another that’s at about 65°F. I think you’ll find that the former is missing about 65% of the flavor. Since the cost to the consumer is the same in each instance, it’s strongly in everyone’s interest to serve at the warmer temperature. It won’t fix the economy overnight but it is a way to increase value significantly without adding cost in the least.

Zingtrain travels to Africa

In May, ZingTrain had the privilege of being invited to teach in Ethiopia. And we’re not using the word privilege lightly here. Dr. Senait Fisseha is an inspiring and inspired doctor. Among the many roles Dr. Fisseha plays at the University of Michigan is the Executive Director of the Center for International Reproductive Health Training (CIRHT). And it was in that capacity that she asked ZingTrain to be part of the life-changing work she is doing in her native Ethiopia. To quote from a University of Michigan press releases:

“Dr. Fisseha has learned that well-trained OB-GYNs work as leaders in the health system and generate positive public health impacts including increased family planning provision, better pregnancy management, more facility-based deliveries, and better surgical outcomes. Our center will help empower women to make their own decisions about their own reproductive health, thereby choosing whether and when to start a family. Our ultimate goal is to help train future generations of capable and competent health care providers in many parts of Africa and South Asia who can deliver comprehensive reproductive health services, and also be advocates for the safest and best healthcare possible at every stage of a woman’s life. ‘Today, our center begins its new role in the developing world as we work with our partners in Ethiopia to ensure that incoming doctors, midwives and other health professionals are equipped to provide comprehensive reproductive health care that will save women’s lives,’ says Dr. Fisseha.”

Our contribution to Senait’s amazing work was to share our thoughts on Leadership, Change, and Organizational Culture with the visionary and determined healthcare professionals she works with in Africa. It is our hope that we contributed in some small way to their massive and much needed undertaking.

I interviewed Ari and ZingTrain’s Ann Lofgren who traveled to Ethiopia to teach. It was clear to me as we spoke that our conversation could have gone on for days. They were teeming with recognitions and realizations that came from this amazing opportunity. They saw how cultural differences play a role when you are training in a different nation, and came to understand the challenge in translating our values and techniques across that difference. They recognized the role that access to resources play in our success and were humbled by the honor of being able to contribute to such great work. What follows is a distillation of that conversation that could have gone on for days.
_____________________________________________________
Gauri: What were you doing in Ethiopia?

Ari: We were teaching ZingTrain content in collaboration with the Center for International Reproductive Health Training (CIRHT) and the Center of African Leadership Studies (CALS).
We did 3 sessions at St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College (SPHMMC) and one session for the directors of all the Ethiopian government ministries—from Agriculture to Transport to Health.

On Day 1 we taught Zingerman’s 12 Natural Laws of Business to about 35 members of the St. Paul’s Leadership team. On Day 2 we did 2 sessions on Servant Leadership—one for all the head nurses and the second for members of the hospital administration. What we presented to the directors of the ministries was a mix of the 12 Natural Laws and Servant Leadership.

How were those training topics chosen?

Ari: Well, the answer begins a while ago. Teddy Araya, who founded and runs the Center for African Leadership Studies, came to the U.S. as a part of his work with the University of Michigan. This was about a year and a half ago. He attended my ZingTrain Speaker Series session on Creating Creativity and after the session we got to talking and Teddy said to me, “ One day I will get you to Ethiopia.” And he did.

Teddy teaches Leadership and has been working with the cohort at the hospital on Leadership. He is an incredible teacher and trainer—he practically co-taught the session with me. And he’s doing great work with the team at St. Paul’s Hospital. Recognizing that the team he has been working with has not had the opportunity for extensive Leadership training, Teddy wanted to widen the range of Leadership ideas and concepts that they were being exposed to, he wanted to bring in a new perspective. And that’s the role we were playing.

Teddy is very committed to service—both internal service that co-workers give each other and external service to customers. The Ethiopian economy is booming and Teddy believes that for it to keep growing in a meaningful way, the next focus has to be on Service. Being a visionary, he is also very bought into the idea of Visioning and how we apply it to projects of all scales. That’s how Zingerman’s 12 Natural Laws of Business became part of the training we delivered. Because they touch on everything from Visioning to Service to Organizational Change.

Ann: I would reinforce that an important aspect for Teddy was to bring in someone from the outside because people listen and accept differently when they hear a fresh perspective from what they’ve been hearing over the years.

What resonated the most with your audience?

Ann: Going in we were just not sure how our ideas would translate across culture and language. We know that the way we use Visioning here at Zingerman’s is a pretty radical thing, Even when we teach it here in the US, with no cultural or language differences, we present the idea, we talk about how we do it, we set it all up and then we kind of hold our breath and wait.

We did the same at St. Paul’s. Ari explained it to them. Teddy translated it into Amharic and helped with some of the cultural differences. And then we held our breath and waited, unsure that it was going to work at all.

But it did! Visioning was definitely what resonated with the group the most.

Yemisratch Abeje is a lovely woman who was in our training session on Day 1. On Day 2 she stood up and said to the team, “Yesterday changed everything.” And then she explained what she meant. She explained Visioning to her team. It was all in Amharic and we couldn’t understand a word she was saying but we all had goosebumps. She was almost crying. We were almost crying.

Ari: That moment really reinforced the statistic that over 90% of what we hear and learn is not the words. It really was pretty great – when we presented Visioning, they said the same things people say here. “It changed my life.” “Nothing will ever be the same again.” “I can’t believe I got this far without it.” “I can use it for anything—even my personal life.”

What resonated the least? What was hard to translate? Where did you have to change how we typically teach something?

Ari: The hardest thing—and it wasn’t that different from teaching in Slovakia—is that the audience all speak English but they understand it better than they speak it. Learning new ideas in a group is awkward anywhere. Learning in a language that is not the language you speak in is more so. And on our end, teaching in a culture that is not our culture is challenging. Metaphors don’t translate well. You’re concerned about being respectful in a culture you don’t understand, even if you studied it. And the humor, the humor doesn’t translate well!

Ann: The way we introduce the Zingerman’s 12 Natural Laws of Business is by talking about the Energy Crisis in the American workplace. The Energy Crisis was a challenging idea to convey. The great thing was that when they got it they totally got it but we had to go about it a different way.

Ari: There’s also this. In any place that has a lot of poverty, the notion of Energy Crises and choosing to do good work is hard to translate because the opportunity for people to create good work for themselves is much smaller. Sheer necessity plays a much bigger role in your choice of work. Our support systems, our opportunities, our advantages here are just so much more significant. And consequently you find a lot of good energy being directed at the infrastructure rather than creating good work.

Ann: I think that despite the lack of resources, despite the language barrier, despite the cultural challenge, what came through to us was their determination.
They truly appreciated the opportunity to be at the training. Because their resources are limited, I sensed that they appreciated the opportunity far more than their American counterparts might have. And that was big. That made what they were hearing even more important and it is clear to me that they are going to do something about it!

Ari: The truth is that they are trying to change the face of healthcare in Ethiopia. Senait is an awe-inspiring person, a testimony to the what one single person can achieve with vision and determination and drive. As I was prepping to teach the Natural Laws, the obvious dawned on me. Senait is a living example of all the Natural Laws. She is living in harmony with all of them. She provides Vision. She does the hard work no one else wants to do. She envisions and values and brings together the contributions of really diverse resources. Under her leadership, they are clearly building a cathedral, not just laying stone. They are changing the quality and focus of healthcare in terms of both content and attitude. They are trying to treat patients with respect and competence.

And that is what we were contributing to.

New crop Ethiopian coffee is in!

I’ve always loved Ethiopian coffee. Ever since I started paying attention to, and appreciating, the flavors of regional beans, the nuances of various roast levels, the variations of crop years and the other elements that make up a really exceptional cup, Ethiopian coffees have kept their spot at the top of my personal taste list. Their remarkable, always interesting, winy, at times blueberry-like, big flavors aren’t, I know, for everyone, but they’re definitely for me. I love ‘em.

Without question, I drink Ethiopian coffees more than any other single offering!

Happily, having just been to Ethiopia (see page 6 of Zingerman’s July/August newsletter) I can see why they’re so special to me. Not only do they taste great. They have a fantastic history to go with them.

Although not that many folks out in the world know it, Ethiopia is the literal homeland of coffee. It’s where the coffee plant probably originated, and pretty surely where coffee was first consumed as a beverage. As the story goes, a young goat herder named Kaldi noticed his goats frolicking more than usual after eating the berries of a certain bush. He picked the berries and brought them to an Islamic monk who showed his disapproval by tossing them into the fire, from whence the first coffee roasting commenced. Somehow Kaldi decided to grind and brew the toasted beans and, apocryphally at least, coffee was born. Ethiopia is also the place from which Yemeni traders took coffee to Europe and the rest of the world. All of which is why coffee means about 88 times more in Ethiopia than it does anywhere else in the world.

What’s it like everywhere else? In most every other country in which it’s grown, coffee was introduced in relatively recent history, primarily by European colonists, and primarily for one purpose—not to make good mocha available, but to make money. Coffee was grown, not for personal consumption, but almost exclusively, for export. Unlike a garden where you grow your own tomatoes to enhance the excellence of your dining table, coffee was grown for cash. If someone wasn’t making a living growing coffee, he or she could be just as likely to grow tobacco, timber or tea. As a result, coffee is generally well-integrated, and often downright essential, to the economy of places like Costa Rica, Honduras and Kenya, but it’s generally NOT part of the culinary culture. Coffee is important to create jobs, earn income, and pay bills. But brewing and drinking great coffee is just not that big a deal. While clearly coffee has grown to become an important part of the culture (probably in Brazil more than anywhere else) the reality is that instant coffee is still a huge product in most producing countries.

Ethiopia is the exact opposite. Everyone (well, nearly everyone) drinks coffee. Nearly all of it is really good, if not, at times, excellent. More importantly, the majority of the population (there are exceptions) love—and almost revere—the stuff. About half of the annual crop is consumed internally. They appreciate coffee for the income it brings, but they care about coffee emotionally as much as they do their history, the culture, traditional dance, and language. Coffee in Ethiopia is like . . . cheese and wine in France, fish in Boston, rice in Japan, chiles in New Mexico, really wild, wild, rice for the Ojibwe people here in the upper Great Lakes.

How does that play out? Well, for openers pretty much every place serves pretty darned good coffee. To be clear, I don’t say that lightly. Honestly, I would really never drink coffee in a hotel, and only rarely in restaurants unless I know who roasted it and I like and trust the people who run the place. Commercially brewed coffee in those sorts of places is so rarely enjoyable (the general guideline for me is that bad tea is nearly always much, much better than bad coffee) so I just order black tea. But in Ethiopia at nearly every single place I ordered it the coffee was good. That alone is an amazing thing, a feat that would be unthinkable almost anywhere else in the world (including Europe and the U.S.) And some shops serve some seriously great coffee.

Some shops even brew beans from specific regions—called out by name—in Ethiopia. While that might seem mundane to folks in Southeast Michigan who are used to having access to regional and estate offerings of various coffee beans from Zingerman’s Coffee Company or in other quality focused cafés, it’s actually rarely seen in producing countries (other than maybe in a cafés run by growers or government sponsored coffee boards).

Most all of what I had on my visit to Ethiopia was brewed in filter pots and a fair few places used French press pots. A good many others pull shots of espresso (although often much longer shots than we’re used to here). Ethiopia, of course, is the only country on the continent never to have been colonized by a European country. As a result, energy and independence of spirit seem particularly high. Ethiopia was invaded by Italy back in the 1930s. The only big legacies of the invasion seem to be a high affinity for pizza, and the frequent use of Italian coffee brewing methods. Café Macchiato—the traditional Italian style, with only a small bit of milk and a shot of espresso—seems to be the most commonly consumed brew.

Ethiopians do have a very important traditional coffee ceremony which plays the same sort of role there that the tea ceremony does in Japan. Green coffee beans are roasted over hot coals in a metal pan. The coffee is then ground, often with a mortar and pestle. The new grounds are put into a special ceramic carafe. Water is added and brought to a boil so that it starts to rise through the long neck of the carafe. It’s then poured into another vessel to cool it a bit, then boiled again. To serve, the coffee is poured through a filter into handle-less cups. Generally the pot is moved back and forth over the series of cups so that the liquid is evenly distributed. Many Ethiopians add sugar. Some in the countryside add the traditional clarified butter and salt (this version of coffee becomes a bit of a traditional instant breakfast). The grounds are typically brewed three times. Teddy Araya told me that, the first round is called Abol, the second is Tonena and the third is Berk, the blessing. In some places like Tigrai, they serve to the fourth round. The best part is the first since it is the thickest. The subsequent ones will get lighter on every round. In Tigrai, they give the fourth round to kids.

The traditional accompaniment for coffee in Ethiopia? Not a croissant, not a cookie, not vanilla syrup. It’s popcorn. That’s right. If you order coffee in a traditional setting, say after dinner, it will come with a bowl of popcorn. And while that may seem odd, I’ll tell you that it’s actually darned delicious. Try it!

For me, here’s the ultimate testament to the import and care that accompany coffee culture in Ethiopia. When you goto the markets, alongside stalls selling vegetables, fruit, spices, etc. there are many that are selling green coffee beans. A few sell already roasted beans but the majority are still in their green, unroasted state. “Everyone here roasts their own at home,” a friend told us. Since our visit was short and I couldn’t speak Amharic to the men and woman working the stalls, I bought a half-kilo from one woman who seemed nice. She had three baskets (others had even more) of different green beans on display. I had no idea really what I was buying but just for fun, I bought some to bring back to the Coffee Company’s managing partner Steve Mangigian.

When I got back Steve roasted it up. After what I’ve written here, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn it was really good. No, not the single best coffee I’ve ever had in my life—but for a blind random choice it’s actually amazing that it was so tasty. If you’d told me it was a sample from one of our high-end brokers I’d have told you I really liked it, certainly very respectable. Culture, I’ve always believed, is a much better enforcer of ethical standards than any formal certification. The fact that it happened the way it did, by random meandering around the market in Addis Ababa, says a lot. Coffee in Ethiopia is serious business, so much so that market stalls wouldn’t even think of selling something bad. Coffee drinkers won’t tolerate it.

Our current Ethiopian bean from Zingerman’s Coffee Company is, as I said in the beginning, at the top of my consumption list. It’s a new crop—a 2015 harvest of coffee beans from the Harar district in Ethiopia’s northeast. It’s grown at very high altitudes—nearly 6000 feet—which contributes to the quality and complexity of the beans. The city of Harar, which sits at the center of the region, was founded between the 7th and 11th centuries and over time became a significant center of Islamic learning and culture. The Harari language is one of over 80 in Ethiopia! Aside from the excellence of its coffee, the area is also known for its basket weaving, bookbinding and poetry. Speaking of the latter, in the late 18th century it was home to the French poet Rimbaud. More importantly to matters at hand it’s said to be the first region in which indigenous wild coffee was domesticated.

The best Harar coffees, like this one, have wonderful winy, fruity flavors that remind me of blueberries, or at times maybe blackberries. It is a “natural” or “dry” processed coffee. The pulp of the coffee “cherry” is left on the “beans” in the center and dried naturally in the sun, which yields a more intense, fruity, full flavored coffee, which is, of course, the kind that I particularly love.

Available at Zingerman’s Coffee Company and Zingerman’s Deli! 

What’s in your cup?

Sitting in a café in the town of Metsovo in northern Greece many years ago, I innocently ordered tea. I was expecting the usual uninteresting bag of commercial black tea that I’ve come to expect almost everywhere in Europe. But before the waiter could leave the table, my late but much-loved friend Daphne Zepos (see the Epilogue in Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading. Part 3 for much more on this amazing woman) asked me if I wanted “regular tea or mountain tea?” Never having heard of the latter, but ever the inquisitive eater and drinker, I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Why not? I’ll try mountain tea.

A few minutes later it arrived—a bouquet of long light green stalks with tiny flowers and buds attached steeping hot water. Its aroma was excellent—a little sweet, a touch of mountain meadow. It has light amber color and a compelling, sweet perfume and a lovely, light, naturally sweet flavor that hints of thyme, lemon and anise.

In Greek, the mountain tea is known as tsai tou vounou (“TSAH-ee too voo-NOO”). After literally months of trying to find out the English name I’ve gotten that what they serve is called Diktamus. Others have said it’s actually called Sideritis or ironwort. It’s a hardy, flowering perennial that’s well suited to survive with only minimal water and rocky soil. Whatever it is, it’s worth trying if you’re looking for an herbal brew to experiment with. To brew it, you simply break up the branches, then boil them for about 5 minutes in water, then strain and serve. Like some green and oolong teas, you can get more than one brew from each bunch of buds.

Our terrific Greek mountain tea is coming through our new-found food friend, Vivianna Karamanis, who’s got an eye and a palate for extremely excellent products (try some of the roasted pepper-tomato sauce we’re getting from her at the Deli). This wild Greek Mountain tea is from the Pindos mountains in northwest Greece, where it’s gathered by hand over 3000 feet up. Only the flowers and the small bit of the most tender stems are used. More commercial brands will include much longer pieces of stem which also tend to woodiness and are less sweet.

It brews up into a light golden liquid that has a naturally sweet flavor. In Greece it’s consumed as much for health as for pleasure. It’s an old school remedy for colds, muscle pain, and more. Wild grown herbs like this are generally acknowledged to be more potent in that regard—the cultivation of plants doesn’t quite replicate what happens when nature is left to her devices. The high altitude growth tends to concentrate essential oils even further. Vivianna’s mountain tea is also certified organic. Many Greeks like to add a bit of thyme honey to sweeten it further but I drink it as it is. Great with a bit of a biscuit from the Bakehouse or some toast and jam.