Tag: ZINGERMAN’S CREAMERY
by Tracie Wolfe, Zingerman’s Department for People
When I first started working at Zingerman’s 5-1/2 years ago, one of the first things I tasted was the Zingerman’s Creamery pimento cheese. It was a life changing experience to say the least. I had never been a fan of pimentos and had been reluctant to try it, but now I can’t get enough of it. It’s not just the Creamery’s recipe either — the Zingerman’s Deli, Zingerman’s Roadhouse, and Zingerman’s Mail Order versions are just as great.
My favorite part of the cheese has to be the 1-year cheddar. What I love about the Creamery recipe is that there are big chunks of cheese — you can really sink your teeth into them, and it melts in your mouth.
Ok, so the Creamery recommends that the best way to serve their pimento cheese is to spread it over pretzel rolls made at the Zingerman’s Bakehouse. Um, yes… is there another way? Well, there are but the pretzels are my favorite by far. I always get them sliced — they are the perfect bite size way to get the pimento cheese into your mouth. The saltiness of the soft pretzels makes such a unique combination of flavors in your mouth.
Is there any way that you shouldn’t eat pimento cheese? NO. The Roadhouse pimento mac n’ cheese, especially when it is extra caramelized, is like heaven on earth. I actually made this at home and was amazed at how great it came out when I’m not anywhere near a professional cook. I think it’s just so good that you can’t do wrong by it! What else goes with Pimento cheese EVERYTHING. I put it on scrambled eggs, on a bagel, on a burger, on a hot dog… seriously, you can put it on anything. I venture to guess that it would even taste good on chocolate — ha!
Ok, so let’s be honest, all I really need to pair it with is a spoon and I’d be a very happy girl. Thank you Zingerman’s for this amazing, mind-blowing, scrumptious and life-changing recipe!
Top Picks from Emily:
- Pralus’ Chocolate Pyramids and Mini Pyramids — This pyramid of 75% chocolate, composed of some Pralus’ tropical origins, offers an exotic, chocolate-y vacation. Taste your way from toasty espresso Ecuador to jammy Madagascar. Break each tasting square of the Miniature Pyramids in half and you’ve got a romantic getaway for two!
- Enric Rovira Spanish Drinking Chocolate — What better way to cozy up with your loved one than with an intoxicatingly thick & rich hot chocolate? – Available in sweet and smooth Traditional 55%; bittersweet and decadent Amargo 70 % dark chocolate.
- Baking Chocolate — Looking to delight your sweetheart with a homemade indulgence? We recommend taking a simple recipe and seeking out the best ingredients you can find. Using these knock-out baking chocolates in your Valentine’s treats has been known to induce swooning. Choose from:Michel Cluizel Minigrams (chocolate drops) available in milk, 63%, 72%, 85%, or white. Askinosie Cocoa Powder. or Mindo Chocolate Maker’s Baking Disks.
- Pralus’ Diabolical Bar — One bite and you’ll understand; this is true love. Hazelnut & almond cream, dotted with whole Piedmont hazelnuts tucked inside milk chocolate.
- Fran’s Salt Caramels — A perennial favorite here at Zingerman’s, copper kettle cooked caramels, dipped in either dark and topped with grey salt or milk chocolate and smoked salt.
- Chocolat Moderne Chocolate Covered Cherries — Amarena Mon Amour! Joan specifically selects Italian Amarena cherries for their pleasantly tart flavor; they plump up beautifully during a bath of vodka syrup before being sealed up in a pearlescent dark chocolate shell. Available by the piece, as well as in ribboned 12-piece coral gift boxes.
- Custom Box of Chocolates — Our truffle case will be lovingly overflowing with confections of all kinds, ready to be for your sweetheart’s delight. Come visit us in the Next Door Chocolate Corner where we’ll craft your dream box!
- Chocolate Covered Marshmallows — Zingerman’s Candy Manufactory Vanilla Marshmallows hand-dipped right here at the Deli in fine chocolate and coated in Zingerman’s Bakehouse Graham Crackers.
- Chocolate Dipped Strawberries — Plump ripe strawberries dipped in fine chocolate, adorned with either white chocolate, toasted coconut or slivered almonds.
Pre-order Valentine’s Day Chocolate Dipped Strawberries and Chocolate Covered Marshmallows, call 734-663-3354. Only sold in the truffle case this time of year, a real treat! Available for pick up at Zingerman’s Next Door: 2/13 through 2/16.
Valentine’s Day Chocolate & Bourbon Cocktail Hour at Zingerman’s Events on 4th – TWO Seatings!
Join us on Valentine’s Day for a sample flight of bourbon hand-picked by our very own in-house aficionados, paired with chocolate and confections made by Joan Coukos of Chocolat Moderne. The perfect complement to a dinner with your sweetheart.
reserve your 6pm-7pm seat here
reserve your 8pm-9pm seat here
Chocolate and Cheese Tasting at Zingerman’s Creamery
Join us on Valentine’s Day at 6pm for a night of tasting delicious handpicked cheeses and freshly made chocolate. We welcome special guests from Zingermans Candy Manufactory to bring the worlds of sweet & salty together for a mind-blowing chocolate and cheese event of a lifetime. With cheeses ranging from nutty, hard-crystalized Goudas to fresh, buttery-soft ripened cheeses, and fresh chocolates made especially for the event! Don’t miss it!
Take a Class at BAKE!
BAKE! is our hands-on teaching bakery in Ann Arbor. At BAKE! we share our knowledge and love of baking with the home baker community, seeking to preserve baking traditions and inspire new ones. We offer dozens of different bread, pastry and cake classes in our very own teaching kitchens.
Check out the full schedule and register for classes here
9th Annual African American Foodways Dinner
Tuesday January 14, 7:00pm
Zingerman’s Roadhouse
The African American Cultural & Historical Museum of Washtenaw County presents: A Culinary Cultural Experience
Our community is rich with African American culture, history and knowledge and at our 9th Annual African American Dinner we will celebrate the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County. The AACHM was established in 1993 to research, collect, preserve and exhibit cultural and historical materials about the life and work of Black Americans in Washtenaw County.
From recently filmed Living Oral History interviews, to the Underground Railroad Tour, discover what local African-Americans witnessed, experienced, and contributed to building the community we share today. Chef Alex has created a menu highlighting the journey of seven of our families, sharing their history through food.
Breakfast, Books and Business with Ari Weinzweig
Thursday, January 17, 7:30am-9am
Zingerman’s Roadhouse
Breakfast served at 7:30 am, Event is from 8:00 am to 9:00 am.
Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Part 3, A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Managing Ourselves includes Secrets #30-39 and will explore our belief that some of the most important work we do to build great organizations and lead rewarding lives is the work we need to do inside. The book includes essays on our approach to managing ourselves, mindfulness, leadership at the four levels of organizational growth, personal visioning, why the way the leader thinks will be manifested in the way the organization runs, creating a creative organization and more. You’ll also hear from Zingerman’s staff, we’ll be inviting employees from around the organization to engage Ari in a dialogue about Zingerman’s, building the business, being part of this organization and how you can apply Zingerman’s approaches to help strengthen your organization.
Home Espresso Class
Sunday, January 19, 1-3pm
Zingerman’s Coffee Company
Get the most out of your home espresso machine. Learn more about what goes into making a café- quality espresso. We will start with an overview of the “4 Ms” of making espresso, followed by tasting, demonstrations and some hands-on practice. We will also cover some machine maintenance basics as time allows. This is a very interactive workshop and seating is limited to six people.
Cheese from the “Flyover” States
Friday, January 17, 7:00pm
Zingerman’s Creamery
Did you know that cheese is made in Minnesota, Iowa, the Dakotas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri Come taste some of the best cheese being made in the U.S. from the most unlikely places. We will taste 7 great American cheeses that you are unlikely to find anywhere else.
The Secret Life of Preserves: Featuring Noah Marshall-Rashid from American Spoon
Tuesday, February 4th, 630pm
Zingerman’s Events on Fourth
For over thirty years, the folks at American Spoon in Petoskey, have elevated preserves beyond the supermarket variety that sits for months on the refrigerator door. Noah and his family use only fresh fruit and craft their preserves by hand to preserve the maximum amount of flavor from early glow strawberries, damson plums, sour cherries and more. Spend a cozy winter evening with Noah to hear the American Spoon story and taste the spreads that have made American Spoon a Michigan icon.
Valentine’s Day Chocolate & Bourbon Cocktail Hour – 2 seatings!
Friday, February 14, 6pm to 7pm OR 8pm to 9pm
Zingerman’s Events on Fourth
A sample flight of bourbon hand-picked by our very own in-house aficionados, paired with chocolate and confections made by Joan Coukos of Chocolat Moderne. The perfect complement to a dinner with your sweetheart.
Reserve your seat here:
1st seating at 6pm 2nd seating at 8pm
Brewing Methods
Sunday, February 16, 1-3pm
Zingerman’s Coffee Company
Learn the keys to successful coffee brewing using a wide variety of brewing methods from filter drip to the syphon pot. We will take a single coffee and brew it 6 to 8 different ways, each producing a unique taste. We’ll learn the proper proportions and technique for each and discuss the merits and differences of each style.
Single Varietal Honeys: Featuring Author Laurey Masterton
Tuesday, February 18th, 6:30pm
Zingerman’s Events on Fourth
Single varietal honeys come from bees that eat the nectar of only one kind of flower. Laurey Masterton, author of The Fresh Honey Cookbook: 84 Recipes from a Beekeeper’s Kitchen, will guide us through tastes of her favorite single varietals, and we’ll experience the amazing differences in flavor that each delivers. She’ll also help us understand how each varietal can be used to create unique and tasty dishes. If you thought all honeys are pretty much the same, this is the tasting for you.
A Beekeeper’s Dinner Featuring Author Laurey Masterton
Wednesday, February 19, 7pm
Zingerman’s Roadhouse
Honey is honey, just that simple. But the life of a bee and making the honey is not. Did you know a hive of bees will fly over 55,000 miles to bring you one pound of honey? And that one pound of honey came from two million flowers? Considering one honeybee will only make about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her entire lifetime, that is not a simple task.
Chef and spokesperson for The National Honey Board, Laurey Masterson, author of The Fresh Honey Cookbook, joins us to enthusiastically teach us the benefits of using and eating honey. We’ll be tasting different honey varietals, honey from different regions and of course, using honey to prepare many of Laurey’s vibrant recipes and delivering amazing dishes to the table.
Comparative Cupping
Sunday, February 23, 1-3pm
Zingerman’s Coffee Company
Sample coffees from the Africa, Central and South Americas, and the Asian Pacific. We will taste and evaluate these coffees with the techniques and tools used by professional tasters. This is an eye-opening introduction of the world of coffee.
Five Reasons Why I’m Convinced That American Cheese is on the Road to Greatness
1. I CAN SEE IT HAPPENING
When we first opened Zingerman’s in 1982, we sold just a handful of American-made cheeses. Today, we turn away American cheeses that are better than most of what was available when we first opened. There are so many wonderful, hand-crafted cheeses being made in this country that we’re hard-pressed to keep our selection at a manageable level.
The energy, the interest, the commitment to better American cheese is all around me. I can see it in the cheesemakers. There’s more of them all the time, more committed to making the best-tasting cheese they can make. I can see it in the people who come to Zingerman’s to buy cheese. They’re inter- ested, they’re intrigued, they want to learn, they like to taste. They like to eat good cheese.
2. THE AMERICAN ABILITY TO CHANGE
As a nation, we often have a hard time com- ing to consensus. But once we decide that we’re going to do something, we do it faster than almost any people on earth. You can see it with American wines. Forty years ago, the French laughed at them. Today they sell our wines in Paris. American cheeses are on the road to greatness, too. And they’re moving fast.
3. THE AGE OF LIMITS IS UPON US
There’s a lot of talk these days of “American decline” the “end of an era.” H ow terrible it is that we have to “accept limits.” I beg to differ. Times change. And change can be very good thing. The truth is that we aren’t pioneers anymore. There are no more plains to cross. We can’t conquer nature. There is an age of new limits upon us. But as we accept these new limits of our lives, we are now free to look inward, to examine the spiritual, to embrace the smaller—but in some ways finer—things in life. Appreciating nature instead of trying to conquer it. Eating and enjoying great food is one of those things. Our fixation with making bigger cheeses is giving way to a commitment to making better cheeses. Quality can pass quantity as the measure of our success.
4. THE ECONOMY
It may well be that my generation and the generations which follow will not be able to afford to buy bigger houses or fancier cars than our parents did. But we can definitely eat better. Food is one of the most afford- able luxuries there is. We might not be able to afford a new Cadillac, but we can certain- ly savor a great cheddar or an exceptional hunk of Detroit Street Brick cheese.
5. ONCE YOU SHOW THEM PARIS IT’S HARD TO GET THEM BACK ON THE FARM
Lord knows, we’ve eaten a lot of mediocre food in this country in the last 50 years. But look around and you’ll see that better tasting, fresher, more flavorful food is appear- ing all around you. And once we get used to eating good food, we won’t want to go back. If you’ve come to love real Roquefort, you won’t go back to bags of “blue cheese crumbles.”
Special Summertime Gelato at the Zingerman’s Creamery!
Our special summertime flavors are designed to cool and refresh!
- Luciano’s Lemon Gelato
A silky, sweet Summer tradition made from Zingerman’s Bakehouse lemon curd. - Macaroon Gelato*
We make this rich, coconut delight with macaroons from Zingerman’s Bakehouse.
* We’re pleased to announce that, since we love it so much, we’ll be making our Macaroon Gelato all year ‘round! - Cherry Chocolate Chip Sorbet
We use tart Michigan cherries and house-made chocolate chips to make this decadent sorbet.
Available through August!
Parking Lot Resurfacing July 22 & July 23
At long last, our poor bumpy parking lots here at Zingerman’s Southside are getting a facelift!
When we’re done, your visit Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Creamery, Coffee Company, or ZingTrain will be a much smoother ride.
Where will I park?
No problem! We’ve shifted parking temporarily to an area behind the Zingerman’s Southside businesses, easily accessible through our picnic area.
Just follow the yellow Zingerman’s Temporary Parking signs:
We’ve even created a map to help you find your way:
When is this happening?
The work is planned for Monday, July 22, and Tuesday July 23, and the construction crew tells us the tentative plan is for our parking lots to reopen on Wednesday, the 24th. Temporary parking will be in place as long as needed.
If you have any questions about the temporary parking arrangement, please DO NOT hesitate to call us!
- Zingerman’s Bakehouse: 734-761-2095
- Zingerman’s Creamery: 734.929.0500
- Zingerman’s Coffee Company: 734-929-6060
- ZingTrain: 734-930-1919
More information on getting to Zingerman’s Southside Without Getting Stuck in Traffic.
See you soon!