Tag: ZINGERMAN’S DELI

Maddie LaKind shares a cheesy story

People choose to start their mornings in all sorts of ways. Some opt for a cup of coffee and the paper. Some prefer an intense workout. Some even choose to wake up and reflect through writing or meditation. My mornings always start with mozzarella—that is mozzarella making rather than mozzarella eating. Although, I wouldn’t be opposed to the latter.

For nearly as long as I’ve worked in Zingerman’s Deli retail, the preparation of mozzarella has been the primary task on my morning checklist. Each day, between 7:00am and 8:00am, I (or any of the other few who have chosen to embark on the crazy journey of mastering “mozz”) turn a big hunk of curd into individually portioned servings of milky, mildly salty, cheesy goodness.

Just like jam, or pie, or any number of other well loved, but labor-intensive food classics, mozzarella is finicky to say the least. I always think about it like a math problem of sorts: all of the elements—heat, water, time, motion—must come together in just the right ratios to make a successful mozzarella. Some batches of mozzarella might be considered good by many standards, but that’s never really what I’m looking for. I want mozzarella that makes people swoon, that puts even the sweetest, and most succulent heirloom tomatoes to shame, the kind of mozzarella that people actively seek out, that brings them back. This has been my mozz quest since the very beginning.

The mozzarella making process is an inherently simple one. All you are really doing is heating up curd and bringing it together into a giant mass so that you can pull pieces off and shape them into individually portioned balls. Once shaped, the cheese is soaked in a salt-water brine to firm up and add that lovely salty flavor. Sounds easy enough, right? The catch is that you are essentially racing against the clock during this whole process. Either too little, or too much time can lead to a less than ideal mozzarella. Heating the curd too quickly will lead to the excretion of too much milk fat, yielding a dry and chewy texture. And if the curd sits for too long in the hot water, it will simultaneously lose milk fat and melt, creating a slippery mass of curd that ultimately yields a final product that’s too dry. So much for an inherently simple process, huh?

I think what I’ve realized about mozzarella making, as with any art form, is that the entire process is informed by practice, trial, and error. I’m pretty sure you have to make about 30 batches of botched mozzarella before you achieve your ideal desired product. For many people, this sort of process is completely unappealing. Why would you want to invest so much time in something that takes so long to give you something delicious in return? For me, I like the challenge. I like that it’s not always easy. I like that you have to use your senses and intuition to create the best possible mozzarella. I like that I learn something new about the process with every batch I make. And I really can’t complain about tasting mozzarella five days a week!

While my mozzarella mornings aren’t very conventional, for my obsessive foodie self, they are the perfect way to start my day.

– Maddie 

Zingerman’s Deli recently started using a different brand of tuna on their sandwiches. We caught up with Deli Managing Partner Rodger Bowser to get the lowdown on the new tuna. Here’s what he had to say: 

How did you first hear about Skipanon tuna?

I first discovered Skipanon through Ari, who had heard about them but hadn’t had the chance to try their products yet. This sparked my interest, so I called them and began emailing with them. I also checked out their website and thought they looked pretty cool. I had the owner, Mark, send us some samples. He send some large bulk cans and a mess of other canned fish. The more I found out about the company and their fish, the more I liked them. This was especially true after I tasted the tuna. After two months, I was able to visit their cannery in Oregon while I was visiting the area. I got to meet the entire crew and watch their production line in motion. It was a wonderful visit and this solidified the new relationship even more.

What can you tell me about Skipanon?

If you want to know more about Skipanon, I’d recommend watching this video that I came across recently. You’ll hear about them straight from Mark Kujala (the owner). His passion for what he does really comes through. Small family-run canneries are sort of a thing of the past. I was surprised to even hear of this small custom cannery, operating out of Warrenton, OR. It was started in the 70’s by Mark’s father, Paul. They can salmon, tuna, steelhead, sturgeon, among other fish. They fish for the salmon on their own boat, and the tuna is hook and line caught from 3 to 4 other boats. They fish using sustainable practices and keep freshness in mind at all times. Their fleets and canneries have multiple certifications and awards in recognition of this too.

What is it about Skipanon tuna that makes it better for our sandwiches and salads?

After tasting the tuna in our recipes, it was a no-brainer. It simply made a better American-style tuna salad. We use a simple, but tasty recipe for our tuna salad, and this tuna is perfect for it. We like to let the tuna do the work. The tuna salad tastes great, and the portioning and moisture of the fish allows for a fluffier texture. Since its cooked in its own juices, we are not draining a bunch of water off the tuna once we open the can. We get cans full of tuna instead of cans of tuna and tuna-flavored water.

Using Skipanon tuna is better for our 3 bottom lines (Great Food, Great Service and Great Finance):

• It’s better tasting.
• It’s full-flavored and traditionally caught and processed.
• Skipanon’s service is the kind of service that we love to give.
• We like to work with companies that do things right.

This tuna will cost more, but it’s well worth the increase in price. I suspect the sandwich price will go up about $1. But this isn’t a bad thing, when you consider how much better this sandwich, costly slightly more, will taste. Our customers know a good thing when they taste it. And, they also know that great ingredients from great companies cost a little more. This increase in cost isn’t due to inefficiency, but rather from the extra time spent carefully crafting a great product, hiring skilled workers, and being an active part of their community. This is a methodology that we understand and can relate to. We want our vendors to be fairly compensated so they can keep doing what they love to do best for a long time to come, and we can create a long-lasting relationship with them.

Stop by the Deli for a taste! 

The Retail Life—Zingerman’s Style

My one-year anniversary in Zingerman’s retail came around earlier this month and, looking back, it has been quite the jam-packed year. Starting with the madness of graduation crowds last May, then Farmer’s market weekends over the summer, countless football Saturdays in the fall, extravagant Christmas shopping weeks throughout December, epically slow days during the polar vortex, and now, finally, a lovely, flower-filled spring. This year truly flew by!

In order to regain my bearings and gain a sense of closure on my first year of adult working life, I thought I’d take a minute to look back on my time in retail so far. Given my obsessive love of lists, a top ten countdown seemed like a fitting medium for such reflection. So, for all you curious folks out there wondering what the ins and outs of retail life at Zingerman’s really look like, I present to you…

Thank you to all of the guests, managers, colleagues, and friends who made this one of the best (and most delicious) years of my life. I’m eager to see what the next chapter brings.

– Maddie

…and how they ended up at Zingerman’s

I recently sat down to talk with Josh Pollock, manager of the Bakehouse bake shop about growing up in Ann Arbor, working for another local business icon, Borders, and how we came to join Zingerman’s.

EJ Olsen: What’s your background?

Josh Pollock: I grew up in town as a faculty brat. My dad was a professor at the UM School of Engineering. I went to Newport, Forsythe and Pioneer. After high school, I was ready to get out of town, so I left for about 10 years and during that time is when Zingerman’s really established itself. I lived in NYC for a couple years and had a lot of great food experiences there, including going to all the classic Delis like Katz’s, the Carnegie Deli, the Second Avenue Deli and some of the great old kosher dairy restaurants there, too. When I came back to visit a couple of times, I visited Zingerman’s Deli and it was great to get that high-quality corned beef sandwich right here in Ann Arbor.

What was your first sandwich at the Zingerman’s Deli?

I’m pretty darn sure it was hot corned beef on rye with mustard.

Okay, so I was born here at UM hospital. I went to Wines, Forsythe, Pioneer and Community. In fact, while at Community, we used to go to the little store on Detroit St. that eventually became the Deli. We also used to go to Kerrytown for lunch at Kosmo’s. I was first exposed to a Reuben sandwich on trip somewhere with my family, and I really liked that sandwich. When the Deli opened back in ’82, they immediately had a reputation for great sandwiches, so I had to give them a try. And there at #2 was the Zingerman’s Reuben. I’d never tasted one quite that good, quite that BIG–

(laughter)

So, I was a regular customer and fan for the next few years. Moved to San Francisco, came back after a few years and Zingerman’s was doing better than ever and it was really nice to stop in and say hello. Moved to Washington DC, came back. Zingerman’s always made returning to Ann Arbor really nice, you know?

Yeah.

So many things in Ann Arbor have changed. It was nice to see that Zingerman’s was not only still there, but had grown considerably.

It’s one of the things you do in Ann Arbor. You’ve got your list of things, and going to Zingerman’s is on almost everyone’s.

When I came back to Ann Arbor permanently in the early 90s (I’d been working publishing in NYC), and I was attracted to working for Borders because they had a passion for books, and they had great bookstores. And at that time, Borders didn’t really consider itself a chain, they considered themselves a collection of fine bookstores, and that was the line.

I remember!

When Borders came to an end, I was really looking for something that had a lot of the same attributes that existed in the early Borders. A passion about what they did, a desire to do it incredibly well, and culture that really supported giving great service and being the best at what you did.

And this is what’s made Zingerman’s such a nice fit. Like the early days of Borders, they know exactly what they want to do. Instead of chasing the money, they’ve concentrated on chasing the three bottom lines: great service, great food, and great finance.

I was attracted to working for Borders for the same reasons you mention above. And I love to read, so it was hard to imagine a more perfect job!

I was a legacy staffer at Borders, as my mother worked for Tom and Louis Borders at the old State St. store back in the 1970s. It was very much part of the fabric of Ann Arbor. When they became successful, it felt like our great hometown bookstore had caught on and that was a pretty neat feeling.

I had a long and fun career at Borders. And, as you said, for a time Borders and Zingerman’s really resembled each other in terms of culture and passion and service.

So, after that ended, I wanted to work for another organization that really mattered to me. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to have that sort of experience again. It was sort of a high-water mark with regard to quality of work life. And, lo and behold, I found it all these years later here at Zingerman’s.

Yes, yes! Managing the bake shop, I see a lot of the same things I used to see managing the Borders downtown. You see a lot of people you know. You see their parents!

(laughter) Yes!

You hear from everyone you know about every detail of their experiences at every one of the Zingerman’s businesses! It’s a lot of fun and it’s also a lot of responsibility, because you have to carry the banner. And it’s a great banner to carry and the company makes it very easy to do. It’s a great place to be because just as with Borders, you get to know people and their tastes, and you can personally recommend a book. It’s the same thing with food.

Absolutely!

So when something new comes in, some new Hungarian dish, you can say “You’ve got to try this” and to see the look on their faces when they make that food connection. You watch their face light up as they get it, and that’s so exciting.

It is! If you grew up in Ann Arbor, you have a unique relationship with a large percentage of your clientele. These are friends and neighbors, the people you know and so I think there’s a heightened sense of responsibility. I’m going to see this person again soon, and I can’t just not give my best because…

They’re gonna tell my parents!

(laughter) Right! And so there’s that personal investment in the people who come into our businesses. I feel like I’m recommending something that I love and I have no qualms about doing so. I mean, for YEARS, I recommended Zingerman’s before working here, so it’s been a pretty seamless transition.

There’s something here for everyone, and chances are if we make something you like it will be among the best, if not the best, you’ve ever tasted. We’ve had people who say they don’t like something, they try our version, and they like it. That’s exciting.

And now, I must get back to my Sólet!

Mmm, Sólet!

1. She grew up in Vermont. Her parents were innkeepers and often cooked dinners for up to 45 people, including inn guests. Laurey attended her first such dinner at age 16 months. She wrote a memoir looking back at this time called Elsie’s Biscuits: Simple Stories of Me, My Mother, and Food. This is where she developed her love of good food.
2. While in college, Laurey discovered the theater department and after graduation, she embarked on a 10-year career as a Theatrical Lighting Designer for various theater productions in New York City. She left New York to become an instructor for Outward Bound Asheville, NC.
3. She quickly realized that Outward Bound was not her calling and, at the suggestion of her sister, started a catering business in 1987. The business soon expanded to include a cafe and in 1990, she moved Laurey’s Catering and Comfort Café into downtown Asheville as a part of a wave of city renewal.
4. Faced with the frustrations of being a small-business owner, Laurey says she was on the verge of quitting when she decided to retool. She credits the Zingerman’s Experience seminar at ZingTrain with helping her develop a new vision for the business, and turning things around.
5. Laurey is an avid bike-rider, and often participates in benefit rides for various non-profit organizations. She is s three-time cancer survivor and has trekked across the Continental US (3100 miles!) to raise research money and awareness for ovarian cancer. She works with the LiveStrong Foundation to help with support, counseling and assistance for cancer survivors.
6. She became interested in honeybees while catering an event with Project Honey Bee. She went to beekeepers school, began raising bees, and even did a TED Talk on the subject of bees. A strong advocate for raising awareness of the integral part that bees play in our ecosystem, she has written a cookbook called, The Fresh Honey Cookbook, featuring a chapter each on 12 different honey varietals. The book is full of recipes, and interesting information about bees, pollination, and honey. She currently serves as spokesperson for the National Honey Board.
7. Laurey likes to improve on recipes calling for sugar by using an interesting honey varietal. Her favorites are: avocado, sourwood, poplar, tupelo, and chestnut.

U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, State Rep. Adam Zemke, D-Ann Arbor, and State Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor met with Zingerman’s Deli staff and Ann Arbor business owners at the Deli yesterday afternoon to discuss proposed increases in the state and federal minimum wage.

The Congressional Representatives chose to meet at Zingerman’s following a recent trip by Paul Saginaw to Washington D.C., where he, along with other national business leaders, met with U.S. Secretary of Labor, Thomas Perez.

Dingell praised Paul’s trip to Washington, saying, “It says that there’s conviction there, which is sufficient to cause a very substantial expenditure to inform the Congress of what Zingerman’s and what Mr. Saginaw, who made the trip, thinks is the need of the country.”

Dingell is a co-sponsor for bill H.R. 1010, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, which would increase the federal minimum from $7.25 to $10.10. Irwin and Zemke are co-sponsors for Michigan House Bill 4386, which would increase the state minimum wage from $7.40 to $9 in 2014.

During the meeting (known as the #SandwichSummit on Twitter), the Representatives listened as Deli staff shared their experiences, and talked about the implications and benefits of raising the minimum wage.

Also present to express their support for the proposed legislation were local businesspeople Sandy Bledsoe, owner of The Espresso Bar in Braun Court, and Eve Aronoff, owner and chef at Frita Batidos on W. Washington St. downtown, as well as Comptroller for the City of Grand Rapids, Sara Vander Werff.

“It is but equity…that they who feed, clothe and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labor as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed and lodged.” – Adam Smith,  The Wealth of Nations

A big thanks to everyone who participated!