A Fundraiser for the African American Cultural & Historical Museum of Washtenaw County

The 9th Annual African American Foodways Dinner is happening this coming Tuesday, January 14 at 7pm at Zingerman’s Roadhouse. Here, Ari talks about the menu choices for the dinner, and their history within the African American cooking lexicon.

In making the menu for our 9th annual African American Foodways dinner, a fundraiser for the African American Cultural & Historical Museum of Washtenaw County, we’re serving some classics of African American cooking. While every family will of course have their twists on tradition, this list is a pretty solid collection of well-known and much loved dishes. As Deborah Meadows, one of the women whose hard work has made the museum a reality, said when we reviewed it together, “The menu is a feast! Yum!”

Below are brief descriptions of the dishes along with a bit of history and how they came to be such a big part of African American eating. Much of the historical information came from Adrian Miller’s highly recommended book, Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine. If you enjoy the meal at the Museum fundraiser, you’ll probably want to join us again April. Adrian will be joining us for a special dinner based on his book. We’re excited to have him back—he’s already been a huge hit at two of our nine African American dinners—one on the theme of African Americans in the White House (which coincidentally took place right around President Obama’s first inauguration) and the other on this same theme of Soul Food.

The Menu!

Fried Chicken

No one seems 100% sure how fried chicken came to hold such an honored place on the African American table, but it pretty clearly has for well over a hundred years now. Chickens probably came to Africa from Asia in about 1000AD. Birds had long been prominent in West African religious lore and local elites took to them quickly. Chickens were often thought to be holy and came to be used for religious sacrifice.

As with so many foods, it was a dish that was used by whites to stereotype African Americans. But the reality is that southern whites seem to have eaten it with great regularity as well. In his research, Adrian Miller discovered that fried chicken was first written up as a recipe in Hannah Glasse’s 1747 book, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. Glasse features a recipe for fried chicken that would likely have won praise in the homes of well-to-do white plantation owners. Seventy or so years later, in 1824, Mary Randolph’s now classic book, The Virginia Housewife, published an iconic recipe in which the chicken is fried in lard and butter, adding a bit of smoked pork to the fat for additional flavor (as Adrian says, she “doubled down on pork”). A third version, “Maryland-style” fried chicken, became quite popular along the Chesapeake. It was first battered, and then shallow-fat-fried and was typically served with gravy, waffles or corn fritters. Adrian writes that the famous “chicken and waffles” probably had its roots in the early 19th century where fried chicken and some sort of quick bread were quite commonly paired and called a “Virginia breakfast.”

At the Zingerman’s Roadhouse we use chickens from Amish farmers about half an hour west of here in Homer, MI and prepare them in a style that Chef Alex and crew have adapted from the very famous Gus’ Fried Chicken just outside of Memphis. Seasoned with a good bit of black and red pepper and then dipped in buttermilk batter before frying. Over the years it’s become our biggest selling menu item at the Roadhouse.

Fried Catfish

In Soul Food, Adrian Miller shows that West Africans have been big fish eaters since medieval times. Enslaved Africans would likely have embraced catfish as one of the foods that still seemed familiar. In the American South, fish provided a low-cost way to feed slaves. West Africans have long had a very positive attitude towards 
fish. Not shockingly, we have a few West African customers who order catfish religiously at the Roadhouse, and catfish
has become one of our most popular dishes. The fish come from 
Yazoo City, Mississippi (in the ‘60s farmers in the Delta started switching
from cotton to catfish). Aquaculture made catfish available year round, adding to its popularity. Here at the Roadhouse we roll each fish in the organic yellow cornmeal we get from Anson Mills down in South Carolina — a blend of four different heirloom corn varietals (two dating to the 17th century and two more to the 18th), and then deep fry it ‘til it turns golden brown. Served with white grits from Anson Mills (a different heirloom corn varietal, this one from the 19th century) and collard greens. Fish and grits, if you’ve never tried it, is a terrific combination! A guest from South Carolina told me at the Roadhouse last night that it “the best catfish I’ve ever had. And I’ve had a lot of catfish!”

Pork Barbecue

We’ve been making Eastern North Carolina-style barbecue at the Roadhouse since we opened in 2003. We were trained by our mentor, African American pit master, Mr. Ed Mitchell of Raleigh, North Carolina. “Culturally,” Mr. Mitchell told me a while back, “barbecue was started by black folks. During the era of slavery, they made barbecue for white people, and then they were given the innards and undesirable cuts. That’s why they got used to cooking all those cuts.” As you might have guessed from the fact that we chose to model our barbecue after Mr. Mitchell’s (after tasting a lot of other versions), his is very, very good. “My point,” he added, “is that it was a necessity for them to survive.”

For Roadhouse barbecue we use free-running, antibiotic-free, heirloom breed hogs (which have far more fat, and much more flavor than the commercial hogs most folks are using). We smoke them on the pit (that Mr. Mitchell helped us build) over oak logs for a good 14 or 15 hours. We pull the tender meat from the bones, give it a coarse chop and then dress it with a traditional Eastern Carolina vinegar sauce. For the latter, we use the very excellent two-year-old, barrel-aged organic cider vinegar that we get from Pierre Gingras up in Quebec which we then season with a touch of Muscovado brown sugar, sea salt and Telicherry black pepper. I think it’s got it all. Flavor, texture, history, a good story, a great finish. Smoky warm pork, dressed in that tangy cider vinegar sauce.

Grits

Corn has been eaten in West Africa since 
the 16th century when it was introduced by 
the Portuguese. In the Americas, whites and
 enslaved Africans would have learned how
 to grow, cure, and cook corn from Native
 Americans. African Americans probably 
ate much more of it. European whites
 preferred wheat and left cornmeal, grits,
 mush, and cornbread for their slaves. Grits
 have long been a staple of African American 
cooking. Adrian Miller quotes a South Carolina planter: “The subsistence of slaves consists, from March until August, of corn ground into grits, or meal, made into what is call hominy or baked into cornbread.”

Adrian quotes an abolitionist periodical from 1839, which says that, “the corn furnished to the slaves at the south, is almost invariably the white gourd seed corn.” And, as it happens, what we’ve served since day one at the Roadhouse is exactly that — white grits from a gourd seed variety from Anson Mills, where Glenn Roberts and crew craft some of the best old-school dried corn grown and milled anywhere in the country. They work only with heirloom seed varieties (much lower yield, much bigger flavor); all are grown organically and field-ripened to develop their full flavor; all are cold stone-milled (chilled below 32°F so that they never go above 40°F during the milling); and have their germ (i.e., the natural oil) left in which adds great flavor, but makes the milled corn a perishable product. Grits like this are what African Americans in the South before the years of the Great Migration would have likely referred to as “fresh grits” or “country grits.” They’re enormously flavorful—the difference between these and what one cooks from the supermarket varieties is night and day.

Read part 2 of the menu!

enjoy an inspiring breakfast with zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig

Please join us on Thursday, January 16 at the Zingerman’s Roadhouse for a very special breakfast.

Ari will discuss his latest book, Part 3 of the Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading series,  A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Managing Ourselves. The latest book continues to share the “secrets” that have helped take Zingerman’s from a 25-seat, 4-person start up to a nationally known, $49,000,000-organization employing over 600 people. The book includes Secrets #30-39, and explores 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. Don’t miss it!

Event is from 8:00 am to 9:00 am, Breakfast served at 7:30 am. Call 734-663-FOOD (3663), or reserve your seat online!

$20 for breakfast or $45 for breakfast and a copy of Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading, Part 3: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Managing Ourselves 

Great gifts for your loved ones

Gift Boxed Cookies
These handsome presents are ready to give, great for your host and handy for travel.

Six to choose from:

• apricot and currant walnut rugelach
• raspberry and chocolate rugelach
• citrus almond mandelbrot
• chocolate and vanilla bean macaroons 
• Hungarian almond kifli cookies
• fancy schmancy holiday cookies (includes pecan butter balls, orange anise shortbread and chocolate cherry chewies)

Cranberry Pecan Bread
Available EVERY DAY in november & December!
When we sample it, there’s a phenomenon of customers who grab a piece as they’re leaving and come back a few minutes later asking “What did I just eat? That’s amazing!” This bread is a magic combination of our San Francisco Sourdough, toasty pecans, and dried New England cranberries.

Available at: Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Zingerman’s Deli, Zingerman’s Roadhouse and at Zingerman’s Mail Order

Stollen
A holiday staple at the Bakehouse that seems to get more popular each year we bake it. Stollen is a traditional German holiday bread made with sweet butter, Bacardi rum, candied lemon and orange peel, oranges, Michigan dried cherries, citron, currants, almonds, sultanas, real vanilla and more.

Olive Oil Cake
You might think our butter-laden coffeecakes would be the most luscious cakes we bake, but you’d be mistaken. Extra-virgin olive oil is the fat du jour here and it makes this cake’s texture especially luxurious. Olive oil retains more moisture than butter so it’s soft and silky, like it just came out of the oven, even days after you take it home. Made with toasted almonds, lemon zest—nearly a whole lemon’s worth per cake—and lots of extra-virgin olive oil. It has a great balance of sweet, savory and tangy that lingers long after the last bite.

Give­ the ­Gift­ of­ BAKE!
Is dad ready to learn how to make his first perfect pie crust? Want your friends to join you for a pizza-making party? Do you want to send mom on a BAKE!®-cation? Give ‘em a BAKE! gift card and let your loved ones pick the class that’s right for them!
Call ­734.761.7255­ for­ more ­information­­ about­ giving ­the­ gift­ of ­BAKE!

“Blah. Blah. Blahhhhh.”

This is the friendly command for “eat more” in the Amharic language that resonates through Ethiopian households whenever there is a visitor. Sharing meals and sipping coffee with friends and family are staples of Ethiopian culture, and on Tuesday, October 13 at 7pm, we’ll share with you!

A variety of lentils and chickpeas with braised greens, stewed chicken and seared lamb are scattered together on top of a large round piece of injera – the sourdough flatbread served with almost every meal.The spongy injera is used in place of utensils as it soaks up all of the different spices and flavors.

In both homes and restaurants, delicious meals are often followed by beautiful coffee ceremonies. A light frankincense is burned while coffee beans are roasted over a fire and then hand ground for guests. Traditionally, everyone enjoys three small cups of coffee together – each slightly sweeter than the previous one.

It is widely accepted that coffee originated from Ethiopia and that the teff grain used to make injera was one of the earliest domesticated plants. Come explore thousands of years of Ethiopian cuisine with an array of spices, butter, honey and coffee brought back from Ethiopia specially for this Roadhouse dinner!

Call 734-663-FOOD (3663), or reserve your seat online.

See you there!

A Very Special Dinner

This event will feature delicious recipes from Elie’s Treme: Stories and Recipes from the Heart of New Orleans cookbook.

We are very pleased to welcome writer Lolis Eric Elie to the Zingerman’s Roadhouse for a very special meal and book signing on Wednesday, September 25 at 7:00 p.m. Elie will work with Zingerman’s Roadhouse chef Alex Young to prepare a menu of  recipes from the book and bring a little bit of New Orleans to Ann Arbor. During the dinner, Mr Elie will share his stories and discuss the book with diners, with a book signing to follow.

Lolis Eric Elie is writer and story editor for the popular HBO series Treme, and his  new book, Treme: Stories from the Heart of New Orleans, features more than 100 heritage and contemporary recipes that showcase the eclectic and inventive spirit of post-Katrina New Orleans. The book includes contributions from such legendary restaurants as Brigtsen’s, Upperline, and Commander’s Palace plus original recipes from many of the renowned chefs who have made guest appearances on Treme.

Mr. Elie is a New Orleans native and an award-winning staff writer and story editor for the HBO series Treme. Formerly a columnist for New Orleans’ Times-Picayune, he is the author of Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbeque Country, and the editor of Cornbread Nation 2: The United States of Barbeque. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Saveur, Gourmet, and Bon Appetit, and he is a contributing writer to Oxford American. He lives in New Orleans and Los Angeles.

Mr. Elie recently talked about his new book with Melissa Block on NPR’s All Things Considered.

Tickets will go fast, so call 734-663-3663 (FOOD) or reserve online today! 

New Cooking classes this year!

Over the years we’ve occasionally tapped into the skills and experience of our colleagues in the Zingerman’s Community and our friends in the food world at large to develop unique cooking classes at BAKE! This year we have a handful of special classes covering everything from traditional Korean cooking to a classic American Thanksgiving (which happens to be taught by a Brit!).

Pot Pie with Rodger Bowser
Meet seventeen year veteran, chef and managing partner of Zingerman’s Delicatessen, Rodger Bowser. He’ll lead you in making their famous chicken pot pie, including the aromatic filling and the flaky crust. Rodger will also demonstrate a fall-flavored green salad to compliment your pot pie. Head home after class and enjoy the comforting meal you created. Sharing optional.
­Oct ­3,­ 12:30p – 4:30p
Oct­ 3, ­5:30p – 9:30p

Korean Bossam with Ji Hye Kim
Meet the woman behind San Street, a blossoming Zingerman’s business bringing traditional Korean food to Ann Arbor, currently by way of food carts and pop ins. In this class you’ll make two types of kimchi—the traditional fermented cabbage dish and another more fresh and quick version. She’ll demonstrate the curing and roasting of pork belly and make ssamjang, the accompanying dip. This meal together is called bossam. Ji Hye will share her years of research with you including the history of kimchi, ssamjang and the importance of fermented food in Korean cuisine.
­Oct­ 16,­ 12:30p – 4:30p
­Oct­ 16,­ 5:30p – 9:30p

Thanksgiving Dinner With Kieron Hales
Kieron Hales, Chef at Zingerman’s Roadhouse, has probably made more turkey, stuffing and gravy during his tenure at the Roadhouse than any of us will ever make in our entire lives! Come and learn from him how to do it up right!! Don’t be surprised by his British accent. He’s now a Yankee by choice! This class will be a combination of hands- on cooking, demonstration, tasting and lots of discussion. We’ll teach you to roast a turkey, discuss how to choose one and explore brining. Next we’ll make a stuffing, gravy (no lumps allowed) and a delicious side dish.
­Nov ­6,­ 12:30p – 4:30p
Nov ­6, ­5:30p – 9:30p

Roadhouse Classics with Alex Young
Learn to cook with Zingerman’s own James Beard Award-Winning Chef Alex Young. He’s ready to teach two Roadhouse favorites – Classic Mac ‘n Cheese and Ancho Beef Chili. You’ll learn how to make a classic and useful béchamel sauce, how to properly choose and cook pasta and how to think about creating variations of this basic recipe. Onto the chili, you’ll hear all about Alex’s adventure into cattle raising and how to develop depth of flavor in a dish like chili. You’ll receive a hero’s welcome from friends and family after this class.
Jan­ 16,­ 12:30p – 4:30p­­
­Jan ­16, ­5:30p – 9:30p 

A word from Amy Emberling, Zingerman’s Bakehouse partner:
Seven years ago when Frank and I started BAKE! we had no idea if anyone would come to a class. We didn’t write a business plan, or even “run the numbers.” We took a leap of faith and built a teaching bakery because we were inspired by the idea. We had a desire to connect with our customers in a new and different way. We wanted to share our baking knowledge in a fun and supportive atmosphere, so that people could bake successfully at home. Our idea blos- somed beyond our wildest expectations. Many of you come to class frequently (often with friends and family) and you’ve really advanced your baking knowledge and regularly bake at home. That was our number one objective and wow, it’s happening!