Wisconsin Foodie

– Luke Zahm: This week on Wisconsin Foodie: [upbeat guitar music] So we're here at Apple Fest, and I've heard that this is the place to be.

- I agree.

- Yeah.

- [laughing] Personally.

- That is so good.

- It's so good.

– Daniel Grooms: A day in here is pretty hectic.

You get wet, you get kind of, you know, you smell like fish, and your dogs love ya, wives not so much, so... [laughing] It's not too bad, though.

– Luke: One of the older recipes that I've used throughout my cooking career is fish in parchment.

Once we have our ingredients prepped, this is really a super simple process.

This is what it means to eat a truly connected cuisine, and this is what it means to be in the Upper Midwest.

Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: - The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie, and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- I'm going out to pasture with the cows this morning.

– Announcer: At Organic Valley, we're on a mission to save small family farms.

– Farmer: Tasting pretty good?

– Announcer: And you can join us.

– Farmer: [laughing] Girlfriend's on a mission.

– Announcer: Organic Valley.

- Twenty-minute commutes.

Weekends on the lake.

Warm welcomes and exciting career opportunities.

Not to mention all the great food!

There's a lot to look forward to in Wisconsin.

Learn more at InWisconsin.com.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit "Swiss"consin and see where your beer's made.

- Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure; stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit DNR.WI.GOV.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site, high-quality butchering and packaging, The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.

– Luke: Additional support from the following underwriters.

[relaxing music] Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

[upbeat music] We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.

We are a merging of cultures and ideas, shaped by this land.

[sizzling] We are a gathering of the waters, and together, we shape a new identity to carry us into the future.

[glasses clinking] We are storytellers.

We are Wisconsin Foodie.

[light energetic music] Today, we're on the road to Bayfield, where Apple Fest is taking place.

Over 50,000 people each year descend on Bayfield, a small town of barely 1,000, to celebrate the bounty of the harvest.

We have a banger of a trip lined up.

We get to talk with some members from the Red Cliff Fish Company, who are sustainably harvesting fish from Lake Superior, and their story goes back older than time.

We get to meet some people who are growing their own varietals of apples, and frankly, just take in all the gorgeous beauty of northern Wisconsin in the fall.

– Calli Zauner: Well, we were originally potato farmers, actually.

So our family came over from Ireland after the potato famine, like many, many, many others.

My great-great-grandpa Dawson was an award-winning potato farmer.

Yeah, and at some point, potatoes became not the crop anymore, so they got into apples.

And from what I understand, which I'm not an expert, but this area specifically, because it's a peninsula surrounded by Lake Superior, that actually lends to the environment.

Otherwise, the apples couldn't grow; it'd be too arid and be too cold, and that Great Lake Superior kinda protects us and gives us our own ecosystem, which makes this farm successful.

And this is where all the apples are hand-graded, and the volume is actually incredible.

My 86-year-old grandpa picked 75 bushels yesterday morning before the rest of us woke up.

His favorite saying, "The truck only gets rusty if you let it sit."

Sure, some days.

This is cool; it'll hit you right away, the smell of all the apples.

I mean, you just look at the volume; it's pretty incredible to know that all of this was hand-picked.

So while we do have tractors on the farm to lend with some heavy hauling, all of this is hand-picked with a basket on the front side of the body, up on a ladder, just picking and putting it in a bushel at a time and brought back into the grading shed.

Your sister's eaten her body weight in apples, as we tend to do when we come up here.

I think a lot of us, like, nothing against apples in the store.

They're just not the same, so we come up here and we just consume all of the apples.

[footsteps crunching on grass] - Twist and then pick.

– Arthur: What do you think of these apples?

- They're good; I like them.

[light energetic music] [cars whooshing] [light energetic music] [background laughing] - Hey, how's it going?

- Hi.

- I'm Luke.

- Hi, Luke; Calli, nice to meet you.

- So we're here at Apple Fest, and I've heard that this is the place to be.

- I agree.

- Yeah.

- [laughing] Personally.

– Luke: I'm really interested in something that maybe is unique to Hauser's.

- It's called a Hauser Merlot for its color, but it popped up-- There was a stump in a hole on the orchard, and my mom and all of her siblings, eight of them, they would haul all of the cores back there, they would toss their cores into this hole, and three trees popped up.

Out of those three, one of them pollinated, and they actually made this beautiful, beautiful apple.

So we call it a Hauser Merlot because we tend to get into wine from time-to-time.

[Luke laughing] All of the aunties, you know, they get in there.

So it's this deep, rich, red apple.

We have guessed at a cross.

We think it's a Cortland for sure, maybe a Macoun, but it is bright white, it is so juicy, it's very crisp, especially if you get it cold.

I mean, it's almost like a peach.

Like, you get a bite of it, you're gonna get some juice on your chin, and it's a wonderful, wonderful eating apple.

To our knowledge, it's the only place you can buy it.

- Yeah!

- It's great.

– Luke: That's the one I want.

- Do you wanna eat one?

- Can I try one?

- Yeah.

- I can't-- They're all so beautiful.

All right, so I'm gonna... - Yeah, that's the trick.

- There it is.

- Yep.

- Right on the shoulder.

- Right on the shoulder.

- All right.

- That's good.

[Luke biting apple] - That is so good.

- It's so good.

- Oh, my gosh.

- It's so good.

It's really firm, so you could bake with it, but honestly, I wouldn't waste it in a pie.

[laughing] I wouldn't.

- Right.

- I wouldn't cover it up with sugar or cinnamon.

It's so good.

- This is perfect.

Can I please purchase a bag from you?

- Sure.

- This one looks good.

- This is the one?

- I would take it.

- All right, thank you so much.

It's nice to meet you.

- It was nice meeting you as well.

- Thanks a lot.

– Calli: Thanks.

[powwow drumming] [powwow singing] - Nathan Gordon: Today, we're singing a little bit for the crowd that came in for Apple Fest, sharing our culture through song and dance.

We're from the La Point Band, and that's also with the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

Overall, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, this is our ancestral homelands.

So you'll have the tip of the Bayfield Peninsula and the Apostle Islands.

In the drum group, we have a number of different singers and different dancers from the area.

Some even travel in as far as Minnesota or Michigan.

It was a honor to be asked to come down here.

It's just a great way to share our culture with everybody that comes and visits.

When you sing under the dewe'igan, that's what we call our drum, it's kinda like the heartbeat of Mother Earth.

So when you hit that drum, it's kinda, it brings together everybody.

[powwow drumming] [powwow singing] - My English name is Gretchen Morris.

My name is [speaking Ojibwemowin].

[speaking Ojibwemowin] I share with you my name, my spirit name, my clan, and where I'm from.

- Thank you.

We've been watching some of the Red Cliff dancing here today.

How significant is that presence at Apple Fest?

– Gretchen: It's about inclusiveness, creating community, creating a mighty nation together, to work together, to understand and to share what we have to offer not only through the beauty of song and dance, but also what we have to offer as a exchange of our love for one another.

- So it's fall, it's the harvest season, we're here on a street in Bayfield, and there are people celebrating all around us.

– Gretchen: Mm-hmm.

– Luke: What does the harvest mean to you, personally?

– Gretchen: For us, it's a time to wind down.

We're preparing for the winter season.

It's a celebration as we enter into the next season.

So that's what we're doing here today.

We're celebrating together as a people, enjoying the festivities, enjoying the wonderful apples, and the different makers out there, making beautiful creations with apples.

But you'll also see some tribal vendors out there, some Anishinaabe people, and people from other nations, and they'll be bringing in that influence too.

You might enjoy some wild rice, you might enjoy some trout, various things, but yeah, this season, you know, it's so beautiful.

- Thank you for taking the time to share a little bit of yourself with us.

We appreciate it.

- Aw, miigwech.

– Luke: Miigwech.

[Luke laughing] [light electronic music] - This is a whitefish sandwich, and you really can't get much more fresh or local than being two blocks away from the lake in which it was harvested.

Here we go.

The thing that's really lovely about this, it's so fresh, so flaky, but it holds up with consistency.

A little bit of tartar, a little bit of a toasted bun, that's a perfect bite.

[light electronic music] The Red Cliff Fish Company is one of my favorite ways to interact with the lake.

The Red Cliff people have been here since before time was measured, harvesting whitefish, lake trout, and walleye from these waters in a sustainable manner.

Hopefully, if my timing is right, I can score some whitefish fresh off the boat for a dish that incorporates the bounty and harvest of the seasons around Bayfield.

- My name is Daniel Grooms; I'm the business manager here.

I am a tribal member of Red Cliff.

I moved here in '95 and grew up; I've been all over, but keep coming back.

So Nick will work on the walleye first here, and then I'm gonna jump on the whitefish.

You know, fish does come in on a daily basis here from the fishermen, so the first thing we do is we come in, is we start weighing and toting fish.

We keep what we need for orders.

At that point, Nick's running the floor, where I'm usually in the office, running the store.

We'll get filets set up for fresh up from the stores, as well as smoked fish, and then, yeah, the guys start cutting.

A day in here is pretty hectic.

You get wet, you get kind of, you know, my table's getting pretty dirty, but you're constantly cleaning as you work, so.

When you leave home, you smell like fish.

Your dogs love ya, wives not so much.

[laughing] So, it's not too bad, though.

So again, Nick DePerry, he's a tribal member here.

He's also a tribal council member and he's my operations manager with this facility, and working very closely with these fishermen.

Now we work for Red Cliff and Bad River, state guys as well, if they're interested, but we're able to provide a healthier meat alternative to the community programs, ceremonies, things like that, and then we're also in programs now that provide fish for 10 other reservations within the state of Wisconsin.

You know, other reservations that don't normally, they don't have fish, they don't have an opportunity to fish.

So we work with them, our food distribution, to provide, they might do corn, or wild rice, things like that, that we're able to, again, give them fish and we're able to receive that in return, and it benefits the community in general, so.

- Historically, that's what we did here, was fish The Great Lakes, so, I mean, it's a year-round food source.

You can set the nets in the winter as you can in the summer, but yeah, as far back as I can remember, everybody has been, that I know, specific families at least, been fishing the lake.

And their grandsons actually are, are out there now fishing and we buy fish from them.

Yeah, that lake definitely means something to the Anishinaabe and us here in Red Cliff, Bad River, all the Great Lakes bands.

She's something special.

It is definitely something that we continue to fight for daily.

That lake has been here, cripes, for millennia.

It was there, my father, his father, his father before him, and hopefully, it's there after me.

[light electronic music] [doorbell dinging] - Hi, welcome, how ya doing?

- Hey, I'm Luke.

- Luke, Dan, good to meet ya.

- Nice to meet you.

- All right, what can I get you for today?

- So today, I'm looking for whitefish filets, preferably fresh if I can.

- Absolutely.

We just cut some up a little bit ago, so that worked out pretty well.

- Fantastic.

- Came in at the right time.

- So I gotta say, I've driven up here before, specifically to buy fish.

But I'm actually wondering, do you do wholesaling to restaurants?

- Yeah, we do.

So we deal with a good amount of people there.

What we'll do is, contact me, the name of the restaurant type of deal, but we are happy to do that.

We service the Bay Area, but we're willing to go as far as we possibly can, so.

– Luke: I think so many people are so excited about what's happening here and being able to kinda have an interaction point.

– Dan: Oh, yeah.

– Luke: So that there's less dissonance and more cultural crossover.

I personally love that in my food.

I love food with a story.

- Oh, yeah.

And as I said, we're happy to do that, all the guys here, that's kinda our mission here, so we love doing it.

- That's great.

- That's three filets, just a little over a pound, just, that's it.

- That's it.

- All right.

- I'll take it.

- Yeah, we're brand new, I mean, we're on year two, and we're only making more improvements as time goes along and hoping to expand.

We got a nice kitchen that's in the works next, so-- - Yeah.

– Daniel: We'll see what we can do there.

- That's great; people in the food world are really, really excited to see the Red Cliff come into their own with their own fish processing facility and be able to access this great, great resource that comes out of Lake Superior.

- Well, yeah, you said it in a way, we're here to provide, so.

- Thanks, Daniel.

- If we can help in any way possible.

Other than that, you're all set.

- Thanks, brother.

- Here we go.

- Much appreciated.

- Have a good one.

- Have a great day.

- Enjoy.

[light guitar music] - We've got our whitefish, we've got our apples.

Now I'm looking for the perfect spot to be able to put together a dish that encompasses the entire essence of Bayfield and the Red Cliff area.

[light guitar music] So today, we get to do kind of the ultimate shore lunch.

Shore lunches are usually synonymous with fishing trips, and the hard work's been done for us by the Red Cliff Nation.

Their fish processing facility at the Red Cliff Fish Company is top-notch, and what we got from them were whitefish filets.

One of the older recipes that I've used throughout my cooking career is fish in parchment.

Now in French, that's en papillote.

In Italian, it's en cartoccio.

In Wisconsin, it's fish in paper.

So today, we have a small campfire set up right on the shores of Lake Superior.

And what we have is we have this little Lodge cast iron pig.

We love this thing; we take it with us on our road trips, and what I've done is I've built a really small hickory fire.

We're gonna almost use this like a Dutch oven today, so I need some heat coming down from the top.

Over here, I have some ingredients that I'm gonna actually put into the parchment.

Once we have our ingredients prepped, this is really a super simple process.

[parchment paper tearing] This beautiful piece of whitefish was harvested from the lake not more than 24 hours ago.

And one of the real tricks to cooking in parchment is seasoning in layers.

So next to me, I have salt; additionally, I have some freshly-cracked black pepper, and we're gonna season the fish nicely.

I blanched off some of these Driftless Organic baby gem potatoes.

Now you can use any type of potatoes, and when I say I blanched them off, I cooked them so they're almost completely cooked through, except for that little white dot in the middle.

Because this is one of these dishes that we want to simmer and we want all these flavors to kinda work together in one big harmonious present.

I want just a little bit of starch left in the middle of these, so that way, they can put that into the dish.

Additionally, we're going to take these cherry tomatoes.

Next, shallots from Harmony Valley Farm.

We wanna be able to cook with food that's in-season right here, right now, to highlight all of these amazing flavors of being in a sense of place.

Next, some garlic.

This garlic also comes from Harmony Valley Farm.

I love roasted garlic and I don't need too much of it.

Next, we're gonna add a little bit of rosemary.

Rosemary adds an element of earthiness to whatever you're cooking, and because we're right here on the shores of Lake Superior, I'm gonna go ahead and add a whole sprig.

This is gonna perfume this dish.

There are two ingredients that can be found in most grocery store delis, and that's olives and these sweet Peppadew chilies.

And once I have the beautiful mass of ingredients right here, I'm going to take and add a little chili flake, a little black pepper, and as always, just a little more salt.

My last two ingredients for the dish, I'm going to actually take some of these apples from Hauser's Superior View Orchard, and this will add a lot of sweetness, tartness, but also that vegetal crisp that you can't get outta anything except for an apple.

Now, I said earlier, I wanna be able to add a little bit of liquid to this so that it gets the chance to really bubble.

And in this case, we want that liquid to be a vector for the cooking of the whitefish.

I'm gonna open up one of these cans of Apfelhaus Cider.

This cider, coming straight outta the orchard, is another way that small local farmers are reframing the bounty of their harvest, and they're finding ways to value-add to that product, or different ways to sell it.

Last, but not least, it's Wisconsin.

We gotta add just a little bit of some of our own treasure.

There's nothing else that I would rather add than some beautiful, beautiful butter.

Once I have my ingredients in, I'm gonna go with one last little round of seasoning.

Now I'm gonna take and fold over one half of my parchment, and very carefully, I'm going to maneuver it just like this so I'm facing the seam edge.

Slowly, I'm going to fold over and start to crease the paper.

What I really wanna do is I wanna create a pocket for all that delicious flavor to sit inside.

Finally, I'm gonna do what I call twisting the ear, and give that just a nice firm pinch.

Right here, I have my shore lunch in a bag.

It really doesn't get much easier than this.

Next, we're gonna take and arrange the fire.

I have the base of a stove here, and I've actually started these hickory pieces in the ash tray, and the reason that I wanna do that is I want a really, really nice, low, indirect heat.

If you were cooking this at home, you could set your oven to about 450 degrees, put this piece of parchment on a sheet pan, and it would roast for you in about 10 to 15 minutes, depending.

We'll be able to tell when it's done by the rich, golden-brown creases in the paper and the smell.

Now I'm going to take my parchment right here, and I'm going to set it right on the grates.

Finally, I'm gonna take the grill grates here, and I've knocked a couple coals right onto the top of them.

What we want is we want that gentle heat pressing down from the top, so I'm gonna take and put this right on my base.

Now, we're going to wait.

We're gonna let all these flavors slowly work together over that nice indirect heat.

One of the beautiful things about parchment paper is it's designed to not be that flammable, and that parchment is going to give us the opportunity to let those flavors permeate with each other and develop a richness that is unlike any other.

[gentle piano music] So we've let 20 minutes, approximately, elapse, and I'm gonna remove the top grill.

Now we're ready to pull out our little parchment gift, and I can smell all these flavors kinda cooking together.

Now it's time for the reveal.

This is one of my favorite things to experience with diners, is watching them open this up, the look on their faces when that perfume and aroma hits their olfactory senses.

Hmm, for the first bite, I'm gonna go in for the fish.

Ooh.

That is exceptional.

It's rich, it's succulent.

All those flavors came together in that beautiful little packet.

This is probably the most delicious thing I've ever made on camera, honestly.

Another thing that I love about it is it means that there's almost no dishes.

[chuckling] This is what it means to eat a truly connected cuisine, and this is what it means to be in the Upper Midwest.

We are stories of people who cross over and mingle, and it's our job to find the people that need the pronunciation and the spotlight on them so that we can continue to keep shining.

[blowing on food] [background conversation] [lake water sloshing] So I'm gonna take and put this right on my base and hopefully not FUBAR the whole thing.

[light energetic music] Walk slowly; here we go.

It's almost like dancing.

- Mm-hmm.

- You're much better at doing this dance than I was at doing the... the cross-cultural dance.

[Luke laughing] [powwow drumming] [powwow singing] - Luke: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: - The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- I'm going out to pasture with the cows this morning.

– Announcer: At Organic Valley, we're on a mission to save small family farms.

– Farmer: Tasting pretty good?

– Announcer: And you can join us.

– Farmer: [laughing] Girlfriend's on a mission.

– Announcer: Organic Valley.

- Twenty-minute commutes.

Weekends on the lake.

Warm welcomes and exciting career opportunities.

Not to mention all the great food!

There's a lot to look forward to in Wisconsin.

Learn more at InWisconsin.com.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit "Swiss"consin and see where your beer's made.

- Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure; stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit DNR.WI.GOV.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site, high-quality butchering and packaging, The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.

– Luke: Additional support from the following underwriters.

[relaxing music] Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, where you'll find past episodes and special segments just for you.

[whimsical music]