Wisconsin Foodie

– Announcer: This week on Wisconsin Foodie... - It looks like we got some Scotch bonnets and some Espelettes ready.

It's gonna make some chefs really happy.

Beautiful peppers.

Sometimes people say, "Why do you grow chili peppers in Wisconsin?"

Wisconsin has probably the best chili pepper weather maybe outside of New Mexico.

You just have to work with it.

So, I have started peppers from Ghana.

I've started peppers from Vietnam.

Started peppers from Spain, Portugal, and it's really kinda cool.

– Luke: It seems that these peppers are a lot like human beings.

There's a lot of personality and a lot of new ones, each single one.

[upbeat music] - Since we are at the height of summer, we thought we'd do a roasted chili gazpacho, right?

- Yep.

– Luke: So this is the roaster?

– Joan: Yeah.

– Luke: Awesome.

I gotta say there's not a scent in the world that I think I like more than roasting chilies.

– Joan: I love it.

- It's so beautiful.

Gazpacho is one of those things that I like for consistency.

We want it to be luxurious.

We want there to be a little spice, a little heat, a lot of herbs.

- That is amazing.

Cheers!

– Luke: Mm-hmm!

– Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: [energetic music, cash register rings] [gift card rustling] [pouring a beverage] [mystical swirling] [heart beats "lub-dub"] [bell chimes as door opens] - 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.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk [cheerful whistling] with just a few simple ingredients.

Sun, soil, rain, and grass.

[bubbles popping] And grass, and grass.

– Cow: Yee-haw!

[angelic choir music] - Organic Valley Grassmilk, organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

[banjo music] - 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 "Swissconsin," and see where your beer's made.

[upbeat music] - 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 d-n-r dot w-i dot g-o-v. - From production to processing, right down to our plates, there are over 15,000 employers in Wisconsin with career opportunities to fulfill your dreams and feed the world.

Hungry for more?

Shape your career with these companies and others at fabwisconsin.com.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animals 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.

- Additional support coming from the Viroqua Food Co-op, Central Wisconsin Craft Collective, Something Special from Wisconsin, Crossroads Collective, La Crosse Distilling Company, as well as the Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

[clapping along to energetic music] - Announcer: We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.

We're a merging of cultures and ideas shaped by this land.

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

[clinking glasses] [scraping knife] We are storytellers.

We are Wisconsin Foodie .

[paper rustling] [upbeat music] - Ted Ballweg: So mornings is my favorite time.

It's just a quiet time.

The world's just waking up and we kinda get ahead of the curve, so...

I just love the sound of the bees in here working away.

Yeah, we have some nice poblanos coming on here.

I always tease the employees, "Have you talked to the plants today?"

And it's not just talking to them, it's what are they saying?

What do I need?

Well, the morning is the best time 'cause you come out and basically you look at your plants.

What do they need?

What are we gonna pick for the markets?

What's looking good?

Sometimes we even pull one off and taste it.

You find a nice one.

You can just snap 'em open.

[snaps, crisply bites into pepper] Mm!

That's breakfast.

[laughs] Well, when you wake up in the morning, everything's fresh.

It's like starting over.

It looks like we got some Scotch bonnets and some Espelettes ready for market.

It's gonna make some chefs really happy.

These guys-- you can tell once I say it-- these are Scotch bonnets.

They're Jamaican pepper.

They look like little bonnets.

Their heat level is similar to maybe a habanero, nice pepper.

Very, very... That's what they do jerk sauces with.

Wonderful pepper.

Now, let's just see what we got going on in the jalapeo field today.

Beautiful peppers.

[pepper snapping crisply] [sniffing pepper] Ah!

Yeah, these guys are looking good.

These guys are really cranking them out.

Look at that, beautiful.

Yeah, I think that's pretty good.

We've got a lot of peppers here, they're gonna be picked over the next two weeks, but some that could be picked today.

Ready for pickling, smoking, fermenting.

Well, farming is the most satisfying occupation because it's all up to you.

You put the seeds in the ground.

You work with Mother Nature.

Sometimes things that you hope to happen don't always happen.

But then you get pleasant surprises that just amaze you, that... One plant will produce hundreds and hundreds of peppers.

I just think Mother Nature is amazing.

When you can see, this was snow-covered and frozen ground a few months ago and now it's the most fertile place in the property.

But I think the thing that most farmers have learned is that you have to work with Mother Nature.

And sometimes, she'll take it away from you.

You get a windstorm or hail.

And other times, she gives you an abundance.

And you just have to kind of roll with the tide and just let it work when it can and deal with it when it can't.

We just kind of have to come out here and say (to the weed), "No, sir, you're not getting any.

That's for the plant."

And I don't know why-- Sometimes people say, "Why do you grow chili peppers in Wisconsin?"

Wisconsin has probably the best chili pepper weather, maybe outside of New Mexico.

You just have to work with it.

[upbeat music] So, one of my favorite things to do is to tour the gardens.

- Did you set out to be a farmer?

- No, actually I...

In addition to being a farmer, I spent 40 years in the corporate world.

– Luke: Okay.

[laughs] - Ted: So...

But I always felt like I had this itch that I had to scratch.

- Sure.

- So this is our habanero field and while there's habaneros in other fields, this is the primary habanero.

– Luke: How long have you been here?

– Ted: We owned it almost 12 years, but we've lived here 11.

This started out as kind of my dream.

– Luke: Where do you come from?

– Ted: I'm originally from Sauk Prairie.

– Luke: Okay - Ted: And my parents were part of the group that eventually started the Dane County Farmers' Market.

My mum, before she passed away, she said, "I don't get you, Ted.

You hated the market."

I said, "Well, yeah, you grew sweet corn and watermelons "and pumpkins.

I didn't like that stuff."

– Luke: Yeah.

- It was when I found the chili peppers that I found my love and passion.

So...

I call it the cousin, but there's a cousin of the habanero from Jamaica called the "Scotch bonnet."

And there's a whole row of them next to you.

And my friends from Jamaica will not accept habanero as a substitute, even though these peppers are very closely related.

There's a Scotch bonnet.

That's the two peppers, one, this one developed in Mexico, and this one has been developed in Jamaica.

The jerk sauces that you've probably experienced, they will not accept this one.

– Luke: Sure.

– Ted: I don't wanna say it's just a hobby 'cause obviously 15,000 chili plants is more than a hobby.

– Luke: That's how many are out here?

- Yeah, we start with about 15,000 starters.

- That's incredible.

- As our kids got grown and we started traveling, we would collect seeds.

So I have started peppers from Ghana, I've started peppers from Vietnam, started peppers from Spain, Portugal, and it's really kinda cool.

– Luke: When did you find the chili peppers?

- I was about 19 or 20 when I first...

I had never had anything spicy in my whole life.

And I had a friend from Mexico and she took me back to Mexico and I got to taste spicy food for the first time.

And it's like, it almost haunted me.

And so then I used... You know how it is, you sort of seek it out.

And so around probably '84, I started growing.

My dad gave me the orchard and said, "You can have whatever you want."

The first row here we picked pretty heavily.

So these are "Jimmy Nardello," which were developed here at the University Wisconsin.

They get a deep dark red and they're very flavorful, not very spicy.

But this pepper is from Vietnam.

– Luke: Okay.

– Ted: I called it "Pho Fave."

Everywhere we went in Vietnam when we were there, from the North all the way to the South, they would have these pho bars, and this was the pepper they always had.

- Yeah.

- So first when I found the seeds, I was gonna call it by a Vietnamese name but I couldn't pronounce it.

So I said, if I can't pronounce...

So I just called it "Pho Fave."

– Luke: Pho Fave.

Can I smell that one?

- Yeah, you can probably taste this one.

It shouldn't be too hot.

It's more of a medium heat.

Well, I'm gonna show you another one.

This is my all-time favorite.

But this is the Aj pepper lemon drop from Peru and they turn intense yellow.

What's neat about these peppers is... First of all, look at them: they're just beautiful.

I've grown lots of Ajs, Amarillos, and some of the others but the best part of all is that they have a citrusy flavor.

The most citrus flavor of any pepper I've ever grown.

And so I just...

I call it my favorite 'cause you can do anything with this pepper.

You can put it in your salsas, you can chop it up, and you can probably get away with a little bit in your salads.

- Yeah, I'd imagine.

It seems that these peppers are a lot like human beings.

There's a lot of personality and a lot of nuance to each single one.

– Ted: Yeah.

– Luke: There's a lot of chilies out here.

Where do the bulk of these chilies end up?

- I would say somewhere between 30 and 40% are sold to the fresh market.

So we'll pick them, we'll sell them at the local markets.

And then, the others all go into our processing.

And depending on the time of the year that they're ripe and what product we're processing, they'll go into the chili jams, in the hot sauces, in the harissa paste and various other products, our 7 Chili Blend.

So most of them actually go into that production.

So you wanna try our Espelettes?

– Luke: Yeah.

- This is an exotic pepper.

It's very good.

It's got flavor.

It's also pretty spicy.

I'll give you the mild side.

- Man, when you pop these open, it does tingle a little bit.

- Yeah, most chefs don't know this as a fresh pepper.

They're used to using it as a dried because it's hard to get.

- Yeah.

- It's from Southern France or the Basque region of Spain.

- So we're gonna... - Sure - On the tongue first Sweet!

– Ted: It's very sweet.

- Whoo!

- Spicy?

- It's there, I mean, it's not terrible.

– Ted: Take a small bite of just the flesh, not the seed.

- But it's got good body, it's delicious.

It's a good pepper.

- No, it's a unique pepper.

– Luke: It is.

- It doesn't really... - You can compare it, but not totally.

– Luke: Okay.

- We're gonna up this way, then.

– Luke: Okay.

- So this is the most intense gardening space.

This is where we grow our shishitos.

We pick twice a week, sometimes three times a week.

And you can't keep up when they get going.

They're just amazing.

– Luke: I love the shishito pepper.

I always kinda refer to it as "the Russian roulette of peppers."

A one out of ten is smoking.

– Ted: Yeah.

But it's just a wakeup call.

– Luke: Yeah - Ted: It's not like a ghost pepper.

- So Joan's inside and I know that she's kind of the culinary genius here on the farm.

I'm thinking with all this fresh stuff and being that we're in the height of summer, we could put together something that's a little bit cooling, which I know is ironic when you're holding a basket of thunder, but maybe a gazpacho or something light like that.

- That would be incredible, yes.

[upbeat music] - I have the honor actually of cooking today with Joan.

Joan is the culinary expert here on site.

And all of the hot sauces, pepper blends, those are things that you create, right?

- Yes, they are, and I have a lot of fun with it.

- Great.

Well, we talked today about some things that we wanted to do and since we are at the height of summer, we thought we'd do a roasted chili gazpacho, right?

- Yep.

- To get that started though we have all this local produce that we're excited to get into the soup itself but, we need to actually roast some chilies.

- We've got a good roaster out there.

- Can you walk me through the process?

– Joan: You bet.

- Awesome, let's go check it out.

So this is the roaster.

- Yeah.

- Awesome.

This thing is a thing of beauty.

- Put a few Anaheim in here.

Typically, we like to fill this up with chilies, but we're gonna do a smaller batch today.

So we'll just kinda start with the chilies... - Okay, yeah, let's start with the chilies and then we'll throw the other ingredients in as these get a good start.

- Close that up.

Get it nice and tight.

Here we go.

I've got my handy welding gloves here.

- Nice!

[both laughing] Safety first.

[Joan laughing] - So, what we're gonna want to do is turn the switch on first.

Get them rolling before we have the fire started.

Okay?

- Okay.

[roaster churning] Wow!

So the backside of the roasting drum here, that's where it gets the heat.

– Joan: Yeah.

- I got to say, there's not a scent in the world that I think I like more than roasting chilies.

– Joan: I love it, I love it!

– Luke: Oh, it's so beautiful.

All right, should we add the other ingredients?

– Joan: We can do that.

– Luke: Okay.

All right, we are going to caramelize these vegetables.

– Joan: Ooh, it sounds great.

- And the tomatillos.

Get them nice and roasty.

That way, when we pull them out everything is beautifully roasted, we get a lot of deep, deep flavor.

- Let's get the flames going again.

Stand back.

This gonna be the best gazpacho.

Bring that heat up a little bit.

Speed it up.

Oops!

[both laughing] You all right, there?

- Oh, yeah.

I think they're pretty good right now.

- Think so?

- Yeah.

Wow.

- Decide when we wanna turn this.

- And - Now.

- Oh, yeah.

– Joan: Probably one... Next time, we might wanna use a little tongs or something.

- Yeah.

Hindsight is 20/20, right?

[both laughing] - Joan: Colors are amazing.

[upbeat music] - All right.

So we're back in the kitchen and we have these wonderfully blistered tomatoes and, Joan, what I'm gonna ask you to do: can I ask you to core these out?

– Joan: You bet.

- And let's take the skins off.

What we want is we wanna keep as much of the juice intact as possible.

- All right.

- So, you can start on those.

In the meantime, I'm gonna take these tomatillos and you can see how these have just blistered a little bit.

And I am going to quarter these up and we're gonna put these chunks of vegetables right into the Vitamix.

- All right.

- Let's get the tomatillos.

I have one onion in here: the red onion that we blistered.

So, we have all these garden vegetables.

We have all these farmers' market vegetables.

We have these wonderful chilies.

What I wanna do is I wanna get a little tomato juice in there just to be able to puree it.

Can you open some and maybe pour it about halfway in?

Now while she's doing that, I'm gonna take and slip the skins off a couple of these chilies.

One of the things that you wanna make sure you never do, when you're taking the skins off of chilies, is rinse them under water.

And I'll tell you why.

When we rinse chilies, you actually pull off a lot of the essential oil in that chili that gives it its vibrancy and its flavor.

What I like to do is just gently take that skin off and I wanna pull the tops off with my fingers.

And the idea is we wanna infuse all these ingredients together for the base of our soup.

Gazpacho traditionally comes from Spain and is defined kind of by nature's bounty.

It's traditionally a summertime dish and it's served either room temperature or cooled.

So it really lets the flavors of the vegetable shine.

Let's fill it up about halfway.

Okay?

[blender whirring] We want it all to be relatively uniform.

– Joan: Beautiful.

- Yeah, it is.

All right.

Pour it into the pot.

– Joan: You bet.

- Next, what we may have you do is start, if we can, take the corn straight up and down.

– Joan: Yep.

- I like to just be as careful and deliberate as possible.

Gazpacho is one of those things that I like for consistency.

We want it to be luxurious.

We want there to be a little spice, a little heat, a little lot of herbs, but a little bit of crunch, as well.

So we are gonna take a zucchini and a summer squash and I am going to dice them.

And for the zucchini and summer squash, I'm going to take and cut nice uniform slabs.

The reason we look for uniformity in all these things is so that we can take and actually have the mouth feel from bite to bite, be consistent.

We'll get those in.

The star of the show.

Let's take these chilies, these amazing, delicious Savory Accents chilies.

And what I'm gonna ask you to do, let's take the top off - Joan: Yep.

- And then, let's get that...

Anything that you wouldn't find desirable in a soup like this.

So if it's the seeds, if it's the actual ribs, how do you actually go about that?

What's your expertise with using chilies like this?

- Yeah, I would usually try to get some of the skin off.

Right?

And then, I'd cut the top off and then I pull the seeds and the vein from the inside.

- Sure.

All right, Joan, let's take a red onion from our basket.

We want to dice this in uniform pieces.

Let's start those flavors working together.

– Joan: It's pretty.

- Right?

All right.

So to season a gazpacho, I like to use just a little bit of Apple cider vinegar, salt, black pepper.

And then, we'll use some fresh chilies and fresh herbs.

All right, we'll give it a stir.

I can already smell that coming together.

One of the things with the gazpacho that you probably wanna do is let it chill out for a little bit, literally, in your refrigerator.

So I like to let mine sit sometimes overnight, or even for just half an hour.

So let's take and pick a little bit of this mint.

So I'm just gonna take it and rip it.

We don't want to actually bust it up so much.

We want it to infuse all of its essential oil.

We'll keep those stems out of there.

But this is where this dish turns into a total flavor bomb.

Let's get a little bit of the cilantro the same way, torn up in here.

And now, last, but not least - Joan: Basil?

- Basil.

I'm going to have you take this part.

I'm going to take this part.

- We can cut this one, you said.

- Yes, we will cut this one and I will show you exactly what I want.

We can make a little stack.

- Yep.

- You can see here.

It's like the ace of spades.

I flip it over so I have the backs facing me, just like this.

And I run a knife through it very, very thinly.

This, in a professional kitchen, is called the "chiffonade."

And what I would like to do with this chiffonade of basil is reserve it for my garnishing.

What we wanna do is we're gonna make a real, real quick & dirty crouton.

I want you to rip that loaf in half.

- Wait, what if I fail?

- No, you won't.

Ripping loaves is your love.

Maybe you will.

[both laughing] All right.

So we're gonna take and chunk off pieces like this.

- That big or...?

- Yeah!

- Bigger, okay.

– Luke: Just slightly larger than some of the diced vegetables.

But what we want to do is we're gonna lay this into the pan, just like that.

Nice and easy.

So we wanna keep these moving around a little bit.

Let them absorb up all that olive oil goodness.

I can see on the outsides here like that.

– Joan: Yeah, that looks awesome.

– Luke sings: That's perfect!

All right, Joan, we're gonna take these back over.

- Okay.

- And we are gonna give them a little seasoning.

And what we'll do is we'll just ladle that in there.

Look at those beautiful vegetables.

Oh, my gosh.

– Joan: That's awesome.

– Luke: This is!

Chilies, roasted.

See that basil in there?

Oh, man!

That's delicately torn.

We're gonna take some of our quick & dirty croutons, throw 'em up here.

Look at that!

So what we have first is a little bit of garlic oil, but, you know, anything like this, good olive oil, some of that sunflower oil is one that I really like, just adds just another touch.

I like to put my finger over the top, that's what that little thing is there for.

And we're gonna give that just a delicate pour.

And now let's hit it with our aceto balsmico, or balsamic vinegar.

- Love Balsamic vinegar.

- Me, too.

Finger over the top, pro plating tips.

– Joan: Yum!

- And last, but not least our delicate chiffonade of basil.

– Joan: That is amazing.

- You are amazing!

And thank you so much for having us here.

We appreciate it.

- That looks great.

Look at how beautiful that is, huh?

– Luke: That's all you, Joan!

All right, gazpacho - Let's do this.

Wow!

This is so good.

- Boy, if you can get summer in a spoonful, this is it.

– Luke: Yes, indeed.

- Do you notice the little bit of pepper in there?

Chili peppers.

- Well, you know, we say, "seed to sauce."

This is it; this is the sauce.

– Luke: This is delicious.

- Mm-hmm.

You guys, thank you so much for having us out today.

It's been awesome to walk through the fields with you, to hear your passion about chilies, to learn about your travels, and how you come across all these varietals.

And then, to be able to come into the kitchen with you and put them into action.

- It was a lot of fun, thank you.

- We really do appreciate you guys coming out and we can all expand our taste buds a little bit.

The chilies don't have to be overpowering.

Just use it for flavor.

- This is excellent.

Flavor forward!

- We got it, cheers!

[upbeat music] - And now, for the salt, do you feel comfortable salting this for me?

- Sure.

- That is good?

- Yum!

- More salt.

- Really?!

- Oh, yeah.

- It's against my rules.

- It's against your rules?

[laughing] We're almost there.

- More salt.

- More salt.

That's for that vinaigrette.

Give me four more.

- My Goodness!

- One, two, three, four, one more.

There it is.

Do you have some bowls for us?

– Joan: Yeah.

- Great.

[Luke whispering to crew] Yeah, we are gonna be toast.

– Joan: Did you put more salt in there?

- No, I would never do that.

[laughing] - Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: [energetic music, cash register rings] [gift card rustling] [pouring a beverage] [mystical swirling] [wind whooshes] [heart beats "lub-dub"] [bell chimes as door opens] - 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.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk [cheerful whistling] with just a few simple ingredients.

Sun, soil, rain, and grass.

[bubble popping] And grass, and grass.

– Cow: Yee-haw!

[angelic choir music] - Organic Valley Grassmilk, organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

[banjo music] - 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 Swissconsin, and see where your beer's made.

[upbeat music] - 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 d-n-r dot w-i dot g-o-v. - From production to processing, right down to our plates, there are over 15,000 employers in Wisconsin with career opportunities to fulfill your dreams and feed the world.

Hungry for more?

Shape your career with these companies and others at fabwisconsin.com.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animals 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.

- Additional support coming from the Viroqua Food Co-op, Central Wisconsin Craft Collective, Something Special from Wisconsin, Crossroads Collective, La Crosse Distilling Company, as well as the Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

- Are you hungry for more?

Check us out on YouTube.

Make sure to hit that 'subscribe' button so you can be the first to see new and unique videos, as well as browse past episodes.