Wisconsin Foodie

cc >> Every year, hundreds of thousands of people make their way to what is quaintly called the Cape Cod of the Midwest, Door County. But to my mind, you haven't actually been to Door County unless you've taken this trip, across the six miles of treacherous waters known as Death's Door, to Washington Island. On this episode of Wisconsin Foodie, we travel to the northeastern tip of Door County, Washington Island, to meet with Ken Koyen. We have the honor of coming along for the catch and harvesting the last of the season's wheat, and then returning to his restaurant for a traditional fish boil. Later, we meet with Nick and Ira at Bittercube, as they craft a classic Wisconsin cocktail, the Manhattan, and earn their membership to the Bitters Club at Nelsen's Hall. It's the catch, the harvest, the boil, and the bitters, on this episode of Wisconsin Foodie. So we've come all the way to Washington Island. We crossed the treacherous waters of Death's Door, and we've come to K.K. Fiske, which is Ken Koyen's place. Ken is more than just a fisherman. He's also a wheat farmer, who runs this place, where he does fish boils and from time to time, I'm told, you can even catch him drinking a bottle of that Capital brewery Island Wheat beer, maybe a cup of coffee. Anyway, I'm going to go in and meet him. It's the great Ken Koyen! >> Good morning! Welcome to the island. >> I'm happy to be here. >> Yeah. >> How are ya? >> Pretty good. Can I get you a cup of coffee? >> I would love one. >> Well, just a minute. We drink a lot of this up here,

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00 in the morning. >> The ferry ride was a breeze. Beautiful. >> Yeah, that's great. >> We didn't crash. That's a big boat compared to the one we're going on. >> Oh, yeah? >> Yeah. >> So, you've got a couple of things going here. This is your place. >> Yep. >> A restaurant. I think there's a bar on the other side. >> Mm-hmm. >> Then I heard you've got a bunch of acres of wheat. >> Yeah, we have a little wheat out there growing. >> Some people turn that into something else you can drink. >> Yeah, very drinkable.

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Island Wheat beer and a little Death's Door spirits. >> And then, you've been fishing your whole life. >> Come October 15, I'll have 40 years in. This is actually a big lawyer, Burbot is the proper name for him. >> And why do you call him a lawyer again? >> It's because of the location of their heart. It's right next to their... >> It's where they...? >> Gluteus maximus. >> So what are you taking me on today? What's the day forward? >> We'll start out fishing. We'll see if we can catch enough fish for supper. >> Then after we catch some fish, then we just, you know, we have lunch and we're done for the day, right? >> I got a couple other moves I have to make. We're going to do a little harvesting of wheat. After that, I have a little fish boil we do for the public. Hopefully, a few will show up. This is the very first keg of Island Wheat that came to the island after the wheat left. Here's my brother Tom with it in Madison. I love a good tool, but let's catch some fish. >> All right, it's getting late. This is my brother Tom, who has fished with me the majority of my fishing life. He's a lot older than I am. I have more years in on the water than he does. We hold two of the last remaining three licenses on Washington Island. >> Gentlemen, why don't we start our engines? What are we doing? >> Let's go fishing. All right. >> All right. Do I get an honorary license for the day? Ken, tell me, I'm basically standing in a big metal tub with you, right? >> Yeah. >> It's got a roof, yeah. >> You're standing on 17-1/2 ton of mean steel. >> Of mean steel? >> This is just as good as any ride on Great America. >> These birds don't mind a free ride. >> No. This is Rock Island, 950 acres of state park. Wilderness camping, the whole bit. If you want to go to walk to the oldest light on Lake Michigan, it's on the north end. It was built, I believe in 1864. >> It's the oldest light on Lake Michigan? >> The oldest light on Lake Michigan. Next to it stands the oldest building in Door County, the outhouse.

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I'm gonna be grabbing the buoy here, pull a line up over and start the hydraulic winch here. Then the line goes back there. We'll put the net in the box and pick the fish out of it, hopefully. >> Ken, how big is this net? >> Each box of nets hold four nets. Each net is 350 feet long. So one box is roughly a quarter mile. >> Right there, that's the scourge of the Great Lakes, everybody, the Zebra mussels. At least those mussels come off easy. >> Whitefish. Double header! Whoo-hoo! >> Two for one! We've got dinner tonight, ladies and gentlemen. So this is one of the four quartets of Great Lakes fishing, whitefish. It's quintessential Wisconsin, actually Midwestern diet. They're a gorgeous, simple, clean, delicious light fish. For about 150 years, fisherman did exactly this, but something like 44 boats like this one went out every day. There was so much that they could catch that they never ran out. Now, it's this tradition, only with three fishing licenses. I wish this was just an everyday story we were telling, instead of a special one. >> At one time, out of six boxes of nets, we caught 7500 pounds of whitefish. >> Whoa! >> Yeah. >> Just for comparison, what's that poundage over there? Maybe 12 or 14? >> Yeah, something like that. >> That's how much this industry has changed. I mean, I don't know a lot about you, but I'm coming along on part of your day, and it's a good life. >> Oh, it beats working! >> Ooh, that's a big one! >> Now we need some of those brown bags of bones, that's what I call lawyers. >> Come on, you brown bags of bones! >> I've never actually heard of someone hoping to run into a lawyer. But Ken's dying to find a couple. I just got sprayed with total Lake Michigan water. It's awesome! Oh! Don't let him get away! >> Oh... I got behind him instead of ahead of him. >> Did you see your name on that fish? >> No. >> That was the one for your fish boil tonight.

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>> What Tom just told me is that I'm not eating anything, because the fish that got away, that was mine. >> Come on, you brown bags of bones! >> I've been to Door County, I don't know how many dozens of times, and I've loved it. It's fantastic. But this, this is 1.1% of what most people do when they come to Door County. This is essentially a replication of a tradition that's been going on for over a century. >> There's some nice fish here! >> Hey-hey! >> There! There's a lawyer! >> Wow. You know what? I've got to say, Ken, compared to the whitefish, that is one ugly looking fish. >> I'm gonna tell ya the way I feel about that. Everybody says, "God that fish is ugly," and I go, "What's so pretty about a chicken?!" >> That's an excellent point. >> You bet. See how beautifully fat this fish is? There was a time when they were really poor, when they were living on Zebra mussels. They're doing a lot better now. I'm going to pick the whitefish liver. That's a delicacy. >> So, on one of our trips up to Bayfield, Wisconsin, I ate the whitefish livers, which John Kennedy and others supposedly famously ate. It tastes like liver. A little bit lighter, a little bit less, I don't know, -- in a way. But I've never seen them cut out of a fresh whitefish that we just hauled out of Lake Michigan. They don't look that much different, except a heck of a lot more flesh and blood. I've got to say thank you. That's more fish than I've ever caught in one day. And I've had more fun catching fish than I've ever had in one day. >> Well, come back. >> Thank you. >> You're more than welcome. >> See you in the winter when it's more fun. >> See you in the winter? I'll see you at dinner! >> We'll take 'em in. We'll go throw 'em in a box, and they're going to go over to the mainland. They'll be smoked and ready to eat tomorrow. >> You're saving a couple for us, right? >> Oh, we're gonna have enough for supper tonight. >> Good. It's going to be my second fish boil ever, you know. >> This will be your first boneless fish boil. >> You've got to be a virgin of something. >> No bones about it.

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Well, there's 50 pounds there. That's more fish than he's had all summer. >> It's probably the good luck of you and I coming along. >> That's right. >> I was about to mention that. >> Now, I know that this is way too early for your day to end, so where are you taking me after this? >> Well, I figure in about a half-hour, or 45 minutes, we should start harvesting wheat. The sun is out, the dew has dried off. We've got probably 25 acres to do yet. >> I'm getting to realize, buddy, that there's nothing that you do small. Every time I'm around you, I'm either on the edge of a Great Lake, or I'm in front of a great big field of wheat. >> Life has many journeys, and this is just one of them. >> How many acres are we looking at, Ken? >> This is about 43-45 acres, this whole field. >> So, they're combining it. You've got these nice rows. >> Yeah, we're going to plow it under with manure. It helps fertilize the ground. The straw actually helps the ground hold moisture. It's worth more to us to put that in the ground than it is to sell it. >> That's saying a lot. >> We are 100% organic. This is the head of wheat. >> Red wheat. >> Red Hard Winter Wheat. Take it in your hand. Now, see how easy it threshed? >> Mm-hmm. >> Now, take one of those kernels and put it in your mouth. Put it between your teeth and try cracking it. Notice how it shattered? >> Mm-hmm. >> When it shatters, it's probably down to ten or 12 percent moisture. If it doesn't shatter, if it just kind of comes apart, if it's in the doughy stage, then it's too wet to combine. Then it will mold in the grain bin. >> In the grain bin. >> Breakfast of champions. >> I was just gonna say, daily bread. That's where you started, is bread, then the brewery guys caught on, right? >> Right. >> Yeah, and now the distillery guys. >> What a beautiful fall day. >> Yeah, it is just perfect. I haven't ridden a combine since I was a kid in Hartland, Wisconsin. I'm kind of itching to get on one. >> Do you want to drive? >> Do you trust me? >> We'll give it a whirl. >> There aren't too many trees I can run into. It's a wheat field. >> Come on! Farming and fishing, it's a way of life. It's been our-- I'm fifth generation. I'm trying to keep it going. It's our history. >> Yeah. Your dad did it. Your dad's dad, and your dad's dad's dad. >> Yeah. >> We'll keep going with dads. >> The yield in this field is particularly good compared to the others. I had a great growth of red clover that we plowed down. Here on the island, we have 835 acres that are certified organic. This crop will end up either beer, from Capital Brewery, Island Wheat, DC Lager, Rustic Ale, or it will end up liquor, as in Death's Door Vodka, Gin and Whiskey. >> So what will you do, lay this fallow, or will you replant it right away? >> This one will go right back in again. We are on a two-year rotation. We have a little bit of red clover growing in here, which is a leftover, but when that grows, it puts nitrogen in the ground. And that's one of the main ingredients for a decent wheat field. >> That would be the difference between organic and other farming, where they use chemicals. >> Right, commercial fertilizer. >> Kind of a heavy-handed napalm approach to put nitrogen back into the ground, versus the way that nature created it, red clover, on top of red winter wheat. It does the job with a little bit better delicacy. This story was supposed to be a pretty straightforward one, basically about Capital Brewery, about how they were using some wheat that was grown on a small island just off the tip of Door County, about how local brewers were using local resources. Then we got to know the farmer and the fisherman, and his brother, we got to know the whole story. Everybody we talked to, from the brewers, to the farmers, to the fishermen, said it wasn't about the money. It was about how they did what they did, and why they did it. So that's how this show blossomed into something a lot bigger, and I ended up standing in a wheat field instead of drinking a beer at a bar and telling a simple story. It's about as real as you can get in the history of our state. Somehow, we have to wake up every day and keep this way of life for the people that want it. Because it's also part of us. >> This is today's catch. Let's put these things in and cook them up. >> We've got a boiling cauldron of Lake Michigan water. >> Salt. >> Salt. >> The ingredients... >> Potatoes. >> Onions. >> We're dropping those puppies, right like that? >> Yep. >> A little bit of overflow never hurt anybody. >> In about six minutes, it'll be ready to eat >> I've been following you around all day. I've been fishing, and walking around wheat fields and riding in combines, and I've got to say, I'm pretty hungry. >> And now you're going to tell me I'd make a good wife. >> No! No! >> I test everything with my jackknife. I call it my thermometer. >> Uh-huh, and what does that tell you? You can stab dinner? >> It tells me it's time to eat! >> All right. >> Yeah. Fire in the hole! >> They're going to carry that right into the restaurant, because that's what you would do every day!

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Meat and potatoes, really, fish and potatoes. It smells terrific! >> Do you recognize them from this morning? >> Yeah, no, well, this one for sure. >> I think that's the one that you lost. >> But you don't get any. You let yours get away! >> Tom, I brought a ham sandwich! It's in the car, okay? >> Okay. >> So I kind of love it. This is full circle. I met Ken this morning at this table. We've now fished. I've seen more and different parts of Lake Michigan than I ever expected to. We pulled these beautiful fish out of the lake. Wow, thank you! So, we've got this wheat bread that was baked here, from the wheat that Ken and his brother grow. We've got the whitefish that we pulled out of Lake Michigan this morning. We've got the potatoes, that I'm sure are from this island, because for the longest time, probably about 40 or 50 years, this was the biggest crop that Washington Island yielded. Some of the lawyers are cut up in delicious little bits, and the Wisconsin delicacy, whitefish livers. I'm not waiting for the guys. >> Well, there's not too many people that can actually, you know, catch your own fish, cook your own fish, make your own beer, or have your own beer made, and then end up drinking it. Life is good. >> I tell ya, this is how I like to travel. >> A little Capital Brewery, a little Death's Door. >> No arguing. >> Number one, I think, welcome to the island. >> Thank you. >> I thank everybody for supporting Death's Door and Capital Brewery, you know, and anything that will promote Washington Island. We're all about needing jobs and trying to produce jobs. I think that you guys are going to help us. >> Here's to all the fishermen and the farmers that are keeping up the tradition. Here's to good whiskey. That's a fine fish. Um, I'll have my first bite of a lawyer. That is fantastic! No offense to the whitefish that I caught, but I could just move that over here, Ken. Not to discredit this light and delicate whitefish, which is fantastic, but I'm going to go for the liver. If my mother had fed me whitefish livers, instead of traditional liver when I was a little kid... >> You'd have eaten more. >> I would've eaten a lot more, and I would like liver today. I've had some really great meals in my life, and by way of the show, but this, with you guys, with the things that we pulled out from the earth and the lake today, it's topping all of it. >> It's edible!

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>> Hey, everybody, I'm Nick. >> I'm Ira, and we're with Bittercube. >> Today, we're going to make a classic Wisconsin cocktail, the Manhattan. >> We're going to use Jim Beam Rye for this cocktail. You could use any number of ryes or bourbons. We've selected Jim Beam Rye for this cocktail. Rye whiskey is popular in northern Wisconsin. >> Another popular ingredient to use in cocktails in Wisconsin is brandy. You could certainly substitute brandy for the rye, and make a Brandy Manhattan. >> A very important ingredient in a Manhattan is the vermouth. Sadly, this ingredient is overlooked often. Vermouth is a fortified wine, so it can go bad. We're going to use Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, a really nice, rich vermouth. You could also use Carpano Antica Vermouth as well. >> It's important to use a good vermouth. Basically, each vermouth is taking local herbs and spices from where it's made, adding that to wine and then fortifying it with a little brandy. >> Awesome, should we get started? >> Let's do it. >> Okay, we're going to start with the Jim Beam Rye. We are going to use two ounces of Jim Beam Rye. It's important to use a jigger. You're going to get an exact measurement every time. >> If you use these ratios, it's going to be more difficult to make a bad product.

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1 ratio for our Manhattans. This is generally across the board, whether we're using brandy, bourbon or rye. If you're using a brandy, you might want to cut back the vermouth a little bit, depending on the sweetness of the brandy. Traditionally, a Manhattan uses Angostura Bitters. We're going to use some of the Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla Bitters. These are really fantastic for Manhattans and Old Fashioneds. The vanilla has got a really rich, almost chocolate note to it. They go a long way. If you don't have them at home, certainly use Angostura. But we do suggest trying the Manhattan with the Bittercube Cherry Bark Bitters, as well. >> We're going to add ice to that. Nick is going to stir this. If you don't have a fancy Japanese stirring glass, that's okay. Use a pint glass. If you don't have a pint glass, use a large rocks glass or highball. >> We stir this cocktail because there's no citrus in it. If we had citrus in the cocktail, then we'd be shaking it. This is a stirred spirit-forward cocktail. You want to give it a taste and see if we've got everything amalgamated? >> Sure. >> Basically, with the ice what we're doing, is not only chilling the cocktail, but we're also adding water content, calming the rye whiskey a little bit. >> I'd drink that. Perfect. >> A julep strainer. >> We've got a pre-chilled rocks glass here. You could use a martini glass as well. >> We like to do our Manhattans up instead of on the rocks. We've already done all the work here by chilling it and adding water content. So when we're enjoying it, we want to be able to sip it slowly. We're going to do a couple different garnishes today. Using a Door County Cherry Bounce that we made, a little bit of vanilla, allspice, we're using bourbon and brandy in this, maple sugar, brown sugar, granulated sugar. They're really fantastic. So we're going to put those right on top of the cocktail. Then, just to give the cocktail a little bit of pop, we're going to add some lemon. >> A lemon peel, if you have a Y Peeler at home, that's the best way to do this. A disk is also really nice. Literally, it's just cutting a coin. You're going to see how Nick is expressing the oils over the cocktail, so you're going to get that nice aroma. It's also going to help with a little bit of that sweetness. It's going to cut it. I think it's ready to enjoy. >> Yes. >> My favorite part of the segment. >> Cheers. And there we go, a Rye Manhattan. It's really special to be up here, I think, as cocktail craftsmen, if you will. We've been trying to get up to Washington Island for quite some time. We're going to head down to the bitters bar, as well, and share in that tradition of becoming a bitters card-carrying member of the Bitters Club. >> We've made it. We've made it. >> We're here at Nelsen's Hall Bitter Bar, in Washington Island. Finally here, ready to become card-carrying members of the Bitters Club. >> Tom Nelsen built the bar in 1899. He was Danish, and he loved the taste of Angostura Bitters. When prohibition came, he decided to get a pharmaceutical license to sell Angostura Bitters as a stomach tonic. >> I hear a lot about the Bitters Club. What exactly does that entail? What does that mean? >> We pour you a one-ounce shot of Angostura Bitters. You do the shot, we give you a membership card that says you may dance and mingle with the Islanders, etc. The bartender initials the card, dates the card, and stamps the card with their thumb after you're done drinking it. >> I'm excited to do the shot. I mean, we still haven't even done that yet. We've been here like five minutes. I can't even believe I haven't done a shot of Angostura. I'm pretty sure it's time. >> Yeah. So, if we're going to do these shots of Angostura, we'd love it if you guys could do a shot of our bitters. Does that sound like a deal? >> Deal. >> Perfect. Do you guys have a toast, or anything that you do? >> You're a stranger here but once. >> Cheers. >> Cheers. To bitters. >> That's delicious. >> So is that. >> This has more... >> Viscosity. >> That's very good. >> How many people a year get one of these cards? >> We serve over 10,000 shots of bitters a year. >> Wow. Has Angostura ever contacted you, or have you contacted them? Do you sell more bitters than just about anywhere else? >> Yes, we were in the Guinness Book in 1999. >> We're excited to be part of the club and part of the culture up here on Washington Island. >> I might frame this. >> Major underwriting support for Wisconsin Foodie &nbspisprovided by the Dairy Farm Families of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. For more information or recipes, visit eatwisconsincheese.com >> This is a burbot, a lawyer-- lots of names, but it boils down to being a lawyer. Some call it poor man's lobster. It's actually a freshwater cod. The reason they're called a lawyer is right there. >> The heart. >> And you thought I was kidding you. Well, I can skin a lawyer in 20 seconds. How long would it take you?

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I'm gonna filet him out. They're only roughly one-third meat. >>

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