Wisconsin Foodie

– Luke Zahm: This week on Wisconsin Foodie: [upbeat music] One of my favorite parts about getting a new knife is just the simple joy and ease of cutting through ingredients with that brand-new blade.

– Nathan Zimmerman: My main reason for making knives is so people have an enjoyable cooking experience, they have a knife that works well for them.

So Luke, let's make you a knife.

– Luke: Yeah, I mean, it looks like it's ready to be picked up right now.

- Go for it.

- Just, ah!

- It's only a thousand degrees.

– Luke: It's amazingly intricate, almost unspeakable.

Watching you do your work lit a fire for my creativity.

We're going to use your knives to prepare this dish.

Today, we're gonna make some beef bourguignon.

– Nathan: Oh.

- Food, when it's done with, like, the seasons in mind, you really don't get much better food, and this is so Wisconsin.

- Should we just sit here and stare at it for a minute?

- We could.

Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

[gentle guitar music] - The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[people cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- Did you know Organic Valley protects over 400,000 acres of organic farmland?

So are we an organic food cooperative that protects land or land conservationists who make delicious food?

Yes.

Yes, we are.

Organic Valley.

[upbeat 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

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.

[gentle organ music] [knife grinding] - My name's Nathan Zimmerman.

My business is called zimKnives.

I make custom kitchen cutlery for chefs and serious home cooks around Wisconsin, and I also do sharpening of all sorts.

We're here in my workshop in the River Works District on the east side of Milwaukee.

My mom is Italian.

She taught me to cook from a very young age, so I've been doing that my whole life.

I worked in a bunch of restaurants throughout high school and early college.

Using knives every day gave me an appreciation for what a quality knife is.

Once I got into college, I got a job as a knife sharpener and then decided to try making a knife one day, and then, you know, the rest is history, and here we are.

Most of my work is custom-ordered from people just finding me and having requests for a specific knife to be made.

So that's kind of the vast majority of my work.

My main reason for making knives is so people have an enjoyable cooking experience, they have a knife that works well for them.

And seeing people realize what a proper knife actually should be like, how a knife should cut is, like, one of the most rewarding parts of my career.

I tend to like to work within my own style, so my knives tend to be a fusion of Eastern and Western cutlery.

They'll typically have blade shapes and edge geometry typical of Japanese cutlery, and my handles tend to be a mix of Western sculpted handles and sometimes the more Southeast Asian-style straight or octagonal handles.

The act of cooking food and the act of making knives are very, very similar.

You have your ingredients you get together, you cook them.

In my case, it's heating and cooling and forging and shaping.

And then, you know, with diligence, through that whole process, you come out with a product or a food dish that tastes and looks right and functions the way that people want it to.

And so, chefs really understand that process of putting all these separate steps together to create an end product.

And so, they tend to be really nice to work with 'cause they know what they want, they know what they're gonna use it for, and that's really easy for me 'cause then I'm able to just put my take on what they want and come out with something that they'll love for the rest of their career.

In the world of chef knives, there's kind of your two main categories.

You have your Western and your Eastern cutlery.

That's kinda like, there's a different philosophy between, say, German chef knives and Japanese chef knives.

Big difference.

I like to blend blade styles from East to West.

I like to adopt that very thin edge geometry of Japanese cutlery because it cuts so well.

And the blade shape, I kind of tailor to the person.

So if you like a more French style, more triangular shape 'cause you like having a fine tip on your knife.

So the belly is the curved area of the knife.

A more belly-forward area can tend to rock a little bit better if that's your preferred style of cutting.

One thing that all of my knives share in common is a good distal taper.

And so, what that is is the knife getting thinner from the top of the handle all the way to the tip.

And that is really what informs really good balance in a knife.

It's what makes it feel lively in the hand.

A lot of people like a heavy knife and that's because they're used to having a dull knife.

- Yeah.

- And so, they need that weight to push through.

But when you have a proper edge geometry, a nice, thin edge, you don't need any weight at all.

The knife's gonna do the cutting and you're just guiding it to where it goes.

So having a nice handy knife, especially if you're gonna be using it for hours in the kitchen, can be really, really nice.

- So I'm a big fan of the tip of the blade, and I love that idea of, like, being able to get into the really intricate spaces.

- Yeah, so you're, like, boning out a chicken or taking apart specific vegetables.

- Concassing a tomato, whatever it may be.

- Absolutely.

- So I love actually this style of blade.

I think this is the one.

- Yeah, you prefer that that more triangular French shape, like classic Sabatier knives tend to be shaped like that.

So Luke, let's make you a knife.

– Luke: A chef and a petty?

– Nathan: Chef and a petty.

- Okay.

- Very good.

I really find a lot of mental clarity in the act of forging in just the simple shaping of steel with heat and pressure, and it becomes a very meditative thing.

There's a rhythm to it.

That's, like, a place where I find a lot of solace and mental clarity is when I'm focused and working.

You know, drifting thoughts are always a recipe for disaster.

And so, when I'm dealing with a 2,000-degree piece of steel and swinging a hammer at another piece of steel, it's something I have to be focused on.

And so, it's a really good way for me to, like, get my head in line and, you know, get some really cool stuff done.

- So to kind of be a part and see this knife take shape from raw steel and watch him work quickly, efficiently, but with the practice of a master, to hear him speak about the process, it kind of gives me goosebumps all over the place.

- So if you notice, this machine was manufactured up in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, up by Appleton, up by Neenah, same place all the manhole covers are made, all the local cast iron foundries.

So these power hammers are kind of an old Wisconsin product.

There's a very ubiquitous brand called Little Giant and this is all made up in Wisconsin.

It's really, really fun.

- That's cool; it's like full circle Wisconsin.

– Nathan: Absolutely.

[fire whooshing] So here's where it'll really start to turn into a knife.

This is kind of the thing that'll make the blade go from, like, weird kind of knife-shaped object to, like, really close to a finished blade shape.

– Luke: Sure.

– Nathan: It's the forging process.

It's very fun; it's my favorite part.

- Is it?

- Yeah.

- I would imagine.

- It's the most fun part.

It's about 10% of the process.

- Sure.

- Maybe.

– Luke: Yeah.

- My other favorite part is getting paid for it.

- Yeah.

[laughs] [bright music] There's something unspeakably beautiful about the process of watching the steel take shape through manipulation, physical force, heat, cooling.

It's amazingly intricate, and it's definitely a process that I've taken for granted until I stand right here and watch these knives come together.

There are artisans manipulating these physical forces that allow us to enjoy and appreciate sometimes beautiful food, sometimes beautiful crafts, and sometimes art for art's sake.

You took that from, like, just a piece of steel and worked it into a thing of beauty.

Yeah, I mean, it looks like it's ready to be picked up and run through a tomato right now.

- Yeah, go for it, go for it.

- Just, ah!

- It's only a thousand degrees.

[Luke chuckling] We'll get you forging a little bit.

You'll have this hammer.

I will be holding this tool on the flats of the blade.

You hit when I tell you to.

- Okay.

- Only when I tell you to.

I'll say, "Yep."

- Yep.

- That's, like, the thing that blacksmiths do.

And you get it nice and warm and we'll do it in, like, two sections.

– Luke: Cool.

- Yep.

[metal striking] Yep.

[metal striking] Having a large flat surface laid directly on the surface and having it pinched between these two large flat surfaces really makes everything flat and true.

[metal striking] So how straight does that look?

Look down it.

- Little deviation to the left, but that's not bad at all.

- Yeah; nice, true surfaces.

And, again, I usually do this, like, I'll just tong it and then just wail on it.

- Sure.

- And it works fine, but having somebody else do it is more efficient 'cause you can hit harder, well, maybe.

– Luke: What?

[both laughing] [metal striking] - Yeah, that's pretty good.

So sometimes, the blade will end up twisted, and there's no way to fix that with hammering it.

We just have to heat it up and grab it with tongs and twist it back the other way.

It's just how the steel wants to move.

It will not be fixed by hammering.

So next steps from here, I will grind the profiles in, clean that all up before quench 'cause we wanna make sure we don't have any sharp edges or anything wonky.

I'll go through the whole heat treatment process, which is normalization, quenching, and then tempering.

After that, we'll grind the bevels, we'll hand-finish the blades, we'll fit up our handles, and then we'll finish our handles, and then the very last step, sharpening.

– Luke: Awesome.

– Nathan: And after that, we'll have a couple of fully functional, high performance kitchen knives for you to take and use.

- That's so cool; it's so cool.

So I tell you what, brother, when these are done, how would you feel about jumping in the van and taking a trip to the southwestern part of the state?

- Oh, that'd be great, yeah.

- I would love to show you kind of the form in which these knives get used.

- Absolutely.

- I guess maybe let you into my world a little bit, the same way that you've let me into yours.

- Yeah, it'd be great to see more of that process.

- Oh, I would love that, I would love that.

- Awesome, I look forward to it, thanks.

- Great, thanks, man.

- Yeah.

[groovy music] Yeah, right now, I'm traveling out to Viroqua, and I have the pair of knives that Luke and I forged together with me.

He's gonna put those knives through their paces and show me a little bit of what he does with them.

So on this nice, snowy December day, we're gonna go do some outdoor cooking.

It's always very exciting for me to see how my work gets used.

I usually just send my knives off into the world and don't see 'em again until they need sharpening.

But I'm gonna get to experience how they're used firsthand today, which is very exciting.

Oh, hey.

- You found us!

– Nathan: I found you.

– Luke: Awesome, brother, how are you?

– Nathan: Very good, very good.

– Luke: Good.

– Nathan: Nice drive on the way in.

– Luke: Isn't it gorgeous?

– Nathan: Oh, it's gorgeous.

- I can't wait to see those knives, whoo!

This is so exciting, my man.

- Absolutely, I can't wait for you to see them.

– Luke: Oh, man, this is gonna be great.

Oh, my gosh, look at those things.

- So W2 tool steel for the blade, hand-forged, hand-polished, nickel silver.

We have a stainless pin and then we have stabilized spalted birch for the handles.

- These are gorgeous, like... - I was pretty happy with how they turned out.

- Like, almost unspeakable.

It feels like it has substance, it has balance.

- Yeah, right at the pinch grip.

- Right?

- That's where I like 'em to balance.

- Yep, me too.

It's nimble.

This is something that I could use all day and not feel, like, that fatigue kind of come into my wrists or my arms.

That edge is ridiculous.

Brother, you are wildly talented and I feel extremely fortunate to be able to put these in the repertoire, put 'em to use.

– Nathan: Absolutely.

– Luke: Today, we're gonna make some beef bourguignon.

– Nathan: Oh, one of my favorites.

– Luke: Is that?

– Nathan: I've never cooked it, but it's one of my all-time favorite dishes.

- Oh, I love it, and this time of year, like, when it's cold and chilly, this is the kind of food that just sticks to your ribs.

And I think it's a really good way to also showcase these knives and all these root vegetables that need to be cut up and processed.

– Nathan: Yeah, totally.

- So with beef bourguignon, one of the things that I like to do is basically start with the beef.

But before that, we're gonna take and put in our pot a little bit of this 'nduja.

So it's spicy, spreadable salami.

This is made by Underground Meats.

You can find this in most grocery stores all over the state.

But what I really wanna do with this is I wanna start rendering that out because I want that spicy, like, delicious meat essence to basically set the base for this dish.

- Oh, yeah.

- Okay?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Because this is spreadable, this actually comes out just like this.

We just simply put that in that Dutch oven.

We haven't put any other oil in there.

- Sure.

- And we're gonna let that rendered fat kind of act as liaison for the next step, which is to cube up this beef that I have, and we're gonna put a little flour on that, little salt and black pepper, and then we're gonna brown it with all that delicious fat.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And pepper and, like, all those big, big flavors that are gonna infuse this bourguignon.

– Nathan: Oh, yeah, that's gonna be good.

– Luke: What I have here is some Organic Prairie beef.

This happens to be the tenderloin.

One of the things that's really great about this cut, obviously, is it's really, really malleable.

It doesn't take a tremendous amount of time to cook.

So we don't have to really focus on, like, long-term braising efforts in order to have this be super edible and delicious.

What I would like to do is basically cube this up.

I want it to all be kind of bite-sized, so it's not like you're really hammering on one bite for too long.

- Yeah.

I actually don't get to use my own knives to cook very often, so this is quite a treat.

There we go.

- Yeah, all right.

Now we're gonna take these individual medallions here and give 'em a cut through, just like that.

And we're gonna flip 'em, cat's paw, one, two, three.

- Sure thing.

- Just like that, okay?

- Simple enough.

- Yep.

[relaxing music] So I'm gonna take these now and I'm gonna put them in this bowl.

What we wanna do specifically with something that we're gonna braise out a little bit is season in layers.

So I'm gonna start with salt and then black pepper, and give this a good toss quick.

And then we're gonna wanna flour these.

The reason that we're gonna flour this at this step is because we wanna be able to create basically a roux.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Right?

- Built into the beef.

- Built into the beef.

So if we season these and coat them with flour and then give 'em a good sear, that really helps 'em brown, but it's also gonna add a thickening liaison to the stew, which allows it to get that ooey, gooey, bubbly, you know, beautiful essence that beef bourguignon has.

- Yeah, we're doing two steps in one here.

- That's right.

- Not making a roux separately and browning the meat separately.

– Luke: So flour that beef!

All right, Nate, it's time for meat in the pot.

Oh, man.

[groovy music] I am so excited to use these knives.

We wanna dice these onions first 'cause onions act as that beautiful base that impart a ton of delicious flavor.

So what we're going to do is we're gonna place these onions right back in our glass bowl here.

Next, I really like, specifically this time of year, parsnips.

– Nathan: Oh.

– Luke: You like parsnips?

– Nathan: Parsnips are my favorite.

– Luke: Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

[groovy music continues] So this is sunchoke.

This is actually a indigenous food to Wisconsin.

How about the celeriac or celery root?

One of my favorite parts about getting a new knife is just the simple joy and ease of cutting through ingredients with that brand-new blade that is so delicate and so razor-sharp.

These root vegetables are very, very delicious, but they're a joy to cut because I'm really looking at the uniformity and trying to keep this knife paced through there so I can better learn it and understand its nuances.

So we have turnip, we have rutabaga, we have celeriac, sunchoke, some garlic.

– Nathan: Mm-hmm.

– Luke: So we're almost to the point where we're gonna hit this thing with aromatics.

Are you a fan of morels?

- I'm a massive fan of morels.

– Luke: So this is what I wanna do.

Let's put a good couple handfuls of these gray morels.

These have been dried out and we're gonna put that right in that bourguignon, and I'm gonna have you stir those in.

– Nathan: All righty.

- While Nate works in those morels, I'm gonna take this.

This is some local ginger.

Now, ginger is one of those ingredients that's kind of new to Wisconsin, but it actually grows fairly well, depending on the zone that you live in.

And what you get from it is something that's sweet, it's unique, and it kind of is like one of the pathways to the future of farming in Wisconsin.

- This is where having a nice sharp knife really helps, eh?

- Eh.

- Eh.

[both chuckling] - Now it's time to make this stew a bourguignon.

What I have is some Wild Hills Winery, and this is a local winery, just outside of Muscoda, Wisconsin.

– Nathan: Sure.

– Luke: Which is right on the Wisconsin River.

A traditional bourguignon is made with that burgundy, and then you get all that beef characteristic that kind of works together and it mellows.

Because we're using tenderloin today, this is gonna be kind of a quick and dirty version of the bourguignon.

- Sure.

- But we really just need to cook it as long as it takes to get that really alcohol, wine-forward taste out of the pot, which shouldn't actually take that long.

All right, last but not least.

This is a one cup of beef broth and we're gonna add this to the pot.

God, that is so good.

[relaxing music] All right, so we're gonna take this thyme, and you know what, I don't usually pick this off.

I like putting it in the stew just the way it is.

– Nathan: Oh, sure.

- It doesn't really need a ton of manipulation, and it's kind of one of those things that when you're serving it up, you can take the care to pull it out then if you're really offended by the stems.

- Sure.

– Luke: But I really like using the entirety of the thyme sprig.

- Is this like some other herbs where the stem adds a lot of flavor too?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, it's got essential oil located right in there.

– Nathan: Yeah, very good.

- So what I wanna do is I wanna layer this ever so gently right on the top.

We're gonna cover this up, we're gonna let it cook for, like, 20, 30 more minutes at tops.

But again, we just wanna cook the alcohol outta that wine and really let those flavors work together.

[creek bubbling] [groovy jazz music] The bourguignon is done.

I can hear it gently bubbling in the back.

– Nathan: I'm so excited.

- I know, me too, man.

I toasted up some bread from the caf and I have one more seasonal ingredient that I wanna drop on this thing to kind of tie it all together, and that is the Rush Creek Reserve.

- Oh, yeah.

- Now, this cheese is made by the Uplands crew in Dodgeville, Wisconsin.

It's the last milk of the season wrapped in spruce bark.

One of my favorite things to do with this is to heat it up ever so gently.

So I have this cast iron pan here that has been warmed nicely, and I'm just gonna pop this open.

So great.

- I can smell it from here.

– Luke: I know.

We're gonna give that just a little bit of heat.

Now, this is the ciabatta loaf that we make at the caf.

– Nathan: Oh.

- And you can see that I've melted a bunch of Organic Valley butter on this.

So we've got big old pools and pockets in that sourdough bubbling.

- You guys know how to treat people over here at the Owl Farm.

[Luke laughing] - Luke: We try.

All right, moment of truth.

– Nathan: Oh, man.

– Luke: Yeah.

Oh, boy.

– Nathan: Oh, man.

Oh.

[Luke chuckling] Just involuntary groans.

[Luke laughing] - Yeah, seriously.

That smells gorgeous.

– Nathan: Yeah.

- The idea that it's so rich and delicious and the morels and the beef and the root vegetables, I think that, sometimes, food, when it's done with, like, the seasons or, like, the feeling of the day in mind, you really don't get much better food.

And it's rustic, it's very provincial, but at the same time, this is so Wisconsin.

– Nathan: It is.

– Luke: And I love the fact that it was made with a local knifemaker.

I love the fact that we got to see this all come together in one big conglomeration, and we shared a meal, we cooked one together.

Last ingredient.

– Nathan: Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.

– Luke: That beautiful... - Nathan: Oh, my.

– Luke: ...beautiful Rush Creek.

Oh, man.

Well.

- Should we just sit here and stare at it for a minute?

- We could.

- Is it all right if I just go in for a whole morel right away?

- Ready?

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

- Mm.

- Mm-hmm.

It's rich, it's sweet.

It pairs so well with this Rush Creek.

– Nathan: Mm-hmm.

- You get that 'nduja, like that little spice backdrop that totally carries your palate, and it lingers.

It, like, just holds on there.

You get the earthiness of the morel that really complements the rind bloom on that cheese.

– Nathan: Mm-hmm, the ginger brightens the whole thing up a little bit.

– Luke: Yeah, man.

– Nathan: Really incredible.

- I have to thank you so much for the process of watching you do your work and being able to participate in that, which lit a fire for my creativity.

It made me so excited to think that we were going to use your knives to prepare this dish.

I couldn't think of a better sous chef to have for the day.

Thank you so much.

– Nathan: I'll come anytime.

– Luke: All right, that sounds great.

- Mm, yeah, that's crazy good.

- That is crazy good.

- Mm-hmm.

- What I do want is an instrument that if I do happen to sever a limb.

- Yeah.

- It's gonna be a nice, clean cut.

- Oh, exactly, no, we go between the molecules, actually.

That's like the classic knifemaker pose is this one.

Get your medical facts from Wisconsin Foodie.

- That's right.

- Ooh!

– Luke: Oh, you all right?

- Yeah; did it burn me at all?

- Maybe a touch, just a skosh.

- That's funny.

- [laughs] That's funny.

How do you feel about thyme?

- Ah, I mean, it keeps creeping ever onward to the end of all things, but the herb is pretty good.

[Nathan chuckles] - Luke: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

[gentle music] - The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[people cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- Did you know Organic Valley protects over 400,000 acres of organic farmland?

So are we an organic food cooperative that protects land or land conservationists who make delicious food?

Yes.

Yes, we are.

Organic Valley.

[bright 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Are you hungry for more?

Then go to our YouTube channel and subscribe and be in the loop every time we release new content, behind-the-scenes footage, and new episodes that you can preview before anyone else.

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