Pineapple-Cheddar Casserole

Recipe from Hooked on Cheese: World champion Julie Hook and her artisan curd creations
By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava magazine June 2007
Column: Around the Table

“This is one of my family’s favorites,” says Julie. “My daughter, Melyssa, and I make it a lot. It’s wonderful to bring to a potluck – a great side to burgers, hot dogs, barbecue, chicken and pork. I just love it because it mixes the salty and the sweet together.” Julie notes that any cheddar aged at least one year can be substituted. “Anything old enough to melt and not be stringy. But your taste buds just explode with the Hook's 10-Year in the recipe!”

3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons flour
2-3 cups Hook’s 10-Year Cheddar, shredded
2 (20 oz.) cans of pineapple chunks in their own juice
1-2 cups cracker crumbs (Julie uses whole-wheat Ritz)
1 stick butter, melted.

Drain pineapple chunks, reserving juice. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a medium casserole dish. In a large bowl, combine sugar and flour. Stir in Hook’s 10-Year Cheddar. Add drained pineapple. Stir until ingredients are well combined.

In a medium bowl, combine cracker crumbs, butter and pineapple juice, stirring until evenly blended. Spread crumb mixture over pineapple mixture. “I like to put some extra crumbs on the top,” Julie says. Bake 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Can be reheated, or even served cold: “It’s one of those recipes that get better in the fridge.”

Blogger Vanessa Balchen finds an international audience for her online journal of fresh, local whole foods

By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava Magazine, May 2007
Column: Around the Table

Recipe: Strawberry Scones

The other night for dinner, Vanessa Balchen made snapper, and according to her, it was “the best fish I’ve ever made.” So she told the whole world about it.

“I rubbed it down with a mix of garlic, canola oil, cumin, and smoked paprika and then cooked it in a really hot pan with just a bit of oil,” she announced. She even took an enticing photo of her luscious entree, served on a salad bed of mache – “You should have seen me at the market when I realized they had it?it was rather embarrassing to be that excited about a leafy green” – and dressed with a sauce made from “a few dried berries, some fresh ginger, and a splash of white vinegar – so tasty I could have eaten it with a spoon,” and accompanied by “tender and flavorful artichoke served with an espresso cup of melted butter and coarse French gray sea salt. Delightful and oh, so decadent.”

That’s a typically exuberant, intensely first-person excerpt from Vanessa’s web log – “blog,” for short – WhatGeeksEat.com. And she’s not the only one out there chronicling breakfast, lunch and dinner on the Internet. Vanessa’s snapper entry credits recipes found on two other blogs as the basis for her menu, and considering today’s varied, vibrant, food “blogosphere,” that needn’t come as a surprise.

Though political bloggers might be the ones most often mentioned in the mainstream news media, food bloggers abound, ranging from cookbook authors and world-famous chefs to home cooks and enthusiasts of all types. One directory site, foodblogblog.com, lists over 1200 online journals that document and celebrate the philosophy, history, cultural significance and preparation of food.

Dedicated food blogger Vanessa Balchen, 46, is a marketing specialist by day who lives in Middleton with her computer programmer husband, David, and their two sons, Alex, 14, and Dexter, 12. Originally from Sullivan, a small town in central Illinois, Vanessa met her husband at college, Southern Illinois U at Carbondale. “I studied creative writing and English with an emphasis on poetry,” she says.

The Balchens lived in the San Francisco Bay area for 13 years, but, Vanessa says, “the schools were awful and Dave had a five-hour commute.” In 2000 they read about “the great quality of life in Madison” in a New York Times article. Just two months later, they were Midwesterners once more.

VVK: Why do you blog?

VB: Last year I started blogging because I was playing games on my computer. I figured if I had time for that then I finally had time to write for fun again. I love everything about blogging. I love the cooking, the technical tinkering and design improvements, writing it, marketing it. I love it all.

VVK: Why blog about food?

VB: Most of the food I make is original or an adaptation of an existing recipe. I've always cooked this way and I've always enjoyed it. But when we wanted to eat something again, I couldn't recreate it because I didn't write it down and I have a horrible memory for details. Now I have a written record of my recipes, I get to write – which is something I enjoy immensely – and if people want to read, then they can.

For me it's all about local, fresh ingredients. I buy directly from the farmers whenever I can. My blog features the food we eat and the people who grow it. I cook simply because the superb products I get don't need much to bring out their fresh, robust flavors. I have a list of my local sources on my blog and I'm always looking for more. I never worry about the safety or freshness of our food when I know where it comes from. Having a relationship with the people who grow your food is the best way to approach food, it's very satisfying and it's a win-win sort of situation.

Q: Who reads WhatGeeksEat.com?

I have about 200 readers a day now and I've been consistently growing since I started last September. People find my blog through comments I've left on other blogs, links from other blogs, and blog portals. Many of my readers are fellow food bloggers, and others are just people who like to eat well. I have readers from all over the world, and I always find that surprising. I'm always amazed by the praise I get – nothing but love and kindness has been coming my way.

VVK: How much time do you spend working on the blog?

VB: I probably blog everything we eat. I work on it about four days a week, anywhere between one to three hours a day, depending if I have research to do or if I need to leave comments on my blog or elsewhere. I also spend time marketing it by linking it to blog portals.

VVK: What makes your blog special – how does it stand out from other food blogs?

I'd like to think that it's my fabulous content. I've purposely tried to infuse my cooking, writing, and photography with who I really am at this point in my life. I attempt to be humorous, although I'd be the first to admit that my brand of humor is pretty silly. I think my blog design is attractive and easy to use. I work hard on all of this and I think it shows. I like playing with the HTML and PHP code. I've been able to learn a lot of new things over the past six months and that's a huge bonus. It helps that I'm computer literate and married to a genius programmer.

VVK: About that? in the popular imagination, the stereotypical computer geek eats like my former boss from my days working at a small Internet company – his four food groups were cereal with milk, Doritos, mixed nuts and delivery pizza. Your site’s very name, WhatGeeksEat.com, is a declaration to the contrary.

VB: I've always hung out with geeks who like to eat well and were willing to cook for it. In college, in SF and the East Bay, and now here in Middleton and Madison. I don't think it's that uncommon. Cooking is a process and it can be analyzed and improved upon. I've also noticed that there are a lot of geeky food bloggers.

VVK: What has surprised you the most about your blogging experience?

VB: Everything about it surprises me. The growth of my readership, the flexibility of my family to accommodate it, the enormous amount of pride my husband has in me, the new things I learn and how it keeps stretching my brain.

VVK: What do you see as the importance of the greater blogging phenomenon?

VB: Blogging has the potential to replace mainstream media. It's interactive, it's a community and it's dynamic. A blog can react to current events, while print media has a much longer cycle. A good blog is intelligent, well-written, informative and entertaining – which is also true of what good print media is. Blogs just move faster and with much less overhead.

VVK: When you write, who do you imagine your audience to be?

VB: I really don't imagine an audience at all. I try hard to write in my voice and I'm very honest about the food I make. If I don't like something or it turns out to be a complete wreck then that's exactly what you'll read on my blog. The pictures are there to honestly represent the food. I don't do anything special to the food and I have no plating technique – it is what it is. I guess I'm trying to show how easy and satisfying it can be to cook whole foods that are produced locally.

VVK: What are your plans for WhatGeeksEat.com?

VB: I'll keep blogging and I'll continue to improve my blog, and my writing and cooking. It’s fun and creating the blog and feeding it with content is quite satisfying.

I'm learning to share myself with my readers. In real life, I'm kind of shy. But through the written word, I can be more myself. My readers know quite a bit about me and that's good. It lets us all feel connected. Plus, I'm enthusiastic about what I believe in: buying local, supporting sustainable agriculture, being honest and enjoying life.

Strawberry Scones

Recipe from Vanessa Balchen, Food Blogger
By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava magazine, May 2007

“I'm posting a scone recipe monthly. The whole family adores the strawberry scones at Lazy Jane's Cafe and I'm obsessed with recreating them at home,” says Vanessa. This version – her “third iteration,” as she puts it in appropriately geeky terminology – is creatively adapted from Baking With Julia by Julia Child and Dorie Greenspan. “Lazy Jane's scones are denser and toothier. Mine are very light and almost fluffy. I do love the freshness of mine and the strawberriness – I just would like them to be a bit more substantial. And so the quest continues.”

3 cups all purpose, unbleached flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks of cold, unsalted butter cut into tiny pieces
1 cup half and half
1 tablespoon plain yogurt
12 frozen strawberries, sliced

Preheat oven to 425° F. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Add butter and work it into the flour mixture using your hands. Don't overwork the flour and butter.

Stir yogurt into half and half and add strawberries. Add this to the flour mixture and mix gently to form a dough.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured counter. Pat into a square about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into squares and place on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Allow to cool for five minutes and then glaze with a mixture of 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, and a splash of orange juice.

Barbara Wright of the Madison Originals

Owner of The Dardanelles is a true “original” who also represents 40 locally owned Madison restaurants
By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava magazine, April 2007
Column: Around the Table

Recipe: Tortilla Dardanelles with Aioli

“Local, independent restaurants are where the flavor is,” says Barbara Wright, president of The Madison Originals, a non-profit association of over 40 restaurant members. “It’s where the cutting edge of regional cuisine is found – where it was born and where it’s preserved.” What makes local eateries so special? “The owner is almost always in the house. There are real chefs in the kitchen, who hone their skills nightly and stand behind their food. Owners buy locally and know their suppliers, often with relationships that span decades. The food is prepared with skill and love, from foods selected for their nutrients and flavors.”

In the three years since the birth of Madison’s chapter of the Council of Independent Restaurants of America (CIRA), Madison Originals has been increasingly active in the community, holding golf outings, charity events and even a lively chef’s battle at the annual Madison Food & Wine Show. Earlier this year, the Originals organized Madison’s first annual Restaurant Week – “wildly successful,” says Barbara. And the group’s quarterly Madison Originals Magazine showcases local businesses, services and attractions of all types.

This month, Around the Table talks with Barbara Wright, who, along with being president of the Madison Originals, serves on the board of directors of CIRA. A 54-year-old native Chicagoan with a lifetime in the culinary trade, Barbara has owned The Dardanelles restaurant on Monroe Street for over a decade.

VVK: What is the Madison Originals all about?

BW: We are a confederacy of independent owners who have formed a union to promote the idea of local dining. This is our guiding philosophy.

Independent restaurants are an integral part of the neighborhood, of the community. We know our customers and they know us. We create intimate places where you can come back again and again and find the same good food and the same warm reception. We train employees – in a positive and supportive environment – real culinary skills that stay with them a lifetime.

Independent restaurants have been suffering from the onslaught of chain restaurants not only moving into town on their own, but also lured to surrounding towns by the dozen by developers and city councils. We get no subsidies or special financing. No one pays to build roads up to our doors. We put our life savings on the line and live our dreams. The Madison Originals has created a network of friendships and support to help us do all of this.

VVK: How did the Madison chapter get started?

Three years ago, Marcia and Patrick O'Halloran, the owners of Lombardino’s Restaurant, saw a sticker on the door of a Kansas City restaurant while on vacation. They were told all about the Originals idea from the owners, and brought that idea back to their colleagues in Madison. The response was overwhelming. New restaurants join every month.

Last spring the board of directors of Dine Originals [CIRA’s trademarked name for its national network of associations] came to Madison and loved it! They were most impressed with the farmers’ market and our local network of farmers and suppliers. In many ways, Madison is way ahead of the curve. We have a great life here.

VVK: Tell me about Madison Originals Magazine. It’s so good looking, and such a celebration of local food and more – I always keep my copy for months.

BW: It’s one of our many successes. It has been so well done that other chapters around the country have been looking into publishing one just like it. It helps us to promote the many events we do each year.

VVK: How did your restaurant, The Dardanelles, come to be, and what does it mean to you personally? I understand it wasn’t always an easy road.

BW: I started the Dardanelles Restaurant in 1996 with my then-husband and two Turkish partners. We had such high hopes. We were excited about bringing the fresh taste and colorful flavors of the Mediterranean cuisine to Madison. We wanted to create the warmth of Mediterranean hospitality here on Monroe Street. We all worked hard to build the interior and set up the restaurant.

When we opened, I worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week. We all were new at our jobs, and we trained, altered and rearranged as we went. Although I had talked to my husband and my partners about the huge amount of work starting a restaurant could be, they were overwhelmed. My partners fought with each other in Turkish and wanted to work only a few hours a day. They were the owners, they said, not the slaves of the business. My then-husband wanted to make profits right away, even when other restaurant owners explained that profits came later.

Within the first year, my partners were gone and my husband and I, married 25 years, had separated.

The business continued to grow and I worked hard to keep it growing. Today, I have a wonderful, supportive staff. Youssef Amraoui, whom I married three years ago, runs the kitchen with finesse. He is a Moroccan culinary school graduate – originally from a nomad family in the Sahara Desert near the border between Morocco and Algeria – who came to Madison after a stint at the famous Memphis Peabody hotel restaurant, Chez Phillipe. We continue to create new and classic cuisine from all over the Mediterranean region for all our friends in Madison.

To learn more about Madison Originals, visit www.madisonoriginals.org. The Dardanelles is located at 1851 Monroe St., Madison; (608) 256-8804.

Tortilla Dardanelles with Aioli

Recipe in Barbara Wright of the Madison Originals
By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava magazine, April 2007
Column: Around the Table

Ask for a “tortilla” in Spain, and you’ll be served a cool wedge of potato omelette that’s fragrant with olive oil and garlic – not a Mexican burrito wrapper. Both words derive from “torta,” a flat, round cake.

“Spain’s cuisine has been shaped over hundreds of centuries by a succession of invaders – Phoenicians, Roman and Moors,” says Barbara. Their culinary influences are still felt in the delicious traditional foods enjoyed today.” This recipe is for a brunch favorite at The Dardanelles, where they like to top it with Kassari cheese – from Greece, farther east along the Mediterranean’s shores.

1 cup olive oil
1 waxy potato, cut in small cubes
1 small onion, thinly sliced
3 large eggs
1 sweet red pepper, cut in thin strips
1 clove garlic, diced fine
1 cup fresh spinach
Salt and pepper

For aioli, mix together:
1 cup real mayonnaise
1 teaspoon crushed garlic

Beat eggs in small bowl with 3 teaspoons water until lemon colored. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet or sauté pan on medium heat. Fry potatoes until cooked but not brown. Drain oil and set aside. Add onions, pepper and garlic to pan. Sauté for three minutes until aromas are achieved. Add egg mixture and spinach, submerging spinach in the egg and cook one minute, then use spatula to loosen from bottom of pan and guide uncooked egg to sides. When solid, cover the pan with a plate. Hold plate with a hand and turn pan over to invert tortilla onto plate. Return uncooked side to skillet by sliding from plate to cook on second side. Cook two to three minutes more. Watch out for hot oil when turning the tortilla in this way!

Serve hot or cold. Garnish with aioli and black olives.

The Wisconsin Supper Club Idea: A great state tradition thrives at Toby’s

By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava magazine, March 2007
Column: Around the Table

Recipe: Toby's Supper Club's Super-Secret Salad Dressing

What’s a supper club? If you have to ask, you’re probably not from around here – and here’s what you need to know. No, supper clubs don’t have memberships (just like night clubs). No, they’re not open for lunch – they’re not called “lunch clubs,” now, are they? And if you want to look like an old hand at supper clubbing, head straight to the bar to order your meal. You’ll be seated when your salad comes out.

Supper clubs were born during the Prohibition Era, when alcohol was forbidden by an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That’s right, for 13 long years sipping a beer was a federal offense. Not a popular law in Wisconsin. Soon, resourceful citizens throughout the state had opened out-of-the-way establishments along clandestine – er, peaceful – wooded roads, cleverly labeling them “supper clubs.” In those days, “club” evoked a respectable gathering spot for gentlefolk; just the opposite of the wicked connotation of “saloon” or “bar.” And supper sounded like a legitimate reason to go out. Thus was born a culinary tradition that still thrives throughout the region.

Toby’s Supper Club, on Dutch Mill Road near the intersection of Stoughton Road and the Beltline, which evolved into a supper club through the 1930s and ’40s, is a vibrant example of the form, serving authentic supper club eats alongside cocktails so classic they were in fashion when the old fashioned was a new fashion. (In fact, that happens to be Toby’s number one mixed drink.) This is no retro-chic retread: Toby’s is the real thing.

Sisters Roxanne Peterson and Rhonda Frank run the club, which has been in their family since the late 1960’s. We talked with owner Roxanne about Toby’s yesterday and today.

VVK: How and when did Toby’s Supper Club get started?

RP: In 1933 [the final year of Prohibition] Harden Davis and his wife, Iva, built a barber shop here. The rumors were that bootleg booze was sold out of this barber shop – Toby’s kitchen today. In 1939, an addition was made to the building and the barber chair was moved out into a quarter of the dinning room. I have a customer who lived across the street and remembers having french fries and getting his hair cut by Harden.

In 1940, it was sold to Lester and Ruth Galvin and made into more of a restaurant. In 1945, three couples – Weedpohl, Dohaney and Curtis – made it into a supper club and named it Toby’s. In 1950, Toby and Lila Curtis became the sole owners.

VVK: What was Dutch Mill Corners like in days past?

RP: It was Madison’s entertainment center! At that corner there was Simon’s Log Cabin, where the Park and Ride is now. Jack Simon was known as a bootlegger in Prohibition time. I remember riding my bike with my mom and sisters to have lunch during the day, and we had many dinners there. There was the Beacon, where Arby’s is now – a bar and dance hall owned by George Dunn. My dad frequented it in the 50s.

On the other side of 12 and 18 was Oren Rimes’ Supper Club, later known as Nate’s, then Baker’s Dutch Mill. Further down 12 and 18 were Charlie’s Bar and Noble’s Supper Club. There was also a bar called the Cat and the Fiddle, and the Old Dutch Mill.

VVK: How did your family come to acquire Toby’s?

RP: In 1956, my parents built a home around the corner. I still remember my first dinner at Toby’s. It was my fourth birthday. I had the shrimp and a kiddie cocktail, and I thought they were both awful! I love the shrimp now. I remember that my dad painted Toby Curtis’s car, and when he would come to see my dad he would always bring us candy. In 1960, Toby passed away. Lila ran the business until 1969, when my parents bought it. Lila worked with my parents the first year and passed away in 1971.

In 1972, my dad made an addition to the building. When he knocked down a wall to make the new addition, inside we found newspapers with headlines of Prohibition being lifted, Ringling Brothers Circus posters, two sealed, full, Prohibition gin bottles and an original Toby’s menu. The perch plate was 35 cents. – 75 cents for the dinner. A T-bone steak was 65 cents and shrimp was $1.35 Lobster was $1.75.

VVK: Did you always plan to make Toby’s your career?

RP: I went to school to be a nurse so that I wouldn’t have to work at the restaurant the rest of my life. But now I’m the owner! I also work as an R.N. at Meriter Hospital, and at the Lasting Skin Solutions clinic I do aesthetic procedures – lasers, dermal fillers, Botox procedures. Between these two jobs I probably work 50 hours a week. I’d have a hard time choosing which job I like the best. Nursing is very rewarding for me, as is working at the restaurant. People tell me I work too hard, and I say I work a lot but I have never worked hard. The day that I work hard is the day that I don’t like what I do.

I started washing dishes at the age of 11 when my mother worked at the restaurant. I never thought that I would still be here 42 years later. After my parents purchased Toby’s, I eventually moved up the ladder to waitress. When my parents divorced in 1972, I became the manager. At that time I was married with two children and had just completed my L.P.N. degree at MATC and was starting a new job at Madison General Hospital, which is now Meriter. In 1976 I went back to school at UW Madison for my B.S. in nursing.

VVK: What other family members work at Toby’s?

RP: Rhonda’s worked at the restaurant for the last 37 years. We’ve never had an argument. She says it’s because I‘m the boss, and I say it’s because we’re a great team and we’re great friends.

Rhonda’s son, Tony, has worked at Toby’s for 13 years. He’s been our icon bartender for the past ten years. If you’ve ever been to Toby’s, you’ll know Tony and he will surely remember your drink. Sara, Tony’s significant other, has worked at Toby’s for eight years. Rhonda’s daughter, Danyelle, has her own hair and massage therapy business, and she fills in at Toby’s when needed. My daughter Kelly has worked here for the past 23 years, minus the six years she went to college [out of state]. She fills a variety of roles and is the employee’s go-to person in my absence. My son, Chris, has worked at Toby’s on and off over the past 23 years.

VVK: How has the boom in chain restaurants affected your business?

RP: We offer an old-fashioned, nostalgic atmosphere that the new franchises cannot reproduce. At Toby’s we have never advertised. We’ve relied on word of mouth. I credit my dad for telling me a long time ago, “Don’t worry about what the competition is doing. Just take care of your own business and you’ll be fine.” We’re seeing the generation of adults coming to Toby’s because they had dinner here as a child. They’re now bringing their children.

VVK: How about the smoking ban?

RP: We’ve lost a few good friends and customers because they can’t smoke inside. But customers comment how much they love the smoke-free environment. We’ve been very fortunate that the smoking ban has not affected our business overall.

VVK: With all the fads in dining over the past few decades, how has Toby’s menu changed over the years?

RP: Thirty-eight years ago, we added pork chops, frog’s legs, and cod to the menu. We’ve added some appetizers, a New York Strip on Saturdays, and Rhonda’s Wednesday night special, which is different every week.

VVK: You haven’t felt pressure to update, to follow new trends?

RP: No. We use the same dressing recipes and food preparations handed down from the original owners. To this day we use the same cast iron skillets that have always been at Toby’s for hash browns. The same cast iron skillets for pan-fried chicken. We got a new grill and stove in 1996. At that time our cook Margaret remembered when Toby got his first new stove in 1956. She had cooked on that stove for 40 years, and continued to cook on the new stove for another four years. She passed away at the age of 72.

VVK: How about trends in cocktails?

The most popular mixed drink that we make is the old fashioned. In more recent days martinis and Manhattans have become more popular again. Tony is known for his famous key lime pie martini. He will not give out the recipe, not even to me. Toby’s offers a large variety of beer. In 1969 our biggest selling beers were Budweiser and Pabst. In 1972, when Miller Lite came out, it became our number one selling beer and remains so to this day.

VVK: What’s the secret to Toby’s continued success?

RP: We’ve maintained our quality and consistency in preparation of food. When people come to Toby’s they get what they expect and what they remember. They’re recognized by our staff. The same staff is always there. One Friday night, a couple had come in, who Rhonda had waited on for years. When they walked in the door they’d see Rhonda and nod at her, and she’d put in their order. On this particular Friday night, Rhonda wasn’t there. Tony and I asked if they’d put their order in – it appeared that they’d been waiting a long time. They replied that they weren’t sure what to do because Rhonda wasn’t there. They didn’t know how to put their order in. “Rhonda always knows what we want,” they said.

VVK: It sounds like you have a really solid community of loyal customers!

RP: We have people that have been coming to Toby’s since the 40’s. Last summer, some customers told me they were there for the 50th anniversary of their first date. One of our oldest customers, Charlie, passed away in 2006 at the age of 98. He was actively coming to dinner at Toby’s with friends. His wife, Lou Lou, lives at Skaalen nursing home and is 102 years old.

Toby's Supper Club's Super-Secret Salad Dressing

Recipe from Around the Table: Toby's Supper Club
By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava magazine, March 2007

At first, Roxanne was reluctant to reveal any of the recipes that have been Toby’s secrets for over half a century. When I told her that folks these days think salad dressing is something you buy from a big company at the supermarket, she agreed to share this recipe, a favorite at the club. It’s basic; it’s just right; it’s honest American home cookery. Good stuff. “People bring in their own jars for us to fill,” says Roxanne. “I make this by the gallon. I’ll scale it down for your readers.”

Toby’s Supper Club Super-Secret Vinegar and Oil Dressing

1 1/2 cups of salad oil
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons whole oregano
1 tablespoon garlic salt
2 cloves garlic
1 small onion

Combine all ingredients in a blender pitcher. Blend. Keep refrigerated. Makes one quart.

Linda Clash brings classic Soul to Madison’s South side

By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach In Brava Magazine, February 2007
Column: Around the Table

Recipe: Fried Green Tomatoes

There’s something good cookin’ in the South Park Street area, one of Madison’s most culturally diverse neighborhoods. It’s home to a summertime farmers’ market, a variety of ethnic specialty grocery stores and great eateries offering authentic culinary traditions as far-ranging as Indian, Mexican, Vietnamese – and now, with the mid-2006 opening of Jada’s Soul Food, classic Southern Americana.

Offering down-home fare like fried catfish, smothered chicken, homemade baked macaroni and cheese, cornbread, sweet potato pie and more, Jada’s is packed with customers who long for a taste of the South, and for down-to-earth, wholesome, home-cooking quality.

Self-described “die-hard foodies” Jackie and Linda Clash (JAckie + LinDA = “Jada”) decided to open the restaurant only after they’d built themselves some security in the form of a first business, a residential and commercial janitorial service “that was easy to set up and get going,” says Linda. But serving up good food has been their target ever since they noticed Madison’s potential for soul food.

“Jackie was driving along Rimrock Road one day a few years ago when he saw a sign outside a restaurant that said, ‘Soul Food served Sundays,’ says Linda, a 36-year-old Madison native. “He went inside, but the owner said they’d discontinued it after the cook left. So Jackie volunteered. The response was overwhelming.”

Jackie was no stranger to the kitchen – he’d grown up working at his parents’ restaurant, Shorty’s Soul Food on the south side of Chicago, as well as cooking for his four siblings at home. He’s also an alumnus of MATC’s pastry arts program. “He’d been working on his recipes since his early days at Shorty’s and looking for ways to make it better,” says Linda. For her part, Linda had helped her best friend, the owner of the now-defunct Southern Flavor, with catering events in the early 1990s. The Clashes realized that with their experience and their love of food and cooking, they could take the soul food concept far beyond a weekly gig. They decided to work towards opening their own place.

Today, with their Dirt Destroyers business going strong, the Clashes work hard to keep up with booming business at Jada’s, where Jackie cooks and Linda manages catering and customer service. And right across the street, still cutting hair at Style & Grace at 83 years old, is Linda’s father, Taylor "Smitty" Smith. “He was the first African-American barber in Madison,” says Linda. “He and my mother, Helen, are still active members at Second Baptist Church. They’ve been in Madison 65 years!”

VVK: What has been your biggest surprise so far connected to this business? What have you learned along the way?

LC: Our diverse customer base! It is such a blessing to see people of different races and from all walks of life stopping at Jada's for a good meal. We understand and cherish the fact that Jada's was a God-given blessing from conception, and we know that lots of restaurants don't receive the kind of response we have so early on. We don't take anything for granted!

VVK: What do you think is the appeal of soul food, especially yours?

LC: When food is cooked with love, people respond to that. Every dish at Jada's has lots of love behind it. Every recipe is something Jackie and I love. It wasn't placed on the menu for any other reason. We will always serve food that has meaning for us. This resonates with our customers as well. I can't count the number of times I've had customers reminiscing about food they used to love as a kid, or something their mother used to make them when they taste our food. That's why we do what we do.

VVK: What do people encounter for the first time at Jada’s, and how do they respond?

LC: Greens! That has become our soul food icebreaker. Anyone that comes in looking to try something new, I always steer them in the greens direction. Our collard greens have so much flavor, and come three different ways – vegetarian, with smoked turkey, and with smoked pork – that there’s bound to be a connection with just about everyone. We occasionally offer a collard and turnip mix, but for the most part, we serve collards. Jackie and I love collards! We buy local produce from the farmer's market when it’s in season.

VVK: I read in Isthmus that Jada’s is the only place in town serving up chitterlings. You know, I’ve heard about them all my life, but I don’t really know what they are.

LC: For seasoned soul food eaters, the chitterlings (pronounced “chit-lins”) are the number one draw at Jada's. People are pleasantly surprised when they find them on the menu. We always sell out! Chitterlings aren't that complicated to prepare, they’re just time consuming. Most customers love that they don't have to do the grunt work at home – we've already done it for them. I'm going to keep the identity of chitterlings a secret, and encourage people to come in and ask! I find that just about every cuisine has its own type of unique item that you just won't find anywhere else.

VVK: Smothered chicken sounds delicious – what’s that like?
LC: Smothered chicken is fried fresh, and then smothered with gravy. It remains crispy in the gravy because we fry everything fresh at Jada's.

VVK: What’s the difference between your fried chicken and what people are used to these days from fast food chains?
LC: Our chicken is a wonderful, well-kept secret! Our technique is unique, and the reason you won't find any fried chicken like ours in Madison is because it never sits under a light. All of our meats, with the exception of chitterlings and ribs [these are slow-cooking foods], are prepared right when you order it. You can always call or fax in your order for faster service, but we will never change that particular practice.

VVK: Somebody on an Internet forum said your cornbread is Northern-style because it’s sweet, even though you specialize in Southern cookery. What’s your philosophy on cornbread?

LC: I'm not sure if it's a Northern or Southern practice, because I've been served sweet cornbread countless times when I visit the South. I like both sweet and savory cornbread. Our cornbread muffins are sweet, but our cornbread dressing in gravy is not. Our dressing is like Thanksgiving stuffing. The gravy is chicken- and turkey-based, and made from scratch.

VVK: What’s been the biggest challenge been in making Jada’s a success?

LC: The long hours. Jackie and I realize we need to be as hands on as possible in the beginning, so we make it a priority to not sweat the small stuff. We are committed to making sure we steward our time wisely. You may see our children playing at the restaurant!

VVK: What plans do you have for the future?

LC: We have so many plans for Jada's! There may even be a joint venture cooking up in our near future – stay tuned to find out. Jada's Soul Food and Catering has some wonderful things in store for Madison. We are here to stay!

Fried Green Tomatoes

Recipe from Around the Table: Linda Clash of Jada's Soul Food
By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach In Brava Magazine, February 2007
Column: Around the Table

Related article: Jada's Soul Food

A savory, golden brown crunch through to a tangy, subtly sweet, juicy center: that’s the essential fried green tomato experience. “This recipe was perfected last summer when my craving and quest for fried green tomatoes led me to preparing them almost every day,” Linda says. “These will definitely be on Jada’s menu this summer!”

With the right combination of ingredients and a methodical approach, you can produce this classic Soul Food dish in your own kitchen. “The key is being completely prepared before you begin the cooking process,” she says.

Fried Green Tomatoes
recipe from Linda Clash, Jada's Soul Food in Madison, Wis.
3 or 4 large, firm, green tomatoes
2 cups vegetable oil for frying
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder, paprika, and onion powder
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper

Slice tomatoes 1/4 inch thick. In a skillet, heat the oil over medium high heat. Set out two bowls near the stove. In one, place the buttermilk. In the other, mix all dry ingredients. Dip each tomato slice in the buttermilk, dredge it in the dry mixture, and place in the skillet – gently, so as not to spatter hot oil. Repeat until there are several slices in the skillet, but with plenty of space around each. (Overcrowding the skillet will drop the oil’s temperature, yielding a soggy, greasy result.) Fry approximately two minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Remove to a plate; then dip, dredge and fry the next batch. Serve immediately.

Recipe: Quindins de Yá-Yá

Coconut upside-down treats

Recipe from Around the Table: Eat Smart travel guide series
By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava magazine, January 2007

This Brazilian favorite is “like a rich, satisfying macaroon,” says Joan, “with rich, golden yellow tops.” Included in her first volume. Eat Smart in Brazil, it’s a delicious fusion of African cookery with the European sweet tooth. In Brazil’s colonial days “the young girls of the plantation mansions, or casas grandes, were addressed as Yá-Yá by the slaves,” says Joan, who suggests using the leftover whites in egg white omelettes. (Or, save towards Betty Arp’s 13-whites Angel Food Cake, given in “Around the Table,” June 2006!)

1/4 pound butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
9 egg yolks
1 cup coconut, freshly grated*

Preheat oven to 350° F. Cream the butter and sugar, mixing well. Add yolks one by one, stirring well after each. When the sugar is completely dissolved, gently stir in coconut.

Lightly grease a shallow muffin pan and fill to a depth of 1 inch. Set into a baking tray containing about 1/2 inch of water and bake for about 35 minutes, making sure the water doesn’t boil over into the muffin cups. The quindins will be lightly browned on the surface.

Cool. Carefully loosen the edges with a knife before inverting the muffin pan over a flat surface. For best results, Joan recommends unmolding each quindim (the singular ends in “m”) one at a time.

Fresh coconut? You can do it!
Sorry, but shredded coconut from a bag won’t work here. Says Joan, “It doesn't have the same taste, consistency or moisture.” Fortunately, fresh, whole coconuts are available in the produce aisle of nearly any supermarket, and armed with Joan’s simple – if a bit adventuresome – method for getting at the tasty innards, you’re on your way to a heavenly coconut flavor and texture that just can’t be matched.

Heat the coconut for 10 minutes in a 350°F oven to crack it. Using potholders, remove from oven and place in a large metal bowl on the floor. Cover with a towel and hit the coconut with a hammer to break it completely open. Separate the coconut meat from the outer shell, prying with a dull knife if needed. Use a vegetable peeler to scrape away the thin brown skin that clings to the white coconut meat. Grate the meat in a food processor. “Whatever you don't use of the grated coconut, you can freeze for later use,” Joan says.

Joan Peterson's Eat Smart travel guide series

Combining a passion for travel and a love of all things gourmet, Joan Peterson transforms travel for foodies abroad.

By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava Magazine, January 2007
Column: Around the Table

Recipe: Quindins de Yá-Yá

With her Ph.D. in zoology and post-doctoral degrees in molecular biology and biochemistry, Joan Peterson was enjoying a successful science career at the UW-Madison. She left it all behind to write books about how to eat well abroad.

After one hard-earned overseas vacation meal too many in restaurants packed with other tourists all carrying the same guidebooks listing the same small handful of eateries, Joan decided to do better research next time. So when she and her husband, David, were planning a trip to Brazil, Joan started assembling a list of menu entries she might encounter there, and an accompanying glossary of culinary terms.

As she learned about the cultural influences shaping the country’s many cuisines, Joan found herself adding a history of the place. Next came sections on the culinary variations among the nation’s distinct regions, recipes for trying out the tastes ahead of time, guides to the supermarkets and open-air stalls of Brazil, and even contact information for international goodwill organizations.

Joan’s pamphlet had become a full-length travel guidebook, Eat Smart in Brazil (1995). Since then, she’s followed with guides to good eats in Morocco, India (co-authored with Indu Menon), Indonesia, Turkey, Poland, Mexico and, most recently, Peru (co-authored with Brook Soltvedt, the series editor). Books in the series have gone into multiple printings and editions, won various awards, been given out to passengers on international flights, and even been used as supplemental textbooks in college language courses.

Today, as well as working with her daughter, Susan Chwae, at Ginkgo Press, which Joan founded to publish the first book, Joan directs the Travel Publishers Association (which she also founded) leads her own culinary tours to Turkey, India and Morocco, and is active in CHEW (Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin), of which she’s a founding member.

VVK: Of all the countries you’ve written Eat Smart guides for, do you have a favorite?

JP: I've been to over 70 countries, and the winner is Turkey. In days of old, the royal chefs tried to outdo each other to create culinary masterpieces for the Ottoman sultans, and some of these dishes are still being made today for us lesser mortals. The rich meat and fruit combinations, the silky eggplant dishes and the regional countryside dishes that are so nourishing and cleverly conceived are exquisite. Not to mention the wide array of desserts pulled together from ultra-thin dough, or from dough threads. And every bit of food served comes with an enormous dollop of hospitality.

[On my first visit] I especially loved the pre-dinner tidbits – meze – served with lion's milk, the anise-flavored native brew called raki, distilled from grapes. The liquor is clear until ice and water is added, whereupon it turns white, hence the “milk” moniker. “Lion” because it packs a wallop.

VVK: Are culinary traditions alive and well around the world, or are they struggling?

JP: The culinary traditions – local, regional and national – of foreign destinations seem alive and well despite the intrusion of fast food joints, which have, in many destinations, become the "in" place for kids to celebrate a birthday. One of the strangest observations for me was in Marakesh, Morocco, where the McDonald’s was frequented predominantly by French tourists.

VVK: What advice would you give someone who is going to visit a foreign country and would like to get the most out of it, culturally and culinarily?

JP: Eat where the locals eat – typically in small family restaurants off the tourist path – to eat what the locals eat. For the most part, ignore the restaurant suggestions in major general guidebooks. Try to eat in homes. Some families thrive on inviting foreigners to share a meal with them, which also allows them to practice their English. Join an organization like Servas International [a non-profit network of hosts and travelers], for home stays or day hosting.

Take along an Eat Smart guidebook, and read it before the trip! Learn the names of traditional and regional dishes beforehand so you can order them from a – probably – “Englishless” menu. Choose ahead of time some you want to try. Learn some useful phrases to use in the markets, like "What is this?" Take photos of foods new to you – after inquiring if it’s OK.

Have a large appetite. Come with curiosity, an open mind and willingness to try new and sometimes pretty bizarre – to us, the visitor – foods, beverages, spices and seasonings.

VVK: One of the most astounding things about your books is how very many foodstuffs are completely new to me, like the fruits in different countries. What’s one of the most interesting and unusual you’ve found?

JP: The ice cream – sahlepli dondurma – made with powdered orchid root – sahleb – is still the most amazing food item to me. It’s one of the culinary delights of Turkey. Not only does it remain frozen at a higher temperature, 40 degrees, but it takes on an incredible taffy-like elasticity. Colorfully costumed street vendors show it off, pulling and stretching it into ropes two to three feet long with long metal rods.

VVK: Have you encountered things just too weird to eat?

JP: Many weird foods can be found if one treks far off the path, but in general tourists are unlikely to encounter them. I never have eaten anything weird, [like] the big bats sold at the markets in Sarawak [in Indonesia.] As an informed food writer, I do know about them, and could give you more examples. But the purpose of my books isn't to emphasize the weird. I write the guides so that eating in foreign countries is a more satisfying cultural experience for travelers.

I know food oddities make good copy, but emphasizing them does turn some people off and make them hunt down American fast food joints instead of getting to the heart of the culture through the food when they travel.

VVK: What have you learned in the process of writing and producing these books?

JP: I've learned how rewarding it is to interact with people of a different culture. The subject of food kindles the warmest relationships. I have experienced over and over again that it's the cuisine that takes us to the heart of a culture.

VVK: What’s your favorite thing about what you do? The most difficult?

JP: I especially enjoy researching and writing the chapter about the culinary history of a country. The most difficult part is that there are so many countries to write about and so few years in a lifetime.

VVK: Where are you going next?

JP: Sicily. It’s a fabulous island that many visitors to mainland Italy don’t include on their itinerary and should. It experienced a different history than the rest of Italy and its delicious cuisine reflects this.

Swiss Savings

How bakery buff Angela Anderson rescued New Glarus’s delicious legacy

By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava magazine, December 2006
Column: Around the Table

Recipe: Original New Glarus Bakery pfeffernusse spice cookies

In 2004, re-opening the New Glarus Bakery was a dream come true for Angela Anderson, its new owner. But something was missing – something critical to restoring the true spirit of the old bakery.

It was the old notebook. Where was the New Glarus Bakery without it?

Filled with irreplaceable Old World recipes for breads and pastries, the book had passed down through the string of families who had owned the bakery since 1910. With its help, the sturdy ovens deep within the small-town storefront spent the twentieth century baking traditional Swiss and German staples and treats – pumpernickel rye loaves, potato bread, nut horns, springerli, honey stick cookies – for delighted townsfolk and tourists alike.

But during the brief tenure of the bakery’s most recent owner, the book had simply gathered dust in a desk drawer. Longtime recipes – and staff, too – were swept aside for a more modern, industrialized approach. That proved to be a losing strategy. Without dedicated artisans baking heritage goods from scratch, the small business sputtered and shut down.

Angela, an IT professional who had dreamt of one day owning the bakery ever since she’d worked there as a high school student in the early 1990s, now saw her chance to turn things around. Determined to revive the once-proud institution, she bought the business, then tracked down and rehired the previous crew. The shop was about to change hands; everything was coming together. But then the book disappeared.

What to do? The bakery had already failed once without its prized recipes. How could Angela succeed? The newly rehired bakers struggled to reconstruct the old recipes from memory. But the chance to completely restore the town’s beloved tradition – and it had seemed so certain – seemed to be lost forever.

Then came a call that changed everything. A computer whiz friend had deciphered the information on some old floppy diskettes Angela had found in the office.

It was the book! A previous owner, Harold Weber – with his wife, Nancy, he had run the shop for a quarter-century – had typed up every recipe. And a century of tradition narrowly escaped extinction.

Today Angela and the rest of the bakery’s skilled, enthusiastic staff supply the town, tourists and Internet shoppers from all over the nation with authentic, all-natural New Glarus Bakery goodies baked from scratch. “It’s my dream. I love it,” she says. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”

Vesna Vuynovich Kovach: How did you get interested in baking, and in the New Glarus Bakery in particular?

Angela Anderson: When I was a child, I’d help my mother and grandmother bake. They would always make cookies, bars and cakes from scratch. I even remember rolling out cinnamon rolls one summer. My mother was always whipping up something in the kitchen.

During my junior year in high school, my sister-in-law, who had worked at the bakery, thought it would be a great idea for me to apply there. So I did. It was like becoming part of another family. We all worked very well together. Customers loved the New Glarus Bakery – for its products, service and cozy, warm feeling. People would drive miles, sometimes several states away to come here.

I realized early on that it was the made-from-scratch aspect as well as an image of high quality products served through many generations that made this bakery a strong, stable business as well as one of the focal points of New Glarus. Today, there are very few scratch bakeries. The ones I knew closed because the tradition in the family ran out.

VVK: The bakery went up for sale in 2001, after the Webers had owned it for some 25 years. Did you think about buying it then?

AA: I told my husband when we got married in 1997, “I have two goals in life: a house in the country, and to own the New Glarus Bakery.” He said, “Sure, whatever.” I knew someday the Webers would want to sell and the idea of having the bakery close just crushed me. But when it came up for sale in 2001, he didn’t want to move. We were living in Janesville and working in Beloit. He said it was either him or the bakery. I chose him. That time.

My mom bought me a little ceramic bakery. She said, “This is in remembrance of what your dream was.”

Then, in 2004, my mom brought me an article from the town paper. She told me, “I know your bakery dream is long gone. I don’t know if I should even show you this. But I thought you should know about it.” It said the New Glarus Bakery was going into foreclosure. I read it, and then I re-read it. I read that article for two days straight. I knew it was my one golden opportunity. I knew the next person to take it on wouldn't let it go. I couldn't bear the idea of non-traditional New Glarus Bakery products being made here, or worse, someone bringing in already-made products like at the grocery stores. It just wouldn't be right.

I wanted to see the bakery back to where it was when Howard and Nancy [Weber] had it. They continued to build an outstanding reputation for 25 years. I also saw what happened to the community when the bakery closed. It was a sad state.

Three weeks before the foreclosure sale, my husband told me to pick up divorce papers.

VVK: It sounds like you spent your adult life pining for the New Glarus Bakery. Why did you leave the area and go into a different field?

AA: I guess I went into information technology because at the time the IT field was a hot career. I also received my BS in business admin, and an Associate’s Degree in computer science. All my experience at the wheel plant, I call my boot camp for running a business. After about 5 years I had managed the systems that were the fundamentals of running the plant – production control, human resources systems, preventative maintenance systems, financial planning and accounting systems.

My closest friends knew I secretly wanted to have a business of my own – and that business was the bakery. I talked about it a lot. Business plans developed in my head over the years on how I would run it. I even planned out production schedules and devised sales figures based on the amount of items I remembered we would sell on a daily basis.

VVK: Tell me about your famous New Glarus Bakery stollen, your special holiday bread. It sounds just marvelous!

AA: We take light and dark raisins, and soak them in rum. There’s almonds and spices and a log of marzipan [almond paste] that runs down the center of the loaf. After they’re baked, we dip them in butter and roll them in powdered sugar. Then we shrink wrap them on a gold board and freeze them.

The freezing is an important part of the curing process It takes at least a month for the flavor to develop. We’ve eaten them right off the cooling shelves, but we just looked at each other and said, “This has no flavor!”

Last year we shipped 3,000 loaves all over the country, and Hawaii and Canada. This year we’re baking 960 – that’s 80 more than last year – for Byerly’s and Lunds, an upscale grocery chain in Minnesota.

VVK: Now that you’ve had the bakery for a while, what have you learned there?

AA: I have trained with mostly my bread maker in the traditions of making our hard-crusted breads, like you would find in Europe. I enjoy working with all my bakers and learning from them. Baking is definitely an art. You can throw somebody a recipe, but it’s the art, the skill, the creativity that you need to make a formula into something edible. It requires a sense of taste and above all, patience. It’s a work of art.

Original New Glarus Bakery Pfeffernusse

Recipe from Swiss Savings: New Glarus Bakery

By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava Magazine, December 2006

Literally translated as “pepper nut,” these walnut-shaped treats are named after the Pfefferlanden – “Pepper Lands” – an old German nickname for the spice-rich Far East. “The dough is very thick and dark, and has a spicy taste of cloves, cinnamon and anise,” says bakery owner Angela Anderson, who generously shares here the bakery’s century-old recipe. “It’s difficult to compare the flavor to any other cookie. We only make these at Christmas time, and include them in our ethnic cookie sampler.”

1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon ground anise (or more, depending on your taste)
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup molasses
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 2/3 cups all purpose flour.
Melted butter and powdered sugar, for rolling

In large mixing bowl, cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs and spices. Combine corn syrup, molasses, water and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture. Using mixer, add 3 cups of the flour. Add the rest of the flour and mix by hand. The dough will be very stiff. Use your hands to shape round balls of dough into balls about the size of small walnuts. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 400° F for 6 to 8 minutes, until lightly brown. Dip cookies in melted butter and roll in powdered sugar. Yield: 300 cookies. These freeze well.

A Fish Tale: Kathy Hughes

Once an at-home mom, Kathy Hughes has become president of a thriving business – and one of Madison’s foremost fishwives

By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava Magazine (formerly ANEW), November 2006
Column: Around the Table

Recipe: Day-Boat Scallops with Citrus Beurre Blanc

When you’ve spent most of your adult life as an at-home mom, what do you do after your three children grow up and your husband retires? Do you (a) retire to the suburbs of Miami and learn to play canasta and shuffleboard, (b) weep over your better half’s lack of enthusiasm for all those household chores he now has time for or (c) co-found and preside over a bustling family enterprise that guarantees 12-hour workdays, incessant business phone calls during your off-hours — and all the halibut you care to eat?

For Kathy Hughes, president and co-owner of Hughes Seafood, the answer, to her surprise, was (c).

When her husband, Mike, retired as a lieutenant with the Madison Police Department, he took a job at a fish market because, says Kathy, “He couldn’t stand doing nothing.” Soon after, their son Josh became assistant manager at the Seafood Center located inside the Brennan’s Market on University Avenue. Then, came an unexpected offer that changed everything. When Seafood Center declined opening a new branch in the Brennan’s going up on Watts Road in early 2004, the Hugheses were invited to start their own seafood shop there.

Hughes Seafood was born, with Mike as vice-president and Josh as secretary of the new company. “We set it up that way at the beginning because our banker suggested it. That’s the joke in our family – they’re all working for me now,” says president Kathy, with her customary easygoing laugh. Business took off, and went to another level this summer with the opening of a second branch inside Brennan’s University Avenue location, the site of Josh’s old job. (The Seafood Center currently has locations in Brennan’s on Whitney Way and in Willy St. Coop.)

VVK: Did you ever see yourself in this sort of role?
KH: Never. I never thought I’d be doing this. We used to have a life. Now all we do is work. It’s a lot of hours. But most of it’s fun. The customers are my favorite part of it.

VVK: Have you always liked seafood?
KH: Yes. I love to smell like fish. I’m kidding! Cooking has always been my hobby, and I’ve cooked quite a bit of seafood in my life, so now it’s fun to be a little more creative with it. I love experimenting. I make all the spreads we sell: smoked salmon, crab, crabby cheddar. I come up with recipes to give out to customers. I want them to be happy with their purchases and come back for more. I do the book work and the ordering. I’m kind of always looking for new products to put on the shelf.

VVK: What’s the secret to your success?
KH: We never keep anything in our case over 72 hours, ever. We bring fish in six days a week, always in small quantities. We try to just bring in what we think we’ll need for that day. If our fish has any odor, it’s out the door. Our place never smells like fish. There’s no reason for that. You can tell when fish is fresh: you’ll never smell it. Fresh fish is all shiny — it doesn’t look tired, or separated and falling apart. Several people have told us they’ve gone back to eating seafood since we came along.

VVK: How do you know?
KH: You don’t. It’s a very difficult business, to be honest with you. The potential for waste is there. With the Badger games and the Packer games, you have to be very careful. We want to have something for people who are going to entertain. But once the Badgers play, there’s going to be no one in the store. None. If you figure 80,000 people go to a Badger game, that’s a lot of the people in the area.

We follow the weather reports closely and try to figure out what people are going to be doing. Will they be grilling? Using the oven? If it’s going to be cold on a game day, we do more business because no one will be at game. It’s exciting and challenging to try and guess what people are going to buy every day.

VVK: I suppose you encourage customers to use their purchases right away.
KH: Definitely. Why would you want to buy ahead? People will tell us on Wednesday, we’re planning to prepare this on Sunday. No, no, no, no, no! You might as well buy frozen fish from any grocery store. Although we do have a gentleman who comes in every week and buys $100 worth of fish to freeze and use throughout the week. All these different types — a little less than a pound of each, just for him and his wife.

VVK: A lot of people are concerned about mercury in fish these days.
KH: Yes, it is safe to eat fish. The USDA says 12 oz. per week is OK, even for pregnant women. It depends on the variety. Cod, halibut, salmon, they’re fine. The big game type fish – swordfish, tuna – those are the type that you don’t want to eat an overabundance of. We do have people who eat nothing but fish. They vary what they eat. We also carry freshwater fish that come out of the Great Lakes: walleye, lake perch, whitefish. It’s all in the size of the fish.

VVK: Another concern is the environmental impact that fishing is having worldwide.
KH: With new regulations going into place, I think prospects are good. Most of this is so well regulated, because the fishermen themselves don’t want to lose their livelihoods. For instance, there was a big deal about Chilean sea bass recently. That’s a certified fish that now is sustainable. We’ve found that it’s all tagged and run through the USDA. They’re taking bigger fish from deeper in the ocean, they caught the fellow who was doing most of the poaching, and it’s no longer on the nonsustainable list.

We try to buy wild as much as we can of everything. Many people think farm-raised is better for the environment, but in general, it’s the opposite. We do not carry farm-raised anything, except certain types of shrimp. We always get shrimp that has not been treated with chemicals, as far as we know. That gives it a mushy texture, and almost a chemical taste. They have to list it on there, but I’m not always sure that everyone complies. That’s why you have to know who you’re buying from.

VVK: The humanitarian issue of keeping live lobsters in tanks has been in the news recently.
KH: We’ve just never even considered doing that. It never made sense to me. As soon as they put those rubber bands on a lobster’s claws, they can’t eat. So a lobster in a store might have been sitting in that tank, shrinking, for a two to three weeks. The fill goes down – that’s the amount of meat in the shell. Most people buy frozen lobster from us. We do bring live lobster in if you order it the day before.

VVK: What do you do with product that can’t be used?
KH: We’re helping to sponsor a man from Monroe in the Iditarod [an annual dog sled race held in Alaska]. We felt terrible throwing this stuff away. Then we heard about this fellow, a 62-year-old man named Benny Stamm, and thought, Okay! We freeze all our trimmings, and he picks it up for his team of dogs every two weeks. And we take donations for him. We have pictures of him and his team on display.

VVK: What advice do you have for seafood novices, like me, who are intimidated by the idea of cooking fish? It’s not cheap, and I’m afraid I’ll just wreck it.
KH: A good way to start cooking any type of fish is baking. Just a very basic recipe: olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stick to the rule of 10 minutes per inch of thickness at 400°. Remember about carry-over cooking after you take it out of the oven. The biggest mistake people make with fish is to overcook it. It gets a stronger flavor and becomes dry.

You want it to be moist and tender. It should still be medium in the center when you take it out. That’s the trick. And it’ll be perfect.

VVK: Have you been surprised by what’s popular and what’s not?
KH: We used to think striped bass would be a big thing, but we hardly every sold any. Then I brought in baby octopus once, sort of as a joke. It sold out. Now we sell out of it every single week. People from Japan, China and Italy like it, and people who have traveled there. They sauté it in olive oil.

VVK: What’s your personal favorite?
KH: My absolute favorite of all time is halibut. I love the texture and mild flavor. I like it baked, grilled, every way. But my favorite way is to grill on an alder plank. It turns a gorgeous, gorgeous brown color on the top. Alder gives a much milder smoke flavor than other woods. A cedar plank is good for salmon, but alder is perfect for halibut. I just started doing it this way since we opened the store. Everything we bring in I try to cook at least once. I’ve tried a lot of new things. Not baby octopus – yet.

Day-Boat Scallops with Citrus Beurre Blanc

Recipe from Around the Table: Kathy Hughes of Hughes Seafood
By Vesna Vuynovich Kovach
In Brava Magazine (formerly ANEW), November 2006


If you’ve ever had scallops that were mushy, chalky white and flavorless, chances are they spent up to 10 days on a board a fishing boat, soaking in phosphate preservative. Day-boat scallop fishers, by contrast, bring in the tasty bivalves daily, as their name suggests. Kathy recommends serving these fresh beauties with roasted asparagus and pine nut couscous.

Day-Boat Scallops with Citrus Beurre Blanc
One dozen day-boat sea scallops
salt and pepper

Season scallops with salt and pepper. Set a heavy-bottomed saute pan or a nonstick skillet over high heat. Heat a small amount of olive oil. Add scallops and sear for 3 to 4 minutes per side. Serve with Citrus Beurre Blanc, below.

Citrus Beurre Blanc
2 tablespoons butter
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup cream
Chopped chives for garnish
Salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste

Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add shallot and garlic. Sauté briefly, but do not brown. Deglaze with white wine. Bring to a simmer and reduce by one-half. Add orange juice and thyme. Continue to simmer and again reduce by one-half. Add cream. Reduce until slightly thickened. Season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Spoon over scallops. Sprinkle with chopped chives.