Enjoy a taste of Wisconsin with dishes prepared using dairy products, meats, and more.
By Janet Groene, F47166
September 2015
September 2015
Motorhome travelers who are familiar with the American heartland know that the town of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, is more than auto races at the famous Road America track. It’s also a region of leafy campgrounds, hiking trails, fishing spots, and sight-seeing opportunities, as well as a cornucopia of fresh produce, craft beers, artisan cheeses, German wursts, and ice wine.
Elkhart Lake’s venerable Osthoff Resort has achieved AAA Four Diamond status and — good news for motorhomers — you don’t have to be a guest to add the resort’s cooking school to your itinerary. The state-of-the-art teaching kitchen at the resort’s L’ecole de la Maison is twice the size of an entire motorhome, but many of its lessons translate perfectly from large to mini and from French to plain-spoken English.
Scott Baker, the resort’s executive chef, offers these tips:
- Pastry brush bristles may burn or dislodge and contaminate food. Instead, to grease a pan or grill basket, wrap a wad of cheesecloth around a fork, fasten it with butcher string, and dip it into oil or melted butter.
- Clarified butter has a higher smoke point than butter, so it is better for many purposes, such as making caramelized onions or flash-frying steak.
- Use yellow onions rather than sweet in French onion soup; otherwise, the soup may become too sweet.
- To poach fish or scallops, butter the pan as well as a piece of parchment paper the same size as the pan. Place seafood in the pan in an even layer, add poaching liquid, and top it with the parchment, butter side down.
- To keep meat or fish warm while making a sauce or gravy, top it with tented foil or buttered parchment.
- Flavored butters are a quick way to enhance meat or vegetables. Soften butter and stir in a flavoring ingredient such as chopped, roasted nuts; minced herbs; or orange zest with a little sugar. Form the butter into a roll, wrap it, and chill. Cut off portions as needed.
Cooking school: Reservations are essential. Rates are $125 for workshops; $185 for one-day courses; $295 for two-day courses. The price includes eating the meal one prepares. Book at least two weeks ahead; a deposit is requested. Call (877) 804-8630 or email cookingschool@osthoff.com.
The following Wisconsin-inspired recipes from my galley are filled with the wonderful bounty of Badger State food products and are simplified for cooking on the go.
Cheese Curd Salad
Cheese curds are toothsome nuggets that squeak when chewed, delivering a burst of buttery cheese flavor. They’re commonly served breaded and fried. Here’s a slimmer way to enjoy this Wisconsin treat.
1 ½ cups cheese curds
1 small head lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces
2 large, ripe tomatoes, diced and drained
1 cup diced sweet pepper, yellow squash, or other vegetable
Red wine vinaigrette to taste
2 cups croutons (or more to taste)
The trick is to get a golden brown crust on the top of the cheese curds without melting them. I use the toaster oven. Preheat a broiler and line it with nonstick foil. Cut up any curds that are larger than bite size. Place cheese curds in a single layer. Watching carefully, broil the curds until they are brown on top. Remove them from the oven and set aside to firm up. Make the salad, then toss with the croutons and curds. Serve at once. Makes four to six main-dish servings.
Three B Wisconsin Chowder
Make a hefty chowder with beer, brats, and exotic BellaVitano, a Cheddar-like cheese made by the Sartori Company of Plymouth, Wisconsin. A number of varieties of BellaVitano are available, including one in which the cheese wheel is hand-rubbed with freshly roasted espresso.
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)
1 medium carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup flour
2 cups water
2 bouillon cubes (chicken or vegetable)
1 cup milk
1 12-ounce can or bottle beer (Blue Moon, Spotted Cow, or Bedlam)
2 cups (about 12 ounces) cooked, sliced bratwurst
Pepper to taste
Generous tufts of shredded BellaVitano cheese (or sharp cheddar)
In a saucepan, melt the butter and sizzle the caraway seeds, carrot, and onion without browning. In a small bowl, whisk the flour with a cup of cold water and stir into the saucepan with the remaining water and the bouillon cubes. When the mixture begins to thicken, reduce heat and stir in the milk and beer. When it’s smooth and thick, stir in the brats to heat through. Add pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and top each with a generous tuft of cheese. Makes four main-dish servings.
Piquant Dill Butter
Butter is used lavishly in this dairy state. This recipe goes well with a traditional Door County Fish Boil. Or, serve it on fresh green beans, baby carrots, boiled potatoes, poached seafood, or a cheese omelet.
2 sticks butter
1/3 cup Dijon-style mustard
1/3 cup snipped fresh dill OR 1 tablespoon dried dill weed
Melt the butter and whisk in the mustard and dill weed. Drizzle warm over the dish of choice or chill it and cut into chunks to melt atop grilled steaks, fish, or pork chops.
Wisconsin Wild Rice
American Indians harvested wild rice in Wisconsin long before the Europeans arrived. It’s a nutty, nutritious side dish that can be cooked on the galley stove or over the campfire. A cup of uncooked wild rice yields about four cups of cooked rice.
1 cup raw wild rice
½ stick butter
½ cup almond meal OR finely chopped almonds
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cups trimmed and sliced mushrooms
3 ½ cups chicken or vegetable broth
With rice in a strainer, rinse thoroughly. In a large, deep skillet, sizzle the rice, almond meal or chopped almonds, onions, and mushrooms in hot butter for about five minutes. Slowly stir in the broth. Cover and cook over low heat for 45 minutes or until the rice is tender.
Alternate method: After stirring in the broth, put the mixture in a buttered, six-cup casserole and bake, covered, at 325 degrees for 90 minutes.
Badger-Style Brussels Sprouts
Use more summer sausage to make this a main dish; use less to flavor a vegetable side dish.
1 pound Brussels sprouts
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 to 2 cups diced summer sausage
2 tablespoons honey
Half a lemon
Salt, pepper to taste
Trim the sprouts and cut them in half. Melt the butter with the oil in a large skillet and place the sprouts cut-side down. Scatter summer sausage over the top. Cover and cook over medium heat until the sprouts are tender. Stir. Drizzle lightly with honey and squeeze lemon juice over everything. Stir and season to taste. Makes four to six servings.
Cooked Carnivore Sandwiches
Raw ground beef mixed with raw eggs and served on party rye, with a crunch of raw onion, is a Wisconsin tradition brought from Europe. It’s a special treat, often reserved for weddings, football games, and New Year’s Eve. With apologies to traditionalists, I can’t recommend eating raw ground beef or raw eggs in an era when E. coli and salmonella are a threat, so here is my cooked version.
1 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Salt, pepper
1 tablespoon flour
½ medium onion, very finely chopped
Party rye
Sliced gherkins
In a skillet, fry the ground beef in hot oil, breaking it into crumbles and adding salt and pepper as you go. When the meat is no longer pink, sprinkle it with flour and continue stir-frying until the drippings thicken. If it’s too thick, add a tablespoon of cold water. Remove it from the heat and stir in the onion. Spoon the meat onto slices of party rye and top each with a slice of pickle. Serves eight to 10 as a snack.
Cranapple Pie
Wisconsin is the nation’s largest producer of cranberries and is also a leading apple grower. Use canned cranberry sauce as a shortcut that may also add all the sweetening you need.
2 sheets of pie pastry
1 15-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce
4 to 5 apples, peeled and sliced OR a 17-ounce can of pie-sliced apples (not apple pie filling)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup sugar (optional depending on sweetness of the apples)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon sugar
Line a pie pan with the pastry and set the oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, mash the cranberry sauce; fold in the sliced apples, lemon juice, up to 1/2-cup sugar, and cinnamon. Fill the pie shell, add the top pastry, and flute the edges. Cut slits in the crust to allow steam to escape, and sprinkle the crust with the teaspoon of sugar. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Serve with slices of Wisconsin Cheddar.
Books For Cooks
It’s second nature for RV cooks to create complex flavors by using shortcuts. We may make our own spice mixes, infuse vinegar with fresh herbs to add a gourmet touch to salad dressings, or harvest a host of vineyard flavors by cooking with wines. Now a new book, Aroma Kitchen: Cooking with Essential Oils (Schiffer Publishing, $29.99), shows how to optimize flavor without additional chemicals and fillers.
Because essential oils are heavily concentrated and used by the drop, they’re ideal for a space-efficient galley. However, their intense concentration calls for special instructions, recipes, and precautions. This hardcover book is a complete guide to this important new trend in cuisine. The color photos are inspiring.