Since it's been unseasonably warm, The Wisconsin Test Kitchen decided to celebrate in style, and hit the open road with a full tank of gas, 2 Venti Starbucks drinks, and no real destination in mind.
We started at the Dane County Farmers Market; where we picked up some early season produce: cucumbers for pickling, asparagus and sunchokes. We have no idea what to do with sunchokes, but our friend Booke promised to prepare us a few sunchoke dishes and even guest blog soon!
Additionally, the sweet, cheesy smell of Stella's was calling our name... we had to stop for a loaf of Hot & Spicy Cheese Bread. If you've never tried it; you need to! It's a large, generous loaf served warm with a slight sprinkling of crushed red pepper. It's warm, and cheesy and a tiny bit spicy. It's not uncommon to see families sitting around square, sharing a loaf. It's designed for sharing unless you're me... and then you devour the entire loaf yourself over the course of a weekend. Don't judge. Stella's sells an average of 2,000 loaves of bread at the market every week. 2,000 people can't be wrong: you've got to give it a try!
In case we didn't get enough cheese, we had to stop by The Curd Girl: the home of our absolute, most favorite fried cheese curds. My biggest pet peeve is when restaurants/food trucks/you name it, batter and deep fry a piece of cheese and brand it "fried cheese curds". NO! That's fried cheese. A fried cheese curd is a CURD battered and deep fried. Damn... is my Wisconsin showing? Anyway, The Curd Girls hand cut and fry their curds and they are OHMYGODAMAZING!!! We tried them for the first time last year at The Crazy Legs run in Madison and haven't stopped thinking about them. Yeah... they're that good.
After getting our fill of cheese in a variety of different forms, we took a walk down State Street for some shopping. We wandered into The Red Elephant for a palate cleansing chocolate. Their hand-painted chocolates are almost too beautiful to eat. Notice I said "almost". We tried a Birthday Cake Truffle (fitting!), as well as a Red Wine Truffle, a Mint Meltaway and a Salted Caramel. Each piece was unique and delicious. The interior of the store is beautiful, and in addition to chocolates they also sell pastries, ice cream, and beverages. They had special wine and chocolate pairings, in addition to chocolate classes.
Once we had our fill of Madison, it was time to head a little further north to J Henry & Sons for a bourbon tasting. We're both big bourbon drinkers, and since we can't afford a trip to Kentucky right now, this was the next best thing. Joe and his wife Liz were fantastically nice, their farm is beautiful and did we mention the bourbon? Oh my lord, the bourbon. There's a reason they're receiving national attention and winning awards. We enjoyed a walk around the farm, a tour of the rickhouse and a bourbon cocktail and tasting after the tour.
J Henry & Sons is dedicated to all things Wisconsin: their bourbon is made with a special red corn formulated by students at UW Madison; and even the barrels are made from Wisconsin white oak. They currently have 2 different products: the 5 year aged bourbon, and the cask strength bourbon. Both were great: full of caramel and toffee notes, but the cask strength was our favorite. We even left with a personalized bottle! And a birthday cupcake!
The tour was reasonably priced, and the Henry family was wonderful to meet. We can't recommend this tour (or product!) enough. Right now their products are available in Wisconsin and Illinois; and available for sale online.
It was a fantastic, spontaneous day and we really had fun enjoying local food, beverages and treats. It's great to see fellow Sconnies out of hibernation and enjoying the best our state has to offer.
Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew
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