Cuisine of Wisconsin

The cuisine of Wisconsin is a type of midwestern cuisine found throughout the state of Wisconsin in the United States. Known as "America's Dairyland",[1] Wisconsin is famous for its cheese and other dairy products, such as frozen custard. Other notable foods unique to the region include bratwursts, beer and Old Fashioned cocktails, butter burgers, fish fries and fish boils, and booyah stew.

"Cheesehead" fans of the Green Bay Packers football team with bratwursts
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Dairy

Wisconsin is home to numerous frozen custard stands, particularly around Milwaukee, Wisconsin and along the Lake Michigan corridor.

The state also has a special relationship with Blue Moon ice cream, being one of the only places the flavor can be found. While the flavor's origins are not well documented, it was most likely developed by flavor chemist Bill "Doc" Sidon of Milwaukee.

Cheese
Fried cheese curds

The state is also well known as a home to many cheesemakers. Currently, Wisconsin boasts 58 Master Cheesemakers, who are all qualified through an extensive process set by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. The program is the only one of its kind outside of Europe. However, Wisconsin cheesemaking is even more diverse, ranging from artisans who hand-craft their product from the milk of their own dairy herds to large factories. Colby cheese was first created in Wisconsin in 1885 (named after the town it came from), and Brick cheese was first created in the state in 1877. The state has also played origin to Blue Marble Jack cheese, and is the only producer of Limburger cheese in the United States.

Cheese curds can be eaten separately "squeaky," or cold, as a snack, or covered in batter and fried as an appetizer, often served with ranch dressing as a dipping sauce. Hot and spicy cheese bread is a food created and popularized in Madison, Wisconsin.

Dessert
Kringle, the official state pastry

Arguably the most universal Wisconsin dessert would be the cream puff, a type of profiterole that is a famous treat at the Wisconsin State Fair.

The southeastern Wisconsin city of Racine is known for its Danish kringle, a sweet flaky pastry often served as a dessert. The kringle became the official state pastry of Wisconsin on June 30, 2013.[2]

Madison was home to Carson Gulley, a famous local African American chef of the University of Wisconsin–Madison from the 1920s to the 1950s. He is credited with creating the famous dessert Fudge-Bottom pie and spreading its popularity.

Alcohol

Beer
RumChata was invented in Pewaukee, Wisconsin
Platter of fish boil, which is traditionally served in Door County

Besides its "Cheesehead" status, Wisconsin has a reputation for alcohol consumption. Common traits of "drinking culture" are embedded in Wisconsin traditions, from festivals and holidays to everyday life. Many large breweries were founded in Wisconsin, largely in Milwaukee, which gained the epithet "Brew City" before the turn of the century: Miller, Pabst, Schlitz (all from and originally based in Milwaukee) and Leinenkugel all began as local favorites before entering the national and international markets. Wisconsin has experienced a resurgence in this industry, however, with numerous microbreweries and craft beers now being created and exported. Several other favorites include Ale Asylum, Capital, Sprecher, and New Glarus, the latter being well known for the Spotted Cow Farmhouse Ale.

Other

Besides beer, Wisconsinites also drink large quantities of brandy,[3] often mixed into the unique Badger libation, the "brandy Old Fashioned," which can be sweet, sour, or press. Another though considerably more recent brandy-based cocktail is the Wisconsin Badger, derived from a mix of brandy, cranberry juice, and cherry schnapps—all very Wisconsin-inspired ingredients.

Pewaukee, Wisconsin is also home to the alcoholic beverage RumChata, described as an horchata recipe containing the primary ingredients of rum and Wisconsin cream.

Cooking with alcohol is also quite standard across the state. Wisconsinites commonly boil or braise their sausages (especially bratwursts) in several types of beer (most often a pilsner) with butter and onions, and "Beer batter" fish, typically walleye or perch, as well as cheese curds and onion rings are also common fare. Beer cheese soup is another beloved recipe, usually made from a variety of beer and a sharp cheddar or more mild colby cheese, with sausage, potatoes, and green onions. Another ubiquitous but perhaps less-mentioned recipe involving alcohol is "Beer Butt" or "Beer Can" Chicken (similar to drunken chicken), a vernacular meal involving a whole chicken slow-roasted, typically over a fire, with a can of usually amber beer directly inserted into the poultry's cavity; the result being a tender meat soaked inside with the flavors of the beer chosen.

Bratwurst and sausage

Wisconsin cuisine also features a large amount of sausage, or wurst (German for "sausage"). The state is also a major producer and consumer of summer sausage, as well as the nation's top producer and consumer of brats.

Brats are typically boiled in a mix of beer, butter, and onions, served on a bratwurst bun, and topped with sauerkraut and often a spicy, brown style mustard. The city of Madison, Wisconsin, the state's capital, plays host to the annual "World's Largest" Brat Fest, a four-day-long festival incorporating music, recreational activities, and of course bratwursts grilled on a 65-foot-long grill. At Miller Park in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's deep affection for sausage plays out in the Sausage Race, a mascot race involving racing sausage mascots representative of some of the most common sausages found in the state: bratwurst, kielbasa, Italian sausage, the hot dog, and chorizo. Venison sausage, Andouille sausage, and Belgian trippe are a few other common sausages found in the state, though they do not constitute a part of the Sausage Race. Miller Park is also notable for being the only U.S. stadium in which brats outsell hot dogs.

Other
Booyah seasoned with peas, granulated vegetables and chicken

The Friday night fish fry, often battered and fried perch or walleye, is traditional throughout Wisconsin, while in northeast Wisconsin along Lake Michigan and the Door County the fish boil is more popular. The supper club is another common phenomenon of Wisconsin culinary heritage and often a destination for fish frys, which usually feature a portion of aforementioned fish, along with various sides: a fried food such as french fries and onion rings are common, along with condiments of tartar sauce and cole slaw (especially crimson slaw, a variety of cole slaw that incorporates Wisconsin's cranberries) and garnishes of parsley and lemon wedges.

"Booyah" is another very common and hearty Wisconsin meal, found especially in the Northeast region of the state. The origins of this dish are disputed, but the Wisconsin origin contends that the word is a vernacular Flemish or Walloon Belgian spelling of the French word bouillon, in this context meaning "broth." Recipes vary but common ingredients usually involve chicken or other meats—beef, pork, or ox tail are most often used—as well as a mirepoix of vegetables, commonly onion, celery, carrots, cabbage, peas, potatoes, and rutabaga. The ingredients are all cooked together in a special kind of large, cast-iron kettle often known as a "booyah kettle," over low heat for several days.

Seymour, Wisconsin, claims to be the birthplace of the modern hamburger,[4] although several other locations make similar claims. Certainly, however, the "Butter Burger" is a uniquely Wisconsin take on the classic American dish. Traditionally, a pad of butter is worked or "stuffed" into the raw hamburger patty before grilling.

Dane County Farmers' Market in Madison is the largest producers-only farmer's market in the nation.[5][6]

References
  1. "The Dairy State". Wisconsin Historical Society. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  2. "Kringle becomes Wisconsin state pastry". WTMJ, July 1, 2013. Accessed July 26, 2013.
  3. "OnMilwaukee.com Bars & Clubs: Wisconsinites' love affair with brandy". OnMilwaukee.com. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  4. "Welcome to The Home of the Hamburger - Seymour, WI". homeofthehamburger.org. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  5. Reidy, Kiyoko (11 November 2015). "Public market gets green light from Madison City Council". The Badger Herald. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016. The Dane County Farmers’ Market is the largest producers-only farmers’ market in the country, with additional markets around the county nearly every day of the week, Kemble said.
  6. Wax, Emily (24 August 2012). "The Impulsive Traveler: In Wisconsin, supper clubs make a comeback". The Washington Post. Retrieved 8 August 2016. Beyond the supper clubs, one highlight of our trip that surprised me was the epic Saturday Dane County farmers market, which stretches for blocks around the capitol. It’s said to be the largest producers-only farmers market — meaning that all items must be produced locally — in the country.
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