A special seasonal appearance of one of the quietly compelling offerings from the Bakehouse. King Cake will be on feature this coming weekend to mark the arrival of Epiphany on January 6. For those of you who, like me, might not be familiar with it, Epiphany is also known as Three Kings Day, or the Twelfth Night of Christmas—a holiday that in Christian tradition marks the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus. It’s also celebrated by some still as “Little Christmas.”
King Cake is a rather luxurious rendition of puff pastry stuffed with almond frangipane that we make here at the Bakehouse. In New Orleans, King Cake is most prominently tied to Mardi Gras in February, but historically it’s been eaten during the period from Epiphany through to Mardi Gras. The cake is traditionally decorated with curved spiral lines on top and scalloping on the edge, made to resemble a king’s crown, hence the name. Typically, each cake has a fève baked into it, the real or the metaphorical equivalent of a “fava bean,” for good luck. In New Orleans, that’s usually now a small porcelain baby, but for fairly obvious public health reasons, most bakeries now either use something more edible or put the baby on the outside of the cake. At the Bakehouse we use a whole almond. Whatever the prize, if you get the lucky slice, you’re the “winner.”
Amy Emberling, managing partner of the Bakehouse, shares that the “cake is also known as le Pithiviers. This particular style of cake derives its French name from the town Pithiviers, in the Centre-Val de Loire region of north-central France, where it is thought to have originated.” The traditional recipe like this is very different from the more modern American versions of King Cake one now sees in New Orleans. It remains very popular though up in Quebec where it’s known as gâteau des rois. You don’t, of course, have to celebrate Little Christmas to savor a slice of the cake; it tastes terrific even without all of the religious tradition.
While it doesn’t get anywhere near the attention in American culture that is doled out on December 25, Epiphany has an equally long history. The old English folk song “The Cherry-Tree Carol” is a musical celebration of Little Christmas and Epiphany. The song is said to date all the way back to the 15th century. It was famously recorded in 1961 by Joan Baez, but I knew it first through from one of my favorite albums of all time, Shirley Collins and Davy Graham’s 1964 release Folk Roots, New Routes. If you want something more modern, Mark Lanegan from Screaming Trees did an electric version a few years back too. And while you’re listening, savor a piece of this special Bakehouse offering. Great with a cup of the Roadhouse Joe from the Coffee Company!
P.S. The recipes for the Bakehouse’s King Cakes, both this French King Cake and the New Orleans King Cake, can be found in their most recent cookbook, Celebrate Every Day.
In 1982, Ari Weinzweig, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen with a $20,000 bank loan, a Russian History degree from the University of Michigan, 4 years of experience washing dishes, cooking and managing in restaurant kitchens and chutzpah from his hometown of Chicago. They opened the doors with 2 employees and a small selection of specialty foods and exceptional sandwiches.
Today, Zingerman’s Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon and the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses has grown to 10 businesses with over 750 employees and over $55 million in annual revenue. Aside from the Delicatessen, these businesses include Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Coffee Company, Creamery, Roadhouse, Mail Order, ZingTrain, Candy Manufactory, Cornman Farms and a Korean restaurant that is scheduled to open in 2016. No two businesses in the Zingerman’s Community of Businesses are alike but they all share the same Vision and Guiding Principles and deliver “The Zingerman’s Experience” with passion and commitment.
Besides being the Co-Founding Partner and being actively engaged in some aspect of the day-to-day operations and governance of nearly every business in the Zingerman’s Community, Ari Weinzweig is also a prolific writer. His most recent publications are the first 4 of his 6 book series Zingerman’s Guide to Good Leading Series: A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Building a Great Business (Part 1), Being a Better Leader (Part 2), Managing Ourselves (Part 3) and the newly-released Part 4, The Power of Beliefs in Business. Earlier books include the Zingerman’s Guides to Giving Great Service, Better Bacon, Good Eating, Good Olive Oil, Good Vinegar and Good Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Ari regularly travels across the country (and world) on behalf of ZingTrain, teaching organizations and businesses about Zingerman’s approach to business. He is a sought-after Keynote speaker, having delivered keynotes for Inc. 500, Microsoft Expo Spring Conference, Great Game of Business Gathering of Games, Positive Business Conference at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the American Cheese Society. Most recently, Ari and Paul Saginaw were invited to address an audience of 50,000 for the University of Michigan 2015 Spring Commencement.
One of Zingerman’s Guiding Principles is being an active part of the community and in 1988, Zingerman’s was instrumental in the founding of Food Gatherers, a food rescue program that delivers over 5 million pounds of food each year to the hungry residents of Washtenaw county. Every year Zingerman’s donates 10% of its previous years profits to local community organizations and non-profits. Ari has served on the board of The Ark, the longest continuously operating folk music venue in America.
Over the decades, the Zingerman’s founding partners have consistently been the recipients of public recognition from a variety of diverse organizations. In April 1995, Ari and Paul were awarded the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County’s first Humanitarian Award. In 2006, Ari was recognized as one of the “Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America” by the James Beard Foundation. In 2007, Ari and Paul were presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Bon Appetit magazine for their work in the food industry. Ari was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Cheese Society in 2014. And Ari’s book, Building a Great Business was on Inc. magazine’s list of Best Books for Business Leaders.
Notwithstanding the awards, being engaged on a daily basis in the work of 10 businesses and 21 partners, writing books on business and in-depth articles on food for the Zingerman’s newsletter, Ari finds time to be a voracious reader. He acquires and reads more books than he can find room for. Ari might soon find himself the owner of the largest collection of Anarchist books in Ann Arbor outside the Labadie collection at the University of Michigan library!
