6 minute read
SUMMER OF ZIMMERN
By April Neale
Chef and entrepreneur Andrew Zimmern has taken a sharp right turn in the typical trajectory of a famous chef, which is usually to build restaurants. His unique friendships, born from philanthropic and conservationist-inspired work, steer this Minnesota son toward more extensive missions.
Enter Idaho-based Riverence fish company owner and Hollywood heavyweight David Kelley, who met Zimmern about nine years ago. Since then, the two have created a new PBS series debuting this summer, “Hope In The Water,” which boasts an A-list cast and includes a guest commentary by renowned World Central Kitchen chef José Andrés.
“It’s going to be very cool,” noted Zimmern, whose schedule still has him pinging all over the globe. “David and I met while doing work on the aquaculture front. David’s company is called Riverence, and it is out of Idaho. It’s the largest trout and steelhead aquaculture facility in North America. Their fish are incredible.
Firm flesh, flaky, delicious—I adore his fish. We did a lot of panels and work at South by Southwest together and co-authored a chapter in ‘Food Inc. 2’—the book. When the time came to do this, he told me ‘No,’ and he didn’t do unscripted TV. And I said, ‘A story is a story, and we need your brilliance in storytelling.’ And he said, ‘Okay.’ And ‘Hope In The Water’ is fantastic.”
Food is good. Food with a story is better. Food with a story you haven’t heard of is better than that. And food with a story that you haven’t heard of, but you can relate to, is better than all of it.
– Andrew Zimmern
Zimmern is no stranger to TV audiences, as this Emmy-winning and four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, and writer is often best known for his “Bizarre Foods” franchise in constant reruns, showing off his curiosity for people, their food, and how they live. All of his content now is through Intuitive Content, a massive production company he oversees out of Minnesota, which hatches shows like Andrew Zimmern’s “Driven by Food,” “What’s Eating America,” the Emmy-nominated “Family Dinner,” Outdoor Channel’s “Wild Game Kitchen,” now heading into season four, and the Emmy-winning “The Zimmern List.”
Unsurprisingly, he’s got many more titles and projects cooking, which include his passion for saving the oceans and food stocks while promoting cultural acceptance, tolerance, and understanding through the shared joy of food.
All of these adventures, insider chat recipes, and well-sourced tips for travel are accessible on his Spilled Milk Substack. Despite his expressed fear of subscription fatigue in general, he has kept the cost low. He offers subscribers brilliant discounts. “I’m trying to give value back to people because I’d like to convert folks into paid subscribers. We have an incredible team that works on this. We put a lot of fun things on there. I promote Spilled Milk everywhere I can to convince people that the $50-$60 a year, depending on if you sign up when we run discounts, is worth it. During the holiday, we give people 25% off as many fun products as they want. We try to return the money to subscribers in any way possible. I love it,” Zimmern said.
In addition to journalling, recipes, and ace travel hacks, he also curates travel experiences, offered to small groups of people sold on his immersive style. This Fall, he’s gearing up for an intimate hands-on culinary Sicilian adventure.
“This is a stone-cold guarantee. Promoting this trip has been an exciting experience for me. I get asked daily on socials, ‘How can we travel with you?’ We offer a nine-day, inclusive trip for 20 people, an experience you are doing with me for all nine days. I’m not staying somewhere else. I’m with you on the bus. I’m with you. You have access to me 14 hours a day. Do you want me to tell you ‘Bizarre Food’ stories around the campfire? Do you want to explore a fabulous trattoria in Palermo? No problem. We’re doing it. Do you want me to cook the ingredients we bought at the Ballarò market, one of my favorites in Italy? Let’s do it. There is no disrespect to other curated trips, but very few are highly-known travelers in that area. Or where you are doing as much,” Zimmern said.
Tune in: “Hope In The Water” airs Wednesday, June 19 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS; Shailene Woodley, Martha Stewart, and Baratunde Thurston connect with fishers, aqua farmers, and scientists who are harvesting aquatic species to feed our growing planet while saving our oceans. José Andrés is a special guest commentator.
SEARED TROUT WITH SWEET SOY GLAZE
Trout
• 4 portions of Riverence trout filet, about 8oz each
• 4T peanut or vegetable oil
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper
• 6 scallions, minced
• Gomashio, sesame salt, a great Japanese condiment I use all the time
Cut the trout filets in half to make two blockier pieces. Season and hard sear in a preheated pan over medium/high heat using the peanut oil. I sear skin side down until almost all the way cooked through, sometimes just skin side all the way if the filets are ‘thin.’
Serve over Japanese short-grain rice.
For a burst of unique flavors, drizzle the tare (sweet soy glaze) to taste over the seared trout. Garnish with gomashio and scallions.
The Tare (sweet soy glaze)
• 2 cups sake
• 6oz rock sugar
• ½ cup mirin
• 2/3 cup all-natural aged soy sauce
• 1 cup dashi
Combine all the ingredients and simmer as slowly as possible to reduce to a near-glaze. Use a spoon or plate test. You don’t want it too thick or syrupy; you want it tight enough to coat the back of a spoon or hold some shape on a cold plate and not run like water.
When reduced, place in a jar or squeeze bottle and keep in fridge for use.
