Cate Miller

Down on the farm with David Swanson

By - Jan 1st, 2007 02:52 pm

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The doughboy ditty that poses the question, “How you gonna keep them down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree?” has a simple answer for Chef David Swanson. It’s where the food is.

Swanson has seen and studied in “Paree.” His many culinary credits include a degree from Kendall College in Evanston, Illinois, and employment with renowned chefs Roland Liccioni, Pierre Polin, Don Yamauchi and Sanford D’Amato. Still, his focus is on the farm. He is a slow food activist, basing all his creations on locally-produced, in-season foods. His recipes are parochial in foundation and if a food is not in season, he will not plate it.

Swanson is entranced with ingredients, their provenance, their chemistry and their possibilities. An inquisitive child, he pulled apart every toy he ever got to see its base components and how it worked. In the kitchen, he peppered his mother and grandmother with questions. Babysitters were forewarned that it was normal for David to play in the kitchen, stirring up concoctions, not necessarily edible. Fortunately, his curiosity was welcomed and encouraged. It is the basis of everything he does.

Swanson’s educational and professional training has imbued him with a deep understanding of and appreciation for classic French cuisine. Starting as a dishwasher at 15, he worked through every station of the kitchen at Le Titi de Paris, Le Français and Sanford – Midwestern restaurants with national reputations. His time in Paris was short but pivotal. Working sessions at Le Cordon Bleu and a stage at local restaurants (working free for the opportunity to learn), he found a food philosophy that matched his own. “In American kitchens, everything revolves around the chef. In France, there is a reverence for the ingredients. Everything starts from that point, and the chef is just a cog in the wheel.”

When Swanson came north to work at Sanford, Milwaukee was not even a blip on the culinary map. But he came anyway, and it was a fortuitous move. “Sanford was finishing school for me. Sandy D’Amato is a fabulous chef and I had worked with a lot of great chefs, but didn’t have my own identity. Coming to Sanford I found out who I was as a chef and became comfortable in my own skin.” After six years there, Swanson left to establish his own enterprise: Braise.

The traveling cooking school he currently operates is actually phase 3 of a 5-part business plan that includes opening a restaurant in the Greater Milwaukee area. The restaurant was to come first, but Swanson is still engrossed in the complex process of finding a location for his project. He takes his road show to farms, open markets, breweries and local food providers several times a month, with classes that range from $45 to $80 for a multi-course extravaganza.

2007-01_chowbabyfoodThe night after the first big blizzard of 2006, 16 inchoate chefs slogged through foot-deep slush to attend Swanson’s class. At long wooden tables in the kitchen of Wild Flour Bakery, the students purge their frustrations in flurries of flour. Their rewards are lush: sampling bread-based recipes with elegant wine pairings and fresh loaves to take home.

Swanson’s adaptation of Panzanella Salad, made traditionally with day-old bread softened in tomato juice, features several varieties of fall mushrooms and buttercup squash in a pungent, lemon and garlic vinaigrette. His bread pudding is bursting with Wisconsin cranberries and hickory nuts.

Without any bravado, a conversation with Swanson demonstrates that his food knowledge is encyclopedic and economical. He discusses how to buy and store foods and where to find equipment at the best prices. On vanilla beans: “if you can’t bend it, don’t buy it, it’s not fresh.” He scrapes the seeds from the pod and then “washes” his hands in dry sugar to use up all of its essence. “Hickory nuts have a high oil content, so they go quickly,” he warns.

When Swanson opens his restaurant, Braise, his menu will change daily according to what’s fresh from the farms and priced so that customers can afford to come on a regular basis to savor real farm freshness right here in the city. It’s a tantalizing prospect. VS

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