I had a chance this past weekend to go to What’s Cooking Detroit? at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan. It was a surprise from my love, thank you! 🙂
What’s Cooking Detroit Wine & Food Festival was a one day foodies and chef wannabes paradise. Cooking demos, hands-on workshops, contests and recipes galore.
The chef wannabe in me was in heaven sampling cheeses, barbecue sauces, chocolate, cooking oils, wine, spirits, beer and more. In all there were 100’s of Michigan vendors covering every aspect of the culinary world taking over the entire perimeter of the Palace.
A favorite stop were the cheeses from Farm Country Cheese House out of Lakeview, Michigan. Dozens of flavors of cheese to sample, my favorites being “Onion & Garlic” and “Bacon”. How can you ever go wrong with any three of these things?
Another tasty stop was Herkner’s Old Fashioned Cherry Goodness. A versatile northern Michigan cherry topping for desserts, meats and entrées, can serve as a salad dressing and a whole lot more.
We purchased two passes for the wine, spirits and beer tasting. I had several wine and beer samples from Michigan-based wineries and breweries. I even tried some Black Star Farms pear whiskey. It was interesting trying them all in combination haha. Some highlights included the Pilsener from Frankenmuth Brewery in Frankenmuth and the Peach & Honey sweet fruit wine from Warner Vineyards in Paw Paw, Michigan. You got to keep your tasting glass as a souvenir.
Saw a lot of great items to cook and bake with in the kitchen. This pasta maker caught the eye (forgot the vendor, got some looking up to do) as well as the mini cast iron barbecue grill from PanGrill-it.com.
They had culinary experts and celebrity chefs in the house, which led to another surprise. My girlfriend also purchased tickets to see the Cake (and Kitchen) Boss, Buddy Valastro. On the floor of the Palace we watched him prepare breaded veal, a potatoes and onions treat and cupcakes.
He interacted playfully with the crowd as he cooked, sharing his experiences and though process when it comes to working in the kitchen. There was fun banter in regards to how much salt you should use. Hint: Use more thank you think. He highlighted that cooking is always trial and error and that there will be a lot of improv. You could smell the breaded veal up in the stands yum.
We left the show with lot’s of goodies and tips and ideas on future purchases. There a lot of wineries and breweries that will need to be explored in northern and western Michigan. After the experience I have the desire to attend more food and culinary shows in the future.
Any wineries or breweries in Michigan that our must visits? Has any one checked out other foodie or culinary events in their travels?
