Cole Ersel, a veteran of Milwaukee kitchens and operator of Milkweed Collective, likes going back to his German roots
Wherever he’s cooking, the instant gratification of making a good meal and seeing someone’s reaction keeps Cole Ersel coming back for more.
And Ersel is coming back to Milwaukee with Milkweed Collective, a catering and pop-up food service doing restaurant collaborations and residencies.
His Milwaukee kitchen stints included Hinterland, Riverside and Pabst Theaters, Wolf Peach and Roots (where he also met his wife, Gina Ersel).
His day job is working as an executive chef for Exact Sciences in Madison, while doing events for his own Milkweed Collective throughout southern Wisconsin. For event updates, go to milkweedcowi.com.
Ersel also is participating in the sold-out MKE Chef Collaboration dinner Aug. 21 at the Milwaukee Public Market, 400 N. Water St., with Adam Pawlak, Ramses Alvarez, Joe Muench, Karen Bell, Alex Lyskowicz, Kevin Sloan, Kurt Fogle and Katie Fogle.
Question: What was your path to cooking professionally?
Answer: I did one year in college in Milwaukee after high school and started cooking after that. I’m definitely a Food Network kid. Food was always very present in my house. My mom cooked every day, very traditional German food. We had homemade food every night. My parents are both first-generation immigrants.
For me, cooking was just a way to work with my hands, and I liked food. It also gave the ability to work anywhere I wanted, and that was the huge thing for me. I started cooking a year after I got out of high school, first in Chicago, then culinary school in Denver, then Milwaukee (at Roots and Wolf Peach). I left Milwaukee for a few years and was in Indiana as the culinary director for Three Floyds Brewing. That’s where I was when the pandemic hit. That changed things.
Being back here and finally starting my own business and getting a day job put me in this unique position to grow Milkweed Collective organically.
Q: Tell us about the traditional German foods you grew up eating. How has that influenced your own approach to cooking today?
A: I grew up eating sauerbraten, potatoes every night in some form, cutlets, all that. Going to culinary school that is traditional French, European influence — I felt more and more akin, as I kept cooking, going back to this German cooking style. I love it. It is such an interesting cuisine when you think about things that are foundational in German cooking.
I feel a connection to my German heritage. I was just in Germany last month for a week with my family.
Q: Tell us about Milkweed Collective. What should people know about this project?
A: Milkweed has been going on without the name for approximately six years. It is a conglomeration of my 15 years of cooking experience. My goal is to create custom collaborative dining experiences. …
I’ve done holidays, some weddings and in-house private dinners of 13 to 15 courses for a small number of people, or a more modest five-course (meal). Up to this point, it has been word of mouth and depending on my availability. I have my day job, and my goal with Milkweed is to continue to learn and grow with people. …
I’ve been an executive chef, director, a butcher, caterings for bands at theaters. The thing I haven’t done to this point is sign checks. I’m excited for this new opportunity and challenge to take on business roles I haven’t taken on before.
Q: You’re living in Madison but doing events in the Milwaukee area. What territory are you covering for events with Milkweed Collective?
A: Southern Wisconsin is in play. I can travel. I did a wedding last year in Lake Redstone west of Baraboo. I have a network in Milwaukee. I worked a bunch of places; the Wolf Peach alums are spreading out and have their own places. It is fun to get back into town and hang with old friends and make good food.
Q: What would you tell someone starting out in kitchens today?
A: The thing I love about cooking is it is one of the most rewarding jobs you can have if you’re into instant gratification. When you’re cooking and you make a mistake, it is easy to bounce back and have a win in the next 30 seconds. You have an opportunity to win and lose hundreds of times a day in a kitchen. I find that rewarding.
Q: What’s the first cookbook you purchased for yourself? What’s one in your collection you’d never give up?
A: The early cookbooks were all about "Kitchen Confidential" (by Anthony Bourdain), "Devil in the Kitchen" (Marco Pierre White). Those autobiographies, like Jacques Pepin’s “The Apprentice,” I started there.
Now, I am a collector of the Time-Life series from the 1960s. Each one is about 100 pages, and most have a corresponding recipe book. I reference those all the time. “Charcuterie” from Michael Ruhlman is probably the book that changed my life; it launched me when I was at Hinterland making sausages with Paul Funk (now at Saint Kate Arts Hotel) …
The book I’ve been into the past couple years, a book called “Lüchow’s German Cookbook” from an old German restaurant in Manhattan that closed in the 1970s. I also have this cookbook called “Bavarian Cooking” — just dumplings mainly, like a hundred styles of knödel; it is from the '70s. My grandma had the same book from the '40s and in German.
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Q: What’s your current ingredient obsession, the thing you’re most into right now?
A: I’ve always been into foraged food. I think for me, food stuff aside, I am really interested in sustainable practices right now. How can I cook a large-scale wedding or event and have minimal waste and not use plastic wrap? Especially when you travel to Europe and you see how small those garbages are, how do I get there? How do you grow sustainably?
Q: What do you want to be known for?
A: My goal is for Milkweed to be the thing. If people look at it and say I’ve heard of that, and it means really great food and intentional sourcing, and it is always a good time. More so than me as a person, I want Milkweed to be known as this thing that delivers excellent food, excellent service, really intentional sourcing, intentional menus.
Q: What’s your go-to indulgence these days?
A: Pernat's meat sticks, from a butcher shop close to my home. They have spots in Ixonia, Johnson’s Creek, and one gas station in Milwaukee has them. I have a thing for meat sticks, and Pernat's are the best. Jalapeño cheddar is No. 1.
Then when we’re traveling, I’m always buying obscure things in jars. We came back from Germany with some mustard. I got some Dutch cocoa from Amsterdam. It is always bringing back food for gifts. I always save the containers, too.
Q: Tell us about this MKE Chef Collaboration dinner at the Milwaukee Public Market. What’s the appeal of this particular seven-course dinner?
A: I’m really excited about this. Adam (Pawlak) has asked me a couple times and the dates never worked out before. Everyone cooks their own food, and there is a stellar lineup to raise some money. The chefs who are participating I have known and collaborated with in the past, like Kevin Sloan — he’s a good friend and I worked at the (Pabst and Riverside) Theater with him. Kurt Fogle was the pastry chef at Carnevor way back. It is a great group cooking. I am excited to get back out there and do an event in Milwaukee.
The charity I picked is JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund), and it is near to me as my wife Gina is a Type 1 diabetic. I am excited to raise money and support JDRF. They’re constantly working on easing the physical and financial burden that comes with Type 1 diabetes. As someone who witnesses that daily, I want to contribute any way I can to help that cause.
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Table Chat features interviews with Wisconsinites, or Wisconsin natives, who work in restaurants or support the restaurant industry; or visiting chefs. To suggest individuals to profile, email psullivan@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milkweed Collective's Cole Ersel talks cooking, MKE Chef Collaboration
