Federal Donuts: The (Partially) True Spectacular Story
By Michael Solomonov, Steven Cook, Tom Henneman and
()
About this ebook
A zany chronicle of the rise of America’s hottest donut mini empire—with recipes—by the authors of Zahav, the James Beard 2016 Book of the Year.
“We knew absolutely nothing about making donuts.” So begins this quirky story of how two James Beard Award–winners hatched a harebrained idea that resulted in a mini empire and turned Philadelphia into a donut destination. Federal Donuts is at once an ode to an American passion and a collection of recipes for the cult-favorite hits.
With a wad of cash in hand and a dream, Solomonov and Cook meet a Craigslist stranger in a parking lot and buy a used “donut robot.” It would do all the rest, right? Regrets, partially raw donuts, and long lines ensue, but soon the partners work out the kinks and develop an exquisite dough delicately spiced with Middle Eastern aromatics. Strawberry lavender, guava poppy, pomegranate Nutella, and salted tehina are just a few of the imaginative flavors featured in this book. Also included are all the tips needed for making foolproof donuts at home. There is even a bonus recipe for the other specialty of “Fednuts”: shatteringly crisp Korean-style fried chicken.
“I would recommend the book, not only for the recipes, but for the whimsical artwork and the impressive list of Cook and Solomonov’s favorite doughnut shops from California to Nashville.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer
Michael Solomonov
Michael Solomonov is the multiple James Beard Foundation Award–winning chef behind Zahav, which won the 2019 James Beard Outstanding Restaurant award and was named an “essential” restaurant by Eater. He is the coauthor of four cookbooks: the James Beard Award–winning Zahav, Federal Donuts, Israeli Soul, and the forthcoming Zahav Home. He and business partner Steven Cook are the co-owners of the nationally beloved, trailblazing Philadelphia hospitality group, CookNSolo, responsible for hit restaurants celebrating the vibrant cuisine of Israeli: Dizengoff, Federal Donuts, Goldie, K’Far Café, Laser Wolf, Lilah, and Zahav.
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Book preview
Federal Donuts - Michael Solomonov
Copyright © 2017 by Mike Solomonov, Steven Cook, Tom Henneman, Bob Logue, and Felicia D’Ambrosio
Interior photography © 2017 by Michael Persico
All rights reserved.
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.
www.hmhco.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Solomonov, Michael, author. | Cook, Steven (Restaurateur), author.
Title: Federal Donuts / Mike Solomonov, Steven Cook.
Description: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, [2017] | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017029835 (print) | LCCN 2017015571 (ebook) | ISBN 9780544968592 (ebook) | ISBN 9780544969049 (paper over board)
Subjects: LCSH: Federal Doughnuts (Restaurant) | Doughnuts. | LCGFT: Cookbooks.
Classification: LCC TX770.D67 (print) | LCC TX770.D67 S65 2017 (ebook) | DDC 641.86/53—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017029835
v1.0917
ISBN 978-0-544-96904-9 (hardcover); 978-0-544-96859-2 (ebook)
FedNuts Kids from left: Leo Henneman, Leo Cook, Danny Cook, Eva Cook, and David Solomonov
As you ramble through Life, Brother, Whatever be your goal, Keep your eye upon the doughnut, And not upon the hole.
–The Optimist’s Creed*
*Sally Levitt Steinberg tells us in The Donut Book (Storey Publishing, 2004) that her grandfather, Adolph Levitt, who invented the donut machine in the 1920s, found the Optimist’s Creed in a dime-store frame and adopted it.
what’s inside . . .
introduction
1 Accidental Entrepreneurs: The FedNuts Origin Story
On the Slippery Slope
We Knew Nothing About Making Donuts
We Meet the Donut Robot
Developing the Recipe
Nah, We’ll Be Fine
Opening Daze 10.16.11
Day Two: Not Much Better
And Then It Got Cold
The Second Store
Fabric of Philly
2 i am a Donut Robot
3 Making Donuts at Home
Wherein We Ask You to Fry Things
What About That Frying Oil?
Meet Matthew Fein
Donut Dough in 12 Steps
Rolling the Dough
Cutting the Donuts
Frying the Donuts
Our Master Donut Recipe
4 hot fresh sugar mixes
Vanilla Spice
Cinnamon Brown Sugar
Strawberry Lavender
5 glazed donut fancies
Three Steps to Glazing Perfection
Basic Milk Glaze
Glazing 101: It’s All in the Wrist
Black & White: Milk Glaze; Dark Chocolate Glaze
Salted Tehina Glaze
Grapefruit Brûlée: Grapefruit Glaze
Strawberry Shortcake: Vanilla Cream Glaze; Strawberry Glaze
Blueberry Mascarpone: Mascarpone Glaze; Blueberry Drizzle
Pomegranate Nutella: Pomegranate Glaze; Nutella Drizzle
S’mores: Marshmallow Glaze; Graham Cracker Crumbs; Dark Chocolate Drizzle
Chocolate Peanut Butter: Chocolate Peanut Butter Glaze; Peanut Butter Drizzle
Chocolate Éclair: Chocolate Cake Batter; Éclair Crumbs
Lemon Meringue
with Lemon Glaze
Cookies and Cream
French Toast Glaze with Crunch and Maple Drizzle: French Toast Glaze; French Toast Crunch; Maple Drizzle
Milk and Coffee
Donut You Want a FedNuts Wedding?
6 fan art in the age of federal donuts
7 Why Don’t You Make More Chicken?
On Intentional Scarcity
Cutting and Curing Tips
All About the Batter
Frying: So Nice We Do It Twice
Master Fried Chicken Recipe
Spice Blends for Twice-Fried Chicken
Za’atar Spice Blend
Coconut Curry Spice Blend
Buttermilk Ranch Spice Blend
Ballpark Barbecue Spice Blend
Glazes for Twice-Fried Chicken
Chili Garlic Glaze
Soy Garlic Glaze
Honey Ginger Glaze
Fried Chicken Sandwich; Spicy Rooster Sauce
8 Donuts That Are Better Than Ours
Brown’s (Ocean City, NJ)
Dynamo Donut+Coffee (San Francisco, CA)
Doughnut Vault (Chicago, IL)
McMillan’s Bakery (Haddon Township, NJ)
Underwest Donuts (New York, NY)
Stan’s Donuts (Westwood Village, CA)
Glam Doll Donuts (Minneapolis, MN)
Curiosity Doughnuts (Stockton, NJ)
Five Daughters Bakery (Nashville, TN)
Blue Star Donuts (Portland, OR)
9 It’s a Funny Business
Doubling Down on Crazy: The Rooster Soup Story
So What Else Is New?
Holier Than Thou: Donuts vs. Bagels
Top Twenty Rejected Donut Flavors
Hate Mail & Nasty Reviews
The FedNuts Workout
acknowledgments
image credits
index
Welcome!
We’re the federal donuts partners.
(left to right)
mike solomonov
James Beard Award– winning chef of Zahav and cofounder of CookNSolo Restaurants. Responsible for all ideas involving chicken suits.
steven cook
Former banker and chef, and cofounder of CookNSolo Restaurants (Zahav, Abe Fisher, Dizengoff). Currently looking for his next career (if you hear of anything).
tom henneman
Narrowly escaped a career in commercial real estate, grew a beard, and reemerged as FedNuts’ managing partner.
bobby logue
Owner of Bodhi coffee shops. Convinced four others that a nasty, greasy pizza parlor could be the start of an empire. Bob built the original store with his own hands.
felicia d’ambrosio
Youngest and coolest FedNuts partner. responsible for hashtags, f-bombs, hand signals, dance moves, and social media.
introduction
Mmm, doughnuts. Is there anything they can’t do?
-Homer Simpson
WE GET ASKED ALL THE TIME WHY CHICKEN AND DONUTS?
IT’S A FAIR QUESTION. PERHAPS IT’S THE QUESTION. AND IT’S OFTEN DELIVERED IN A TONE SUGGESTING WE MAY NOT HAVE BEEN IN OUR RIGHT MINDS.
Perhaps we meant to do chicken and waffles, but got disoriented—like how Columbus thought he had reached Asia, or Neil Armstrong thought he’d landed on the moon. But there’s a more fundamental question: Why donuts at all?
Thinking of donuts instantly puts me back in high school football practice on Saturdays. If we’d won our game the night before, the practice would be short and joyful, a far cry from summer two-a-days. The coaches worked hard to be stern and serious as we heroically recounted our bumps and bruises. Soon released into the crisp Michigan autumn, with thirty-six hours to kill before the next practice, we would pile into a friend’s beat-up AMC Eagle station wagon and head straight for the Franklin Cider Mill, leaving with grease-stained paper bags of hot cider donuts. We’d spend the rest of the afternoon watching college football on TV. Those were our salad days, and donuts were the salad.
Virtually every culture has a dessert of sweetened fried dough— proof of the donut’s universal appeal. But donuts occupy a special place in America—we eat about 10 billion of them a year—and the donut shop is a particularly American institution. Perhaps it has something to do with the ingenuity that surrounded the rise of the donut in this country. In 1920, Adolph Levitt, an immigrant fleeing czarist Russia, developed the first automatic donut machine, churning out eighty dozen identical donuts an hour for Broadway theater crowds. This encouraged fledgling chains like Krispy Kreme and Open Kettle (later called Dunkin’ Donuts) to spread the gospel of automatic donut machines (and their donut progeny).
Famed tourist attraction in La Puente, CA.
And in both World Wars, volunteer Donut Dolls
went overseas to boost morale, giving donuts to American troops. For a time, Ellis Island immigrants