Costco Connection - March 2008

president and executive editorial director, food and entertaining, for Martha Stewart Living magazine. The ham was sliced and the lucky studio audience was treated to samples served on homemade brioche.

The holiday ham is the first in a line of products that brings together Costco’s food research and development expertise with Martha Stewart’s culinary creativity. A line of soups—Classic Tomato, Hearty Minestrone and Savory Mushroom—was introduced in January and will be available through March and then come back in the fall. Additional items in the Kirkland Signature Martha Stewart line will be introduced over the coming year. The Costco/Stewart team is developing appetizers, salads, dips, baked goods, entrées and baking mixes that will be available as frozen products, in the deli section or as dry grocery items.

“Party food is one of the things that we’re creating for Costco,” says Stewart. “Our whole idea for making food products is to make it easy for the hostess or host to entertain, to feed the family, to provide healthy and good food on an ongoing basis.”

ANDERS KRUSBERG

On the set of her TV show, Martha Stewart demonstrates how to score the Kirkland Signature Martha Stewart Favorite Holiday Ham while Lucinda Scala Quinn prepares an easy mustard apricot glaze.

Quality is everyday

When it comes to Costco, Stewart is not only an unabashed fan, she considers herself the quintessential Costco member. “The Costco member is me,” she says—someone who appreciates quality, who is attracted to the range of products, yet is frugal.

“I’ve always admired Costco as a company ever since I met Mr. Brotman [Jeff Brotman, Costco co-founder and chairman of the board] and visited Seattle and the Kirkland [Washington] store. I don’t go to Seattle with-

out going to Costco,” Stewart says.

Regarding the genesis of the working relationship, she says, “It just appealed to me. The way the company is run, the quality of the management.

“We started our conversations,” she continues. “Then we were off and running. It’s been a lot of hard work on both sides. Lots of tastings. Lots of presentations. Lots of visits.

“We want our foods to taste as if they were made in our own kitchens,” Stewart explains. “That is our goal, to be able to provide food that is tasty and homemade-tasting and healthy and good and practical in its conception.”

Savor the small things

Getting there was no cakewalk, however. The first step was to select recipes from the

library of more than 5,000 that have been published in Martha Stewart Living magazine, Everyday Food magazine or the numerous cookbooks. Then it was a six-month process transforming recipes designed for the home cook into the quantities needed for large-scale manufacturing.

Scala Quinn; Susan Testa, senior vice president licensing, food and beverage, of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia; and the Costco team visited the source of the ingredients. Then they visited each manufacturer. “We really had our heads in the kettle,” says Testa, describing the process of directing the food preparation.

One of the biggest challenges was finding suppliers who could prepare the food to the exacting standards of the Costco and Stewart

The ham stands alone

THE KIRKLAND SIGNATURE Martha Stewart Favorite Holiday Ham reflects the quality control and attention to detail at each step that is the hallmark of both companies. The recipe. “The inspiration came from a ham that I’ve been eating since I was a little child,” Stewart tells The Connection on the day the ham is introduced on The Martha Stewart Show. The ingredients. While most hogs are fed a diet that includes antibiotics to promote growth and prevent illness, the hogs for the Kirkland Signature Martha Stewart Favorite Holiday Ham are raised only on natural foods without antibiotics. “We wanted pigs that were raised on good food, ones that would appeal to the Costco shopper and us,” Stewart says. The curing. Each artisanal ham is rubbed with a salt and spice mixture, cured for three to five days (an overnight process for most hams) and then lightly smoked over apple-

wood chips for 12 to 14 hours. This longer preparation time adds a subtle smoky flavor without drying out the meat.

The packaging. Weighing in at 7 to 10 pounds, the ham comes packed in a decorative cloth bag that can be reused after washing. Cooking and carving instructions are included along with recipes for two easy glazes and split pea soup.

The cooking. Although fully cooked, the bone-in ham can be reheated according to Stewart’s instructions: Wrap in parchment paper, then aluminum foil, and heat in a 300 degrees F oven for about two hours. The ham serves 10, and leftovers can be used in myriad ways, such as in the delicious version of a classic French ham and cheese sandwich on page 24.