Wisconsin is home for Sargento's German-born chef

Born in Germany and raised in South Africa, Ulrich Koberstein has lived in eight countries. Of all the places he’s lived, he sees Wisconsin as the perfect place to raise his family. 

Koberstein first came to America 20 years ago to work for the Ritz-Carlton. He moved to Kohler in 2004 and spent years working at The American Club. Looking for a bit more balance in his family life, he shifted from high-end restaurant kitchens in 2011 to his current role as director of culinary for Sargento, based in Plymouth.  

Working out of a 2,500-square-foot kitchen at Sargento’s facility in Elkhart Lake, Koberstein develops recipes and helps create pairings and new products like Balanced Breaks. He’s also represented Sargento as a judge on Food Network’s “Chopped.” 

Koberstein lives in Kohler with his wife and children, ages 10 and 15. 

Global influences

I came to America in 1997. This is now the longest I’ve lived in any country. I’ve lived in eight different countries over the course of my life. 

Living in different countries obviously gives you exposure to different cultures and food and people. I’ve lived in four different African countries, and traveling through Africa in the late ’60s, ’70s and early ’80s, (I found) a good combination of food going on ethnically. What my mom was bringing to the table was very traditional German food. That definitely had a huge influence on my approach to food. 

His culinary path

I kind of did it the non-conventional way. I did high school and university in South Africa and I said to my mom I wanted to get into hotel and hospitality industry. She said “Go get a real job first.” I became an accountant. 

All I knew until high school was the fun part, the going to the restaurants, having food cooked for me. My mother was used to the long days and knew how hard it was.

I worked as an accountant for a few years but realized cooking was the thing for me. … I needed to go back to school first. Within a two-week period, I sold everything I had and went to London. It was definitely the right thing.

Why Wisconsin

I live in the village of Kohler. I moved to Wisconsin in 2004, and my son had just turned 2. It was a really good place to come to raise a family. All this time down the line, my son is 15 and we have no intention to leave. 

Dish that reminds him of home

My mom’s German potato salad.  

His home cooking 

We have a relatively small kitchen, so I’ve learned to use my island as a way to entertain. We have a great dining room, but when we have guests, people want to watch the chef. They end up in the kitchen.

Cheese he can’t live without

An aged cheddar. Not every single cheese out there can be aged. … Cheddar cheese you can put away for a while and it will age well. 

If you’re making a sauce at home, you put the ingredients together, taste it, it tastes OK. To now make that better, you turn the temperature down, push it to the back, and let it simmer. Some of the moisture is evaporating, the flavor is concentrating.

That’s how I describe aged cheddar. You take the great flavors and multiply the impact on your taste buds.

Last kitchen tool he purchased

A new chef’s knife. When I left a previous job, the team bought me a really nice chef’s knife. It needed a friend. It is Misono, a combination of a Japanese and Swedish knife. 

Always in his workspace

My laptop, my iPhone or both. A chef these days is almost useless if we’re not connected to the Internet, able to look up an ingredient. I’m a traditionalist, and there’s no replacement for having cookbooks, but the Internet has made it so much easier. 

Cookbook he’ll never part with

You used to wait for cookbooks almost like an album. Probably the best one I ever bought is not a cookbook in the traditional sense, but an ingredient book, “Culinary Artistry” by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. I picked up a copy when I was cooking in London.

When I came to America and started cooking at the Ritz-Carlton, that is what I picked up most. I’m on my third copy now. I bought my first copy in Books for Cooks, a great store in London.  

Creating the perfect cheese plate

It doesn’t need to be a very complicated thing. Think about the different types of milk used to make cheese, and make sure you get a good representation across the board. It is a good talking point. Make sure you have a cow’s milk, a sheep’s milk, a goat’s milk. Think hard and soft, and maybe fresh — have a mix. 

What works well with cheese is charcuterie, so any cured meat, and fruit and nuts. I like to think of cheese as the bridge. 

Never too much cheese

The honest answer is no, I never get tired of eating cheese. 

We have a break room here at Sargento and it is always packed with cheese. Everyone is always in that room eating free cheese and crackers. Wisconsin has so many good cheesemakers, and we have access to so many good cheeses, we never get tired of it. That should be a question they ask when hiring.

Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email nstohs@journalsentinel.com.