Category: From the kitchen

Roasting the Perfect Holiday Turkey

 

The holiday season is here, which means creating wonderful memories with friends and family over delicious food and drinks. We love getting to be a part of different festive celebrations in various communities throughout the city through the fresh and local offerings we provide. Our ready to eat (or simple reheat and eat) options are great, but it’s the things like cooking a turkey to perfection from start to finish which can sometimes be tricky…which is why we want to be as helpful as possible!

Here are some steps to ensure you cook the perfect turkey this holiday:

  • Tuck wing tips underneath body of turkey.
  • With fingers, separate skin from turkey breast. Stuff softened butter under skin.
  • Season the inside cavity of the turkey with salt.
  • Using kitchen twine, cross the legs together and tie them securely.
  • Season turkey all over with freshly ground black pepper.
  • Put turkey into roasting pan. It’s ready to roast.

Important Note: If you’ve brined your turkey cook it for 15 minutes/lb at 350 degrees. Non-brined turkeys should be cooked for 20 minutes/lb at the same temperature. It’s also suggested to cook the turkey breast side down for the first hour and then flip it breast side up for the remainder of the cooking time. Also, if you’re going to make stuffing, cook it on the side; refrain from stuffing your bird before cooking it as raw juices will drop into the stuffing, and you will need to cook the turkey to an internal temperature of 165 degrees, which will overcook the turkey.

Make sure you stop by The Piggy Market this week to get a fresh Scotch Line turkey and our famous stuffing to help make your holiday feast a memorably delicious one!

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Cheese and Charcuterie Platters for the Holidays

Say cheese..and charcuterie! The holidays are here and nothing says entertaining better than a providing your friends and family with delicious food. To make your festive efforts even more memorable, using unique items that offer different flavour profiles will ensure that everyone stays talking about your eats months later.

The term charcuterie is derived from the French word ‘chaircuterie’ and translates into ‘a shop that sells cooked cold meats or the describing of the actual meats themselves.’ At The Piggy Market our charcuterie boards are always available with at least 48 hours notice and are customized just for you. Some of the wonderful meat selection that we have available includes:

Salame
Prosciutto, Bresaola, Capicollo, Chorizo, Saucisson Sec, Smoked Duck Breast

Terrine Selection
Duck Liver Pate, Country Style Pork Pate, Creton, Chicken Pate en Croute

The right cheese can effectively compliment the meat selection and provide some flavour balancing. Some excellent cheeses that we recommend for holiday entertaining include:

Le Pionnier (made from sheep and cow’s milk), La Galette de la Table Ronde (made from organic cow’s milk) and Mountain Oak (2 year Gouda).

Finally, some fresh bread can help bring everything together. Our new sourdough is multigrain made with white, whole wheat and buckwheat flours and has a nine seed blend mixed throughout.

This holiday season and beyond we want to make sure that you’re always charcuteri-eating the best. For the freshest local artisan food options make sure you visit The Piggy Market!

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#SupportLocal: Scotch Line Turkey Farms

When you support local, it goes beyond just getting something freshly made at your favourite artisan deli and craft butcher shop food market. The locally sourced items that we use here at The Piggy Market are not only special because they help us create wonderful culinary creations, but they have their own unique story.

This is the first entry in a monthly series that we’re calling #SupportLocal where we will be showcasing the people behind some of the locally sourced items that we use in our store. First up is Scotch Line Turkey Farms where we get our fresh (never frozen) birds for the holidays.

Colin and AmyBeth Brubacher along with their three children are the people behind Scotch Line Turkey Farms; they are the third generation of Brubachers to run the farm. “Colin and AmyBeth took over the farm management from Colin’s parents nine years ago, but actually started building a succession plan over 16 years ago. To help things run smoothly, the couple work alongside Colin’s dad, Landis, and employ local part-time students to help them on evenings and weekends. ‘We love working with animals and the satisfaction you get from raising healthy turkeys,’ says Colin. “It’s very rewarding being able to produce healthy, great tasting food and just being a part of the agricultural community.’” The turkeys they raise and sell are 100% Ontario grown, with no antibiotics, and are free run (outside in a fenced area).

What’s truly special about the Brubacher family and their farm is that they take the time and care to provide a quality product, which also helps to stimulate the Ontario economy. Make sure to pre-order your own fresh Scotch Line Turkey (sized between 14-24 pounds) for the holidays from our store. They will be in between Dec 22nd-24th, while supplies last!

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Exterior signage for The Piggy Market

What being an Artisan Shop Really Means

 

There are many times when a lot of trendy buzzwords get thrown around simply because they are popular, but sometimes there isn’t a lot of real comprehension behind the word, which means it can either get misused, or get lost in translation completely. The word ‘artisan’ is one of those words. As of late, many brands have used the term to describe their particular offerings but aren’t actually artisans themselves; they used the word to bring about a new and special type of attention to themselves which may not even work for their specific audience.

The question then is: what is a true artisan in the first place? The term is defined as ‘a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand.’ That right there should eliminate many of the artisan items you may have seen out there. Chances are the bigger the brand, the less likely they are to be making anything by hand (it’s still possible of course, just less likely).

True artisans usually only make things in limited quantity as supplies may be limited or because they do not want to jeopardize/saturate the overall quality of the final product. At The Piggy Market we are happy to call ourselves and be considered by many as true artisans. From the freshly baked bread, to full on take home meals made with some of the freshest and locally sourced meats, everything is crafted by hand and made and/or completed in house. Our non store made products are sourced from true artisans as well. Whether it’s cheeses, salamis, preserves, and honeys, Dave and the team make routine visits to their suppliers and friends to make sure they’re getting the best, and making new contacts in the community as well. In doing this, we are able to offer a full and authentic Piggy Market experience for our customers. We strive to ensure that everything we make is of a certain standard and quality in order to facilitate said experience. Stop by to see our piggy process in action and get familiar with true artisans.

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Deconstructing Your Holiday Feast

With The Piggy Market in your corner you’re holiday meal will be a tasty and memorable success.

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Fresh Bread & Pastries: Baking the First Steps

They say no person shall live by bread alone, but we think that it’s a great place to start! Every morning at 4:00 a.m. (or 3, or 2… you never can tell with those crazy bakers), either Julie or Dave arrives at the store to get things started for the day. Honey buttermilk breads, scones, Jamaican patty dough, pie dough, muffins and banana breads for Equator Coffee House; all are made in house from scratch and with love and devotion.

Many of our recipes here at The Piggy Market were handcrafted by us, and go through rigorous testing before we are ever really satisfied with them. Anyone remember the early days of the Jamaican patties, when we were doing them only one day a week?! Or when we started making our now infamous Whole Wheat double chocolate chip cookies (that one went through 20 batches to get perfect!)?

In our kitchen we do our best to minimize unnecessary waste; we love to use things that otherwise would get thrown away. Our beer baguette was made as a way to use spent grains from Kichesippi Brewery, and now holds a special place on many peoples table (It’s also about collaboration). Our Sourdough starter was actually a gift from another bakery, Bread and Sons. Now, we turn it into at least three different sourdoughs of our own, the most popular being the classic white sourdough, with just a touch of whole wheat flour. Once Julie came aboard 1 1/2 years ago, we started experimenting with other breads, and now make challah, ciabatta, and marble rye.

One thing is for sure, we’re always shifting, and experimenting with new things, while keeping the classics around that so many of you come in for. Our breads are now featured at Thyme and Again, and Sutherland Restaurant, and retail at Rainbow Foods, on Richmond Road.

Come on in as early as 7am, to say Hi to the baking team and breath in the wonderful smells!

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