Parker's Kitchen - Fresh Fork Market

Parker’s Five Steps for a Successful Thanksgiving

Step 1: Write your menu Select all your recipes that you will be cooking, as well as those that guests might be brining. There are no rules for what to make at Thanksgiving, so time to get creative! If someone else is bringing a dish, are they brining it fully cooked? If they’re cooking at…

What brand of pots and pans do you recommend?

When considering pots and pans as well as knives the best rule for me is purchase once. Buy high quality products that your grand children will covet. Of course this means investing dollars. I think that All-Clad is a great brand. Make a wish list from their catalog or online store. Or go to a…

Can you freeze cabbage?

Yes, cabbage can be frozen, however the wedges, quarters or shredded cabbage must first be blanched. Cut the head of cabbage in half from top to bottom through the thick core. Cut the halves in half. Depending on the size of the head you may want to cut the quarters in half making eight pieces…

Guide to Cooking a Whole Chicken

Our chickens have so much flavor because of the way they are raised- slow and naturally outside on green grass where they forage for bugs and seeds in the pasture. These plump birds are juicy and flavorful. Or if you want to read a bit more about how and where our chickens are raised, click here…

Tomato Guide

If you have tomatoes growing in your garden, tomatoes from your neighbor, tomatoes in your farm share– you might just be plum tuckered out of these Summer beauties. So we put together a guide to give you some tips and tricks for making the most of your haul. “Tomatoes are one of those vegetable-fruits that…

Guide to Cooking Dried Beans

Parker is the president of the Dried Bean Fan Club here at Fresh Fork, so we wanted to give you his guide to cooking our dried beans. His general advice is to cook the whole package all at once, and then to freeze in individual portions (1-2 cups) in their liquid for easy cooking use.…

Roux How To

A roux is a classic thickener in French Cuisine– it’s a simple combination of melted butter and flour, and then a liquid (with stock, it’s known as a “velouté,” or with milk it’s a “béchamel.”) Find out more about the science behind starches here. This amazing technique will help thicken up your soups, add oomph to…

A Lesson in Pastry Dough from Parker

As we prepared our recipe for Chicken Pot Pies this week, we decided to address one of the often-overlooked elements of this delicious mid-winter dish– the crust. Knowing how to make a decent pie crust should be as essential as knowing how to tie your shoes. Some things you’ll notice in the following variations– it’s…

Parker’s Take on Dragon Tongue Beans

Consider using Dragon Tongue Beans as shelling beans. Recently when I was doing a cooking demonstration at the Downtown Farmers Market I spoke with a couple of people from Peru. They were very interested in the Dragon Tongue beans, surprised that I was blanching the beans and using the pods as well as the beans.…

Parker welcomes you to Week 1

In the first few weeks of the Fresh Fork Market Summer season we can be pleasantly overwhelmed by the contents of the weekly bag. After a very challenging winter in Northeast Ohio and a three week pause between the end of the winter season and the debut of summer we are ready to embrace the…