Top 5 Tips for Shopping the Rochester Public Market

Fisher Hill Farm - Rochester Public Market

The Rochester Public Market is known for being one of the best markets in the area. There are very few cities and states lucky enough to have a market as robust.

Every week at the market, there are always a few people who let us know that they have just started coming to the market regularly. Sometimes it’s their first time! It’s great to see people discovering a treasure of local goods and services right in their backyard.

But if you’ve never been to the market, or if it’s been years, here are a few tips that can help you navigate unfamiliar territory. It can be a little overwhelming and we know it! It can get pretty busy during peak hours, so if you’re not one for crowds then the earlier the better. Thursdays are usually a lot less busy and if you are near downtown at all for work or otherwise, it can be a productive shopping event. We’re there on Thursdays from June through October. Click here to see our full market schedule.

Here are our top 5 tips for shopping at the Rochester Public Market:

#1 – Parking

This is by the far the thing that we hear the most about the market. Parking is difficult. It is downtown and parking is always at a premium. There are 5 city owned lots for parking. The largest is between Scio and Union. The second largest is between Pennsylvania and Railroad.

The red outlines the 2 largest city owned parking lots associated with the market.

There are also 3 smaller lots. Here’s the information from the Rochester Public Market website on the location of all the lots and where to access:

https://www.cityofrochester.gov/publicmarket/

Another option is to park near by and bike in. If you can’t get there early (before 10am) to get a prime parking spot in one of the free lots this can be a great and healthy option. We are seeing more and more people do this recently. There are some paid for parking areas too.

#2 Hauling

Now you’ve made it there but what the heck can you do about carrying all your great stuff? There are some great cart options out there and some stores sell them locally. But the best option is a good back pack. It doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest, but just something comfortable that you won’t mind walking with. Bring a lunchbox inside with a cold pack in it for meats and maybe an extra bag in case you find a watermelon or pumpkin that you can’t live without.

Look for a “Day Trip” backpack that is meant for hiking. They have lots of compartments and are meant to be comfortable on your back with weight in it. People also refer to them as rucksacks. An outdoor store like REI has them, as does Walmart. Find something comfortable and then you won’t mind wearing it.

#3 Money

There is at least one cash machine that we know of, but most vendors accept a card. But just to be on the safe side, bring some cash with you in case the vendor doesn’t accept a card. We do with no minimum, but we can’t speak for all vendors. Prices are usually clearly marked on the baskets. Cash or charge there probably won’t be any breaks. You make one break you gotta break for em all!

#4 Vendors

A very typical question is “Which ones are farmers and which ones are wholesalers?” That can be a tricky one, but there are a few tell tale signs your dealing with a farmer.

-They have a logo. You see a logo, it’s probably a farm. They probably have ‘farm’ in the name. Maybe on T-Shirts or the side of the truck.

Fisher Hill Farm - Rochester NY — The crew at Fisher Hill Farm – Rochester NY

-They have dirt. Could be on their hands, shoes, the truck, the boxes… somewhere there is dirt. We grow stuff. It grows in dirt. It’s hard to get it off everything.

-They tell you. When all else fails…ASK! Farmers will tell you if they grew it or not, if it’s on consignment from another farm, or if they traded with a farm, or who’s farm it’s from. Just ask.

Get to know your farmer and your favorite stop at the market and follow them on social media. You’ll know what’s coming out and what’s in season and what other markets they’ll be at.

The wholesalers can have some great stuff and you shouldn’t count them out! But since we’re a local farm we like to see local farms get most of the business!

#5 Restrooms

There are public restrooms in the updated indoor B shed. It’s the main building with the Public Market sign on the front. There are also restrooms in the middle brick building as well. Some businesses may have restrooms but we can’t endorse whether they are open to the public or not. The best option is the B shed. The new bathrooms are updated and very nice. The staff keep them clean even on the busiest days. Thank you very much to the hard workers at the market.

These are probably the most common questions that come up. We hope your market experience is excellent. Getting the freshest local ingredients leads to the best meals.

Smoke Box Chicken

One of the great things about the summer months is getting a good barbecue going. We wanted an easy way to get smokehouse chicken without worrying about burning our dinner.

There’s actually two ways you can use this Smoke Box. You can load it up and put it directly on your gas grill or you can get some hot coals and place it on them. We chose to try it that way because it was slightly more adventurous for a blog post! But putting the box on the grill makes it even easier and allows you to choose a temperature.

The first step is to prepare the raw chicken. We used a store bought barbecue dry rub for the legs. We coated them in the morning and put them in a plastic bag in the fridge. For the breast, we poured a little Italian dressing over it and put it in the fridge. Simple preparation is often times the best!

We got our fire going and let it die down to just some hot coals. If you choose to use your grill make sure you preheat it to the desired temp you want to smoke at.

To load the smoke box you soak the wood chips in water about 30 minutes before loading them in the box. Place the wood chips down and then the tray with the meat on it, then close the box up.

The meat goes on top of the wood chips on tray that inserts.

The legs are smaller so they were going to be done a lot sooner. Make sure you use a thermometer to get the cooking temp right. Chicken should be at 180. The legs did cook a bit quicker, but they only took about 45 minutes on the fire before they were done. You could actually smell that they were done and boy oh boy did it smell delicious!

We brushed on a little bit of barbecue sauce at the end and let it dry up a little on the leg before taking them off. They were incredible, soaking up a good amount of the smoke flavor without masking the dry rub. The sweet sauce was a nice little addition and added the right amount of sugar to it.

The breast took a bit longer. But we were really thinking that it was going to make excellent sandwiches after it was cold. We were right. It was. But we couldn’t help cutting into it when it was still hot.

Overall this was a tasty experiment. It might be easier to just put the box on the grill and smoke it that way, but it was fun to have a fire and make a bigger event out of it. The chicken was delicious.

We’ll have fresh chicken all summer long for all your grilling and smoking needs!

Come visit us at the market!

How to Make Duck Confit

Confit refers to a method of cooking something in grease or sugar at low temperatures. Duck Confit is usually made with the legs and is cooked in duck fat as the grease. It’s kind of like frying, except the temperatures are lower and it causes the meat to become very tender instead of crisp.

It feels as if it is a fancy dish and one that should be served with a white linen table cloth. But that’s not true! It’s a simple dish to make, keeps in the fridge for a long time and is delicious. The key is getting a locally grown duck (wink, wink).

What is nice about this recipe is that you can break off little bits of it at a time throughout the week so you never have to spend a whole day in the kitchen. Duck Leg Confit reheats in the oven and does not dry out so you can serve it as your main dish with little effort before the actual meal.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

One whole Fisher Hill Farm Duck

Fresh Thyme

Kosher salt

Vegetable oil (or other oil)

A sharp knife

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

The first thing you need to do is break down the whole duck into parts. It sounds difficult if you’ve never done it before, but it’s not. The legs come off very easily and that’s what you need to make this dish. Here’s a video on how to break down a whole duck.

What’s important about breaking this duck down is SAVING THE FAT. You will use that fat in to confit the duck legs. Save it to the side and cook it down. In the video below that part is covered. It can be done in advance and is very easy.

(*Pro tip. After the duck fat is rendered you’re left with crispy pieces of duck fat that make an excellent snack. Soak them in Frank’s Red Hot and bake them in a hot oven.)

Once the duck legs of off coat them liberally with the kosher salt and place them stack on top of each other with some fresh thyme. Put that in the refrigerator for a few days to let it cure. Once you’ve done that, the next step is rinsing them off really good and patting them dry.

Here’s the video that shows the rest of the process.

One of the best parts of Duck Confit is the wings! They are delicious. We also love to eat this dish cold, as a quick lunch out of the fridge.

If you follow this recipe, you’re going to be left with the duck breasts. Those can be cooked up crispy skin style very easily and takes almost no prep work.

In other news, our CSA is currently open. If you would like to learn more about it just go to:

https://fisherhillfarm.com/csa/

The Holiday Countdown

What’s on your menu?

2020 is getting closer and closer to a close. Even if this year your holiday party will be smaller than in years past, and no matter what holiday you celebrate this time of year, it will be a great way to usher out one of the strangest years on record.

We would like to thank everyone for their interest in local food. The enthusiasm our shopper have had this year has been awesome, and at time, unbridled! Many people used this year to explore new recipes while they were stuck inside and we were able to learn so much from all of you. Thank you.

As the year comes to a close, we want to let everyone know some menu options available.

Turkey – We have a limited supply of fresh turkey the will be ready for pick up starting 12/19. Follow the link below to put down your $20 deposit to guarantee a fresh turkey for your table. I WANT TO PLACE A DEPOSIT ON A TURKEY.
Duck – They are frozen and will take about 2 days to thaw in the refrigerator. Sizes vary. If there is a specific size you would like us to bring to the market please let us know in advance by calling or messaging us. If we don’t respond we didn’t get your message. Don’t be afraid to message again. We want you to get what you like.
Chicken – We always have a pretty good supply of chickens at the markets with us.
Stewing Hens – Low and slow works best for these. We have posted recipes in the past to use them. No matter what recipe you use, your whole house will smell delicious!
We also have eggs on hand as well, along with lots of winter storage veggies.

This is the perfect opportunity to make a TURDUCKEN!

Not sure what that is? It’s a chicken stuffed into a duck and then stuffed into a turkey. Here’s a video of the legendary John Madden ripping one apart on live national television with his bare hands:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsAuIsn3Kw4

Wondering where to find us?

Farm Pre-Order Pickup Hours:

Wednesday 3:00pm – 6:00pm

Pre-Order HERE!

Address: 6440 Fisher Hill Rd, Canandaigua, NY 14424

Rochester Public Market

Thursday 7am-1pm

Saturday 6am-2pm

Address: 280 Union St N, Rochester, NY 14609

Brighton Farmers Market

Sunday 10am – 11:30am

Brighton High School Parking Lot

Home Delivery Via Flour City Bread (And Brighton Market!)

www.flourcitybread.com/collections/grocery

Can Fresh Green Beans Freeze without Blanching?

Without further ado let’s answer the question at hand. Nothing is worse than clicking on one of these articles to find that the question is buried somewhere deep in the text.

The short answer is YES!

Fresh green beans can be frozen without blanching and actually come out better. But there are limitations to what you can do with them after you freeze them. If you have frozen blanched green beans when they thaw back out they can be a little soggy. Freezing them without blanching helps this soggy problem out, but doesn’t completely solve it.

The process is simple enough. Snap the ends of your fresh green beans, give them a wash, dry them off, and then freeze them. We try to spread them out on a cookie sheet after they are dry and freeze them for 30 minutes before putting into freezer bags. This way they don’t stick together and you can take out just a few at a time if you needed to.

The limitations are that they don’t remain the raw crispness of a true fresh green bean. But they do retain more snap than canned beans or your average grocery store freezer aisle beans. We recommend using them in a casserole, soup, or another cooked dish.

We used ours for the classic side dish Green Bean Almondine! (pictured above) Here’s the recipe we followed.

What You’ll Need:

-About 1lb of Green beans

-1 large shallot clove

-1 large garlic clove

-1/2 cup almonds, crushed up a little

-2 T of butter

What You’ll Do:

Thaw out the beans in the fridge overnight. Toss them in a bowl with a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper and place them in a small baking dish. Chop the shallot and garlic and sprinkle over top. Place the almonds in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them up a bit. Place those on top of the beans. Chop up the 2 T of butter and put on top. In the oven covered for 35 minutes at 350 or until they sizzle and you have a perfect little dish!

If you didn’t save any green beans this year, don’t worry. We’re going to grow lots next year too. This is a great side dish for Thanksgiving dinner as well. If you need a turkey this year, we have some left.

Click here to buy your Fisher Hill Farm fresh local turkey!