At Miles Farmers Market, fresh, free-range turkeys are all the rage

By Laura Briedis

When it comes to the holidays, this year nobody really knows what the new normal will be. But one thing you can count on is families will take comfort in holiday meals—although they may be enjoying them in smaller gatherings.

With this in mind, Miles Farmers Market is offering all of its usual holiday meats and home-cooked side dishes, but with more size options.

“We recognize that people might be looking for smaller turkeys this year, so we have stocked our meat department with turkeys of all sizes,” says store manager Justin Golobek. “In addition to whole turkeys, we also will have turkey breasts for those who don’t want to roast a whole turkey.”

The store’s in-house chef oversees the catering division and cooks everything from scratch, including all stock, soups and gravy.

“In our Bistro, we prepare all the side dishes you need to trim a turkey, including candied yams, Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, green beans almondine and Brussels sprouts, as well as our famous sausage stuffing, which is from our owner’s family recipe collection,” says Justin. “We make the sausage in our own meat department and we use the bread from our bakery for the ultimate homemade stuffing that is sure to be a signature side at your family’s dinner.”

The side dishes are available in full-pan, half-pan and smaller containers packed by the pound. “The smaller containers are perfect if you are just having a couple of people over for Thanksgiving dinner,” says Justin.

Fresh Turkeys
“The Miles Very Own Turkeys are fresh, never frozen, and they are free range,” says Vinny, meat department manager. “They are hormone-free and antibiotic-free, and humanely raised.”

Turkeys are available in all sizes and you can pick up just a couple of turkey breasts or up to 25-pound whole turkeys. The turkeys are sold raw, or you can also pick up a fully cooked turkey from the Bistro.

“We encourage customers to pre-order meats now to make sure they get exactly what they need to feed their family, as there may be a market shortage for smaller-sized turkeys this year,” notes Vinny. “Turkeys will be available for customers to pick up starting Wednesday, November 18. Our turkeys are boxed and include cooking instructions, as well as some recipes.”

In addition to turkeys, Miles’ Butcher Shoppe is stocked with ham, beef tenderloin and house-cooked shrimp cocktail for your holiday dinner.

“We have our own Miles Farmers Market spiral hams that are sourced from the best pigs and are so flavorful,” says Justin. “New this year, we have a premium, spiral-cut ham that we use a giant torch to glaze.”

Roasting the Perfect Turkey
When you buy a turkey from Miles Farmers Market, you receive a four-page sheet with cooking tips, carving instructions and recipes for using leftover turkey. The experts here offer this timetable for cooking fresh or thawed turkey at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

10-12 lb. turkey:
- Unstuffed: 2 ½ - 3 hours
- Stuffed: 3 - 3½ hours

12-14 lb. turkey:
- Unstuffed: 3 - 3½ hours
- Stuffed: 3 ½ - 4 hours

14-18 lb. turkey:
- Unstuffed: 3 ½ - 4 ½ hours
- Stuffed: 4 - 4 ½ hours

18-20 lb. turkey:
- Unstuffed: 4 ¼ - 4 ¾ hours
- Stuffed: 4 ½ - 5 hours

20-26 lb. turkey:
- Unstuffed: 4 ¾ - 5 ½ hours
- Stuffed: 5 ½ - 6 hours

Holiday Pies
Why limit your dessert to just pumpkin pie? Miles bakes 20-plus pie varieties. If you like apple, you can choose from Dutch apple, apple caramel, walnut, and honey crisp apple to name a few.

“In addition to pumpkin and apple pies, our other pies that are popular this time of year are pecan and sweet potato, along with cream pies such as French silk, banana cream and coconut cream. All of our pies are freshly baked in our own bakery,” says Justin. “We have a crew that comes in overnight to bake all the pies for the next day, so they literally are as fresh as they can be for the holiday.”

Since Miles sold more than 4,000 pies on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving last year, the store has a new pickup procedure to make it easier for customers and to help them abide by social distancing measures. To facilitate the pie pickup, all of the pies that have been ordered will be set on racks in the hallway when you walk in to grab before you come into the store, so you can pick up your pie and then finish any other shopping inside.

“This way, when you go in the store, you will already have your pie so you don’t have to wait in long lines at the bakery,” says Justin. “We are doing all we can to make shopping here a pleasant experience.”

Miles Farmers Market is located at 28560 Miles Road, in Solon. Visit MilesFarmersMarket.com for store details.