Cote's Market, Awesome comfort food to take home - Lowell, Ma.

[lexpatti]

If you want to eat at home but want comfort, homemade food - this is the place to stop. On 175 Salem St., downtown Lowell. Little market that is making homemade food (lots of selections) from early morning. Everything I get here is very good. Salmon Pie, Salmon Puffs, Pork Pie, Chix pot pie (all white meat if you want) Chix Puffs, American chop suey, Stuffed Peppers and Stuffed Cabbage to die for, meatloaf (out of this world), famous baked beans, mac and cheese, Chili, always have some great soups, Chinese Pie (or sheapards pie), boiled dinners, bbq ribs (yummy), etc etc, just to name a few. They will even make to order if you call the day before. I love this place. I tend to cook creative dishes and leave the comfort food to Cote's when I'm in the mood for kicking back for my Mom's type homemade cooking. I think they are closed on Wed. and Sundays.

[dibbida]

I LOVE Cotes beans!! we live the next town over and they do have awesome take home meals...which is good with the little ones...they get to pick what they want and reasonable!

[lexpatti]

It's funny, I first went there because of an article about their famous beans. But I didn't like them - I like the sweet, dark molasses type my gramp used to make. But I buy everything else now from there. :-) I just love their Chicken Puffs and Salmon Puffs - (make a mess eating them in the car when driving).

[IreneC]

Actually, Cote's makes the dark beans, too. Just ask for them. I like them better than the light beans, but they aer a bit "mushy" for my taste.

[jackattack]

There''s nothing chinese about Shepherd's Pie!

[rcianci]

Sheppard's pie is called China or Chinese Pie in Quebec because French Canadian loggers brought the recipe back home with them after acquiring a taste for it in the mess halls of lumber camps they worked around China, Maine. Chinese Pie usually has a layer of creamed corn between the meat and the potatoes.

[lexpatti]

Yes, french canadians have always called it Chinese Pie - big in Manch. NH too. Original sheppards's pie is actually made with peas and carrots I believe (eeeekkk), I like the meat, corn and potatoe version which is (I believe), the french canadian (Chinese Pie).

[slotcarnews]

Hello All, my first post on CH, I'm a huge fan of these beans! I bought a few pounds of the dry beans a few years ago. I just ran out today and I want to buy more from Cote's. I'm going to drive up from Danbury to Lowell soon. But I remember that Cote's only makes the beans certain days of the week. Am I remembering correctly?

DaveK

[kkrawczyk]

you can get beans cold in the case almost every day, but friday and saturday they are cooked fresh.

[lexpatti]

Be careful, they are closed on Wednesdays and mmmmmm Sundays maybe? Wednesdays always get me. They make two different type of beans, some like the thick dark molasses type, others like that lite type. I love their food - been craving their salmon puff.

[jessdumont]

I need your help. My husband is from Lowell and is missing the pork scrap from Cote's Market. Does anyone have a good pork scrap rec. they can share that would be the same or similar for a wife that has sentenced her husband to boring Colorado?

[three of us]

Post on the home cooking board, also.

[BJennif]

I have a recipe that I can post later. My Mom always made this and she says it is really easy, although I have never made it. It was soooo yummy though on toast. Or crackers with a bit of mustard. I've had it at a few places around NE but never as good as Mom's.

[lexpatti]

You know, I think Cote's would give you the recipe - they are wonderful like that, love hearing that people miss their food when they move away. I would call them.

[IreneC]

There were several rec. posted about two years ago (one was my memere's) on the Home Cooking board and on several other boards. Another name for the pork scrap is "cretons". You'll find the recipes by searching for cretons back to two years ago. Enjoy!

[catsmeow]

I found this place as a result of your post. Really good stuff! The salmon in puff pastry, chinese(shepherd's) pie, pork pie...I could go on. I stock up when I'm in the area and freeze a lot of it for later. Thanks for telling us about this place.

[lexpatti]

If you are having an event, they'll make larger catered plates too. I would love to order their little salmon puffs sometime. I too love their salmon puffs. I once brought a huge pan of shepherd's pie to a pot luck from them, everyone raved. they are very accomodating.

[catsmeow]

I stopped in yesterday and stocked up on chinese pie, a chicken puff(they didn't have salmon ones) and some other goodies. Time to stock my freezer for the winter. I got some scrapple after reading about it on this board. How is it best eaten?

[lexpatti]

I haven't eaten scrapple. Glad you found/enjoy this place. I need to get over there too.

[Infomaniac]

I cook & eat scrapple like I would with corned beef hash.

[catsmeow]

Thanks. I'll try it that way.

[IreneC]

I suspect you mean "pork scrap" not "scrapple", which is a Pennsylvania Dutch dish. Pork scrap is a name for a French-Canadian dish made from ground pork and spices (also called creton, cretons, or gorton, depending on where in Quebec a family is from) It is typically eaten at breakfast as a spread on toast or as a sandwich spread (with or without mayo or mustard - personal preference).

[greygarious]

I finally made it to Cote's today, after almost giving up trying to find it - Lowell lacks decent signage for the main roads and they change names, to boot. Well worth the effort - I bought several items, one of which was the slice of pork pie I just had for dinner. It was wonderful! Is the filling what they also call "pork scrap"? When there's room in the fridge (I went overboard on farmers' market produce) I will try more of their entree pies - I did not notice any puffs but could have overlooked them. I hadn't looked back through CH to refresh my memory about the signature items. The people who run the place were warm and friendly, and very gratified when they learned I'd come there after hearing so many recommendations. A head's up - they close at 5pm; if I'd been 5 minutes later I'd have missed the opportunity to try their excellent food.

[lexpatti]

they are famous for their beans - but it's not my fav. I love everything - those salmon puffs are fantastic or the chicken puff too. stuffed cabbage and/or peppers are fantastic too. I haven't been in a while, need to get back in there. They did a big sheet pan of shephards pie for me for a party - they are extremely accomodating - and whatever is coming out of the oven is always great.