T&T Supermarket serves up chef-created recipes

T&T Supermarket has tapped Toronto chef Eric Chong to develop recipes for home cooks feeling recipe fatigue.

Chong, who won MasterChef Canada in 2014 and is now chef and partner at R&D, created three recipes: Char Sui (marinated grilled pork chop); beef stir fry with Singaporean black pepper sauce; and wok-fried lobster with Chinese lobster sauce. They can be found at tntsupermarket.com/masterchef with shoppable links for each of the ingredients included.

“As the pandemic drags on, people are getting bored of their own cooking and looking for something different,” said Tina Lee, CEO at T&T Supermarket, in an email interview with Canadian Grocer. “They want to have more fun with their cooking and T&T online is a good place to explore new ingredients, especially before the holidays.”

The chain, which sells primarily Asian foods, also wants to promote its e-commerce platform and showcase the variety of ingredients available. “Earlier this year we launched our e-commerce platform T&T Shop Online, as we wanted to provide our customers an easy and efficient way to have their groceries delivered right to their doors,” said Lee. “The service is new and many Canadians don’t know about it.”

With T&T Shop Online, customers can have their order delivered or ready for curbside pickup. Lee said T&T has ingredients that many other online grocery delivery services don’t have, including live mussels and lobsters, Shiitake mushrooms, pork belly and bok choy sprouts. Customers can also order fresh produce, baked goods and ready-to-cook meals.

The delivery service covers most cities T&T is located in, including greater Vancouver, greater Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa. For those not in the delivery zone, T&T can mail dry grocery from coast to coast.

The new recipe program will be promoted through T&T’s website and social channels, influencer partnerships, and on Chong’s social channels. Lee said Chong was the perfect fit for T&T because of his ability to balance traditional dishes and techniques in his cooking style, while making them fresh and modern. “Our hope is to showcase that Asian cuisine doesn’t need to be intimidating, but instead an exciting endeavour to add in new flavours and ingredients to our everyday lives,” she said.