Gourmet Secrets’ Celiac Friendly Selections!

At Gourmet Secrets, we want everyone to be able to enjoy the highest-quality and finest food at great value. Burgers, hot dogs, liver pâté, all of these are great foods in and of themselves, or ingredients for your next homemade recipe, but to the chagrin of some, wheat is normally found as a binding agent in all of these products. While using wheat helps keep the shape of the food together as it cooks, it makes these foods unpalatable for those with allergies or intolerances to gluten.

When you order from Gourmet Secrets, you don’t have to choose between your food or your allergy: they provide a wide selection of gluten free products that you and your family will love!

Order some Sweet Italian Sausages for that great Italian flavor, or Hot Italian Sausages for that extra kick for your tastebuds. The Original Smokies are fully cooked and ready to eat right out of the fridge with some honey or Dijon mustard! If you’re raring for something different than bacon or ham in the morning, our Breakfast Sausages will charm you with their morning aroma as you fry them up with eggs and toast!

Are you a fan of hot dogs? Don’t settle for the grocery store brand: Gourmet Secrets’ European Wieners are made with 100% free-range pork meat and great for steaming up when you’re watching the ball game or going out for a picnic! And if those still aren’t big enough for you, they offer 16oz Farmer’s Sausages full of pork and spice flavor which will be the delight of your next recipe, whether in pastas, besides chicken or in an omelette!

Visit Gourmet Secrets’ online store today and check out their gluten-free selections: you’ll be amazed by the taste and quality! Don’t wait- order today!

Celiac-Friendly Breakfast Sausages

Good morning Gourmet Secrets! A plateful of eggs, some hash browns, a tall glass of orange juice and buttered toast, now that sounds like the breakfast of champions. But there seems to be something missing… Gourmet Secrets’ celiac-friendly breakfast sausages! Toss a few of these links in the frying pan until they are golden-fried and serve beside eggs, potatoes and toast for a complete breakfast!

These breakfast sausages are made of 100% free-range Alberta pork, seasoned with aromatic spices and salt that create the delicious aroma that wafts in the air in the morning. The best part- these sausages are free of gluten as a binding agent, and thus are safe for celiacs and those with wheat intolerance to eat! Great for breakfast, as per their name, they can also be used as ground meat for tacos and nachos by cutting open their casing and frying up the ground pork with tons of sautéed peppers, onions and taco spices. Sprinkle this tex-mex mixture on top of tortilla chips and cover with shredded mozzarella for the best nachos this side of Canada! You can even take out the meat from the sausages and make delicious pork patties that will be a hit in your next big barbecue!

Make your morning, afternoons and evenings more exciting with Gourmet Secrets’ celiac-friendly breakfast sausages, only at http://www.gourmetsecrets.ca!

GSI Deluxe Bacon

Breakfast: the most important meal of the day. In our busy lives, we rarely have time for a decent breakfast anymore, but once you wake up to the wonderful smell of Gourmet Secrets’ deluxe bacon throughout the house, you’ll never want to skip it again! Our bacon from 100% free range pork is deluxe trim, double maple and big on taste, always a treat to have around whether it’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Bacon is usually made from pork belly cured in brine or dry salt for many hours, then smoked and sliced into thick strips that produce the streaky bacon we know and love. Bacon is often enjoyed beside eggs, potatoes and toast and is very popular as a sandwich meat, being a key ingredient in the preparation of a BLT. If you prefer something greener and healthier, cook up your bacon until crispy, chop it up into small chunks or bits, and use it as a garnish for your salad! Often very popular in dressings and sauces when rendered into tiny bits, you can make your own bacon ranch dressing by simply combining mayonnaise, white vinegar, parsley and bacon bits! Bacon also features as a garnish for many of our products, whether it is wrapped around our filet mignon, chicken breasts or scallops, or stuffed into our premade baked potatoes. Why not try Gourmet Secrets’ deluxe bacon in your own dishes?

If you love bacon, don’t settle for anything less than the best. Get some of Gourmet Secrets’ Deluxe Bacon Strips today at http://www.gourmetsecrets.ca!

GSI Baby Back Ribs

Tender, juicy, smoky, fall-off-the-bone… that’s what the perfect rack of barbecued baby back ribs is all about. Gourmet Secrets gives you the best, free range pork with no hormones or inorganic feed additives, so all you get is great pork flavor and baby back ribs that are succulent and juicy!

Why are pork ribs so popular? Well, bone-in meat like ribs have a distinctly different taste than boneless meat due to the bone’s own juices cooking with the meat. The bone also brings heat to the center of the meat, making it cook more evenly. Baby back ribs, so named because they come from market-size hogs that are smaller than fully-grown hogs, are some of the most popular cuts of pork in North America, especially in the South where they are smoked, barbecued, grilled and braised to perfection with a good basting of homemade barbecue sauce. A full rack usually contains 10 to 13 back ribs, but will always have a minimum of 8. Gourmet Secrets’ Baby Back Ribs are split into half racks for perfect portion controlling, and once you cook them, you’ll be blown away by how tender they become.

When you order GSI Baby Back Ribs, you are getting the best barbecue experience you can buy in Canada. Fire up that grill and serve yourself some baby back ribs this summer: go to http://www.gourmetsecrets.ca today and get your order just in time for Canada Day!

Gourmet Secrets Premium Packaging Strategy

All Gourmet Secrets orders must undertake a trip from the plant to your doorstep, no easy task over long distances and especially involving frozen foods. Whether you live in Edmonton, Montréal, Halifax or Iqaluit, we work hard to ensure that the contents of your package remain frozen until it reaches your doorstep. How do we do this?

Enter the GSI Premium Packaging Strategy. This three-pronged strategy is the most effective way to ship out orders of frozen food.

The first step is the flash-freezing process all our food goes through. Patented by American inventor Clarence Birdseye, the modern flash-freezing process involves freezing water at temperatures well below zero degrees Celsius nearly instantaneously, preventing large ice crystals from forming. A higher-quality freezing process, flash freezing locks in all the juices of the meat, prevents damage to the texture and ensures that the product remains frozen longer.

The second step is the packing of the order in a styrofoam container. Styrofoam is an excellent isolating agent, preventing heat from entering the package and affecting the contents within. Simply placing frozen items in a styrofoam package can keep it preserved for a much longer time in a room at ambient temperature than if it were left on the counter- but we go one step further.

By adding dry ice to our packages, we fulfill the third step of our packaging strategy. Dry ice is the solid form of normally-gaseous carbon dioxide, and can only remain a solid at temperatures of -78.5 degrees Celsius or lower. A thick layer of dry ice on top of your food ensures that the contents of your order remain rock-solid frozen, by keeping the internal temperature of the order at nearly -80 degrees or lower! Plus, when dry ice goes above its freezing point, it does not melt, but rather sublimates: becomes a gas! This prevents waterlogging of your order, which would otherwise speed up the thawing process.

With a combination of the best quality freezing methods, keeping the internal environment of the order at extremely low temperatures and using a box that keeps heat out, we make sure that everything stays frozen until it reaches your doorstep. Shop for the best quality food in confidence with Gourmet Secrets today!

Wild Mahi Mahi Portions

Firm, flavorful and delicious, mahi mahi practically embodies the term “ocean treasure”. Hailing from the seas around Hawaii, this fish is highly prized as a gourmet ingredient, whether grilled on the barbecue, battered and baked, or chopped up to make delicious fish tacos.

Its scientific name is Coryphaena hippurus: a beautiful-sounding name for a beautiful fish. Reaching a weight of 7 to 13 kilos on average, these oddly-shaped fish shine with amazing ocean colors, from blue at the dorsal fin to tropical green at the belly and a strip of gold on their side, earning them the Spanish name “dorado”, or golden. At first, mahi mahi was bycatch- that is, while fishing for tuna and swordfish, mahi mahi would be incidentally caught and then sold as an afterthought. Over the years, a commercial fishery for it has developed on the fish’s own merits- its firm flesh and incredible flavor make it an ocean delight that Gourmet Secrets is proud to offer to families across Canada!

Like all Gourmet Secrets fish and seafood products, our 5 oz Mahi Mahi Portions are Safe Quality Food Level 2 certified, which means they adhere to the highest food safety standards in Canada. Flash-frozen right on the boat to lock in the juices and flavor, when you grill these on the barbecue or toss them with Hawaiian-style dressing for delicious fish tacos, you’ll go wild with Gourmet Secrets’ Wild Mahi Mahi Portions!

Gourmet Secrets’ Delectable Cheesecakes

A choice collection of creamy cheesecake cuts (for the children!)

With Gourmet Secrets, you can get breakfast, lunch, dinner AND dessert! Our premium cheesecake selection is so easy to serve to your family or guests: already sliced, already cooked, just thaw out and serve! It’s that easy.

Cheesecake differs from regular cakes in that it is made with a sweet cheese base, like cream cheese, rather than cake batter. One of the most popular styles of cheesecake, the New York style, is made with heavy cream, cream cheese, eggs and yolk to produce a smooth, rich batter than is poured atop crumbled cookies or graham crackers and baked to make the final product. This is the style that Gourmet Secrets provides, flavored with strawberries, chocolate, blueberries or simply left as is for the memorable New York cheesecake experience.

Did you know Gourmet Secrets also offers sugar-free cheesecake selections? Perfect for people who are watching their sugar intake, and still bursting with delicious flavors! So don’t wait- treat yourself and your family right with Gourmet Secrets’ delectable cheesecake selections today!

Gourmet Secrets Black Tiger Prawns

From Louisiana Jumbo Cooked to Colossal Black Tigers, try some shrimp out with your order today!

Shrimp- who doesn’t love them? Crisp, tender and oh so flavorful, they serve as a great appetizer when served cocktail-style, stir-fried in a Vietnamese recipe, or grilled on the barbecue with some salt, pepper and Old Bay!

In Canada and the United States, the words “shrimp” and “prawn” are often used interchangeably, and even marine biologists are not in agreement on what constitutes a shrimp or a prawn. The two most common species of shrimp that are traded worldwide are the whiteleg shrimp and the black tiger prawn. The black tiger prawn, Penaeus monodon, can grow to be one of the largest of all, and are renowned around the world for their exceptional taste and texture. Gourmet Secrets Black Tiger Prawns are farmed in a natural environment with flowing water circulation, no inorganic feed additives or hormones used, and no overcrowding: this results in a firmer, tastier shrimp that can grow to its full potential!

Louisiana Jumbo Cooked Shrimp are instantly recognizable with their bright red and white coloration. This indicates that they’ve already been cooked, so there’s no need for further preparation: just thaw and serve on ice with your favorite cocktail sauce and you’re ready to go! They can also be lightly sautéed in a skillet with butter and garlic and served atop rice and steamed veggies for a delicious seafood meal. They are affectionately called P&D, or peeled and de-veined: their shells have been removed and they are already prepared for you to eat!

Up next are our Jumbo Black Tiger Prawns. These are larger in size than our cooked shrimp, and their black-striped appearance indicates that they are raw: be sure to cook these before you serve them! Stir-fried with a teriyaki sauce and Asian veggies on top of Shanghai noodles, or battered and fried for a tasty popcorn shrimp appetizer, they make for a great treat for your friends and family!

Last, but certainly not least, we have our Colossal Black Tiger Prawns. These are 6/8 count, meaning that you only need 6 to 8 of them to equal one pound- that’s big enough to make your steak look like a side dish! These massive, flavorful shrimp are best prepared on the barbecue: baste them with garlic butter, top off with Old Bay and grill for 5 minutes on each side or until they are nice and red, ready to sink your teeth into! Some of our customers even split them along the back butterfly-style and stuff them with seasoned bread crumbs and cream cheese before tossing them on the grill, for a tasty twist on the traditional recipe!

What are you waiting for then? Try some of our delicious black tiger shrimp in your order today!

SQF and You: Making the Right Choices

Seafood comes from the ocean. And some kinds of seafood are only found in certain parts of the ocean. So far, this is pretty obvious: you won’t find Jumbo Black Tiger Prawns, Chilean Seabass and Digby Giant Scallops in the same place, right? But how do Canadians ensure that all of their seafood adheres to the same high standards of quality, if it is coming from so many different places in the world? The answer is SQF: Safe Quality Food, a global food safety standard that ensures all of your fish and seafood from Gourmet Secrets is of the highest quality!

Specifically, all Gourmet Secrets fish and seafood products are SQF Level 2 certified. What does that mean for you?

First, it is the most stringent standard for food safety in Canada. To be SQF Level 2 certified, all seafood and fish that are processed by our federal plant must fall within acceptable quality standards set out not only by the SQF scheme itself, but also the HACCP approach to dealing with risks and hazards. In our case, every item that contains seafood in some shape or form must have all its ingredients undergo the food safety protocol. Every incoming shipment of product to our federal plant is tested against the SQF Level 2 standards for criteria such as color, humidity, heavy metals and undesirable preservative and contaminant contents: if even one item in the shipment does not fall within these standards, it is sent back in its entirety. That’s how strict it is- and how important your health and the quality of your food is to us.

Second, it is globally recognized. The SQF Level 2 certification is recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative, an international non-profit organization of food safety experts and industry leaders that sets the standard for the best food safety practices in world food industry. Our seafood’s quality is backed up by the hundreds and thousands of people who have collaborated with one another to ensure that the SQF Level 2 standard is one of the very best worldwide.

Consequently, by purchasing your seafood from Gourmet Secrets, you are guaranteed to have the best quality product, free of contaminants and preservatives, good for your health and full of wholesome ocean flavor. Why wait any longer? Order your favorite fish and seafood selections today!

The Truth About Gourmet Secrets

Since 2011, Gourmet Secrets has operated exclusively online to bring to all Canadians the very best in gourmet meats and seafood. During that time, we have partnered with group deal websites such as Groupon, Dealfind, TeamBuy, Buytopia, Tuango, LivingSocial, MadDeal, DealGetters, SwarmJam and others in order to reach out to our customers and offer extra value for their purchases with us. The deals we featured on those websites and others were created in such a way as to be sustainable for Gourmet Secrets in the long run, to ensure that even with great value offered to our customers, we would be able to not only survive, but grow even more to serve them better. Because of this design, however, individuals with limited budgets or who wanted a different kind of offer with no strings attached found themselves disappointed or frustrated by our deals, and have in turn expressed this by calling us a scam.

In light of this, it is very important for us to be clear:

We are not a scam.

We value your patronage with Gourmet Secrets. We have built this company from long-term, trustworthy relationships with our customers, the highest-quality food the world has to offer, and convenient, easy service from the time of ordering to the time of delivery.  When you make an order, everything is inspected and placed in your container by hand, to ensure the quality of your food is at its best and your order is complete, and we have never offered a special or an order that purposefully includes less than what is advertised (Mistakes do happen though, and if your order is missing anything, our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee will take care of you!). Like any special offered in almost any other store, there are conditions on our coupons which are put in place to ensure that we can sustain the deal and provide for every customer who orders with it. We attempt to make these conditions as clear as possible in our deal, though the final layout of the conditions is up to the company with which we are partnering at the time. We always recommend for prospective customers to give us a call if they have trouble with the way any of our deals work, and we can answer all their questions quickly and easily.

A scam involves dishonest business practices or promises made that do not add up to what you actually receive. We cannot promise to plan our deal in a way that doesn’t allow us to grow as a company, nor can we promise to give free food to people without paying for it.
We do promise to deliver the very best in gourmet foods to you in a courteous and convenient manner, at great value. We promise as well that if an item you receive is not up to your standards, we will take all possible measures to correct that and make you happy. We promise a deal that gives you extra value for your purchase, a deal that is good for you and good for us too. Again and again, our satisfied customers have expressed their delight in the food and service they have received from us, through Facebook, email and over the phone.

In the end, our campaign with group deals has been very successful, with over 50,000 vouchers sold nationwide and over $1,000,000 redeemed by our customers through their coupons since. This much saving on the best food available for Canadians nationwide- now that is something to be excited about!