Wet Market March

Hong Kong’s bustling wet markets aren’t exactly a rare sight, but sometimes they can get a bit intimidating—especially when you don’t know how to navigate the myriad stalls or decipher the scribbly cardboard signs fighting for your attention. With the slippery wet floors and whole animal carcasses hung on hooks (when they’re not being dragged along the ground), one could be forgiven for downright avoiding the markets altogether.

But armed with the right knowledge and skills, a journey through the wet market can be a rewarding experience—and one that makes you a much better cook. In this issue, we’ve done all the hard work—by going through the markets and talking to the experts—to give you an insider’s insight into the art of wet market shopping.

Basic Navigation

There are two types of wet markets in Hong Kong: the indoor markets that usually come attached to a cooked food center; and the pedestrian-friendly open-air ones that typically line a busy side street. In any given market, you’ll have your basic fruit and veggie stalls and your butcher shops. Fresh and seasonal produce, all unrefrigerated, are displayed in random colorful heaps with signs that, unless otherwise stated, give the price per catty (斤)—each catty roughly translating to 605 grams. Although nowadays you can pretty much find any type of vegetable sold at the wet market replicated on supermarket shelves, sometimes a wet market stall is able to secure super-fresh produce that you just can’t find anywhere else. Baby ginger that hasn’t wrinkled up with age and still glows with a healthy pink tint, as well as loose-leafed veggies that haven’t been gagged and bundled up in plastic bags, are all can’t-go-wrong purchases.

The meat butchers tend to be pork specialists or beef specialists, and it’s less common (although not impossible) to find one that sells both. There are also seafood stalls that sell decapitated fish still squirming on the tables, as well as prawns that curl and wiggle with their counterparts in red plastic bowls. One common philosophy amongst these animal-based proprietors is that absolutely nothing goes to waste. If you’re a curious chef who likes to experiment, you’ll have a field day. You can procure whole fish heads, fish bladders (those bloaty white balloons that make them buoyant in the water when they’re still alive), de-skinned toads, or pigs’ ears and hearts, if those suit your tastes more.

Because the produce is so fresh, you won’t be able to satisfy steak cravings at the wet market, given that beef needs to be dry-aged before it is ready to be turned into steaks. You probably wouldn’t want to be getting anything older than a day anyhow. There’s a lot of quality meat to be bought for Chinese-style stir-fry and braised dishes though, and you’ll be able to find the freshest cuts here, especially if you go early in the morning. (Most markets open by 7am and start to quiet down by as early as 10am. Most also close by 7pm.)

You’ll also find the odd refrigerated meat shop hidden between the stalls, and although they might appear more hygienic than their counterparts at first glance, our advice is to shop fresh. The stalls that aren’t selling the extra packaging don’t because they don’t have to. As long as you don’t see flies swarming around the carcasses, and the color of the flesh is vivid red and not grayish, you’ll be doing yourself a big favor by going for meat off the hooks instead of out of the freezer. Tell the butchers what you want to make (a steamed dish, a stir-fry or a braised stew) and they will choose the cuts for you. Instead of obsessing over what part of the animal you’re going to get, butchers tell us bluntly that if a cow is fat, all parts of the cow will be fatty. Generally speaking, beef brisket is good for making soups, braised casseroles and hotpots because they need extra cooking time to get tenderized, and beef shins are a good bet for Chinese-style lo shui dishes (in which meats are cooked using the same master vat of sauce over and over again; the name means “old water”).

Apart from the staples, sometimes you’ll be able to find a dried seafood stall in the mix, offering salted fish (an item rarely found in modern supermarkets these days), dried shrimps and tiny bite-sized dried fish. Fresh tofu stalls are another hidden gem—instead of the sterile plastic packages stocked at local supermarkets, you can find massive blocks of unadulterated soy-fermented goodness in all shapes and sizes (see photo, left). Fish ball and fish cake shops that make the batter straight to order before your very eyes are another novelty you won’t find on grocery store shelves. There are also the convenient stores that sell fresh sauces (no thanks, Lee Kum Kee) to go with any dish, all bound up with elastic bands in clear plastic bags. Fresh noodles and wonton and dumpling wraps can also be found at the wet markets, not to mention dried herbs, salted eggs (ham daan) and fungi. In lieu of salami, a variety of lap cheung (dried salty sausage) hung on red string makes a very competitive Chinese alternative.

A general rule of thumb when it comes to picking out the best of fruits and vegetables is to look for weight, which is an indication of water content. Holes in leafy greens don’t necessarily mean a bad crop—it could simply mean the farm doesn’t use pesticides (which would be a good thing). It’s best to ask sellers about their veggies’ origins. In fact, the absence of holes could actually mean the over-use of pesticides, rather than a healthy crop, so again, it’s best to ask.

For seafood like fish, if they’re not alive and swimming you can gauge their health by looking at their eyes; a clear and bright pupil means the fish didn’t die too long ago and a foggy one, the opposite. Also lift the gills to check underneath; if the color of the flesh is bright red, you have a good catch in your hands. Don’t be fooled by the amount of blood you see around the produce; sometimes butchers will go out of their way to smear blood onto animal carcasses to give the appearance of being fresh.

Market Gurus

Sound Off

We asked everyday Hongkongers where they prefer to shop for groceries—the wet market or supermarket?

Miss Lok
“I shop in supermarkets because the environment is better, as wet markets are a little bit dirtier. For me, the environment is important when grocery shopping.”

Adam
“I usually go to the supermarket because it’s close and it is what I’m used to. I do buy vegetables and fruits on the streets, though, because they look fresh.”

Wren
“For vegetables, I go to the wet market because it is cheaper. I buy meat at the supermarket because it is refrigerated. We believe that all the bacteria will be killed because it has been in the cold, and then the rest will be killed when it’s cooked.”