Catch, Cook, Serve: Hong Kong’s Legendary One-Stop Fish Market
Bon Appétit joins chef Lucas Sin to try some of Hong Kong’s freshest steamed fish at Ap Lei Chau Market. Steamed fish is a traditional Cantonese dish and the fresher the better–at Ap Lei Chau Market they're serving fish caught in the harbor that morning straight to your plate.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 [ Grunts ]
00:01 [ Water running ]
00:02 Ooh.
00:04 We're taking a ferry from Apli Chau to Aberdeen.
00:08 Aberdeen is known for one of the largest fish markets,
00:11 Hong Kong's A-Yu Fish Market.
00:12 But outside, there's a little bit of a Don Market,
00:15 where individual mom-and-pop fishermen
00:18 will go and catch fish, they'll bring them back,
00:20 and they'll sell it right on the side of the harbor.
00:22 Okay, so...
00:26 This is a large-scale fish market, mostly speaking.
00:30 You can get fish that is imported
00:32 or brought from elsewhere further away.
00:33 If you want the fish that's actually caught in the harbor,
00:36 usually slightly smaller,
00:38 but certainly caught by mom-and-pop individual operators,
00:41 this is where you go.
00:43 Basically like a street market, and whatever they get that day.
00:45 If you come here on our recommendation,
00:47 and you don't get what you want, too bad.
00:51 The quality of the catch is dependent,
00:52 as most fishermen know, on a hundred things.
00:55 It could be weather, it could be skill,
00:57 but it also could be the mood of the fishermen,
00:59 whether they have a doctor's appointment
01:01 and they're rushing to get back.
01:02 This is just what... I mean, that's life, right?
01:05 Our friend, Chan Tai, runs a little restaurant
01:07 where they steam fish for you.
01:09 They cook the fish for you, and we're gonna go meet her
01:11 'cause she's showing us a little bit.
01:12 You take a look down here, you have to fight
01:14 for this space next to this railing,
01:16 and you look at what's fresh.
01:17 You ask them what's fresh, they give you a price.
01:19 (speaking in Cantonese)
01:23 (laughing)
01:26 That's the transaction.
01:27 Fish in the net, money in the net,
01:30 and it comes back out.
01:32 (laughing)
01:33 (speaking in Cantonese)
01:36 In English, we're gonna call this brown-spotted grouper.
01:43 That's the best catch of the day.
01:45 Now they're butchering our fish on the boat.
01:48 Our grouper at the back, he's gonna split it down the middle.
01:51 He's taking off all of the scales.
01:53 He's ripping off the gills,
01:54 and then he has the intestines inside
01:56 because all of that stuff is fishy.
01:57 So when you steam the fish, you're really only eating the flesh.
02:01 It's a big fish.
02:03 (speaking in Cantonese)
02:05 The question might be, what are we doing going to a market?
02:08 Because we normally just cover the cooking.
02:10 Here's the thing.
02:11 Cantonese people care about steamed fish.
02:14 That's what we're talking about today.
02:15 And for steamed fish, half of the battle,
02:17 if not the majority of the battle,
02:19 is picking the right fish.
02:21 We're gonna get a couple more in the street market itself,
02:25 above which Chantay has a restaurant called Chat San Kei.
02:28 Okay.
02:35 Now, welcome to the A Bei Jau fish market, the seafood market.
02:38 Let me tell you how this sort of works.
02:40 These are Hong Kong's indoor wet markets.
02:43 So each one of these stalls is going to be their own business,
02:46 and usually it's set up into multiple zones.
02:49 You see the meat over here, tofu goods over there.
02:52 But here today, we're here for the fresh seafood.
02:54 The important thing when you enter a seafood market
02:57 is to identify what type of business
03:00 and what type of stall they have,
03:02 the fresh-catch seafood stalls.
03:04 That water, when you see it, is gonna be a little bit muddier,
03:07 and the variety is going to be a little bit more diverse
03:10 because it honestly is what they catch that day.
03:13 Let's go over here to some other stalls.
03:15 So here is one of Chantay's favorite fish to steam.
03:18 It's called a humpback grouper.
03:20 Really silky smooth.
03:24 And really high in gelatin, so that after you eat it,
03:28 your mouth should feel a little bit sticky.
03:31 That is sole.
03:35 Obviously, French people love this roasted, pan-fried in butter.
03:39 Nice and fatty because it doesn't move that much.
03:42 First, we have our grouper from before.
03:46 We're gonna get a humpback grouper as well,
03:48 and then we're gonna get that sole.
03:50 Nice different textures to show you.
03:52 Let's get one more. I wanna see all the textures.
03:55 BA's footing the bill, so let's get one more.
03:58 If you're asking, "Is this fish fresh?"
04:01 The speed at which they swim, if they're moving around more,
04:03 if they're not floating on their sides,
04:05 that's usually a good sign for good fish.
04:07 So this fish, super lively.
04:11 It's a more meaty fish compared to the sole that we bought.
04:14 So we're just seeing it for texture.
04:16 Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
04:18 Okay, that's everything.
04:20 We're gonna go upstairs to Chan-Tai's
04:22 and ask them to cook it for us.
04:24 What we're expecting, different textures,
04:28 similar steaming method.
04:29 Into the kitchen.
04:30 This is the little kitchen that they cook in.
04:33 Chan-Tai's husband is the chef here.
04:35 There's a little wok for stir-fries.
04:36 There's a little steamer for the steamed fish, obviously,
04:39 and soup.
04:40 Fish rinsed in cold water to get as much of that blood out.
04:44 That blood, those guts, that's the fishiness,
04:47 and that's the gaminess.
04:48 So he's rinsing it very, very well under cold running water.
04:52 Scrape out any little bits that the butcher might have missed.
04:55 Grouper is one of the most famous
04:56 and well-known types of fish here in Hong Kong.
04:59 People prize it for its color, for its look,
05:01 as well as the flakiness of its flesh.
05:04 Keep in mind that this fish that we have today
05:07 was caught this morning,
05:08 butchered a couple of minutes ago,
05:10 and now it's going directly into the steamer.
05:13 After it's been rinsed and cleaned,
05:15 it's going to be prepped
05:16 and steamed directly on top of the plate
05:18 that we're going to eat it on.
05:19 A little bit of salt is rubbed on,
05:21 just a little bit of seasoning.
05:22 The fat's going to go on the side,
05:24 just so that as it steams,
05:25 it's going to render out a little bit.
05:27 Directly into the roaring hot steel steamer.
05:31 Chef says, going to take about 15 minutes.
05:33 There is a difference in the bottom steamer
05:35 and the top steamer
05:36 in terms of the velocity of the steam itself.
05:39 I heard you're bringing a special guest.
05:41 My dad might stop by.
05:42 He loves fish.
05:43 He also taught me how to steam fish,
05:44 so can't do this episode without him.
05:47 Whoa!
05:51 One more time.
05:53 Oh!
05:54 It's beautiful.
05:55 This is the brown-spotted grouper.
05:58 You can see that some of the skin
05:59 has started to break apart
06:00 as it's beginning to cook.
06:01 The fat on this side has started to render
06:04 into those little droplets over the top.
06:06 It's boiling.
06:08 Oh!
06:09 Whoa!
06:11 "Ching jing" in English,
06:12 the direct translation is "clean steaming."
06:15 The idea is to express what the fish is all about
06:18 and nothing more.
06:19 So everything on top of it, minimalist.
06:21 No ginger, because it takes over
06:24 the natural, fresh flavor of the fish.
06:26 Only scallions, steamed fish, seasoned soy sauce
06:29 that is proprietary to the restaurant,
06:31 although it's sweeter than regular light soy sauce,
06:33 and then just hot oil
06:34 to bring out those aromatics of that scallion,
06:37 a little bit of a dance
06:38 with the flesh of the fish itself.
06:40 Look at that collagen, the shininess of the skin.
06:44 You don't smell fishiness at all.
06:46 You just smell the aromatics
06:48 down the middle where that bone is.
06:51 This is the back. That's the belly portion.
06:54 Usually the nicest cut is gonna be here
06:57 for the leaner meat
06:58 and the fattier meat down here.
06:59 You see how, like, individual pieces
07:01 all come out immediately?
07:02 Like grains of rice, just individual little flakes.
07:05 By the way, this is my dad.
07:08 This is the person who taught me how to cook
07:10 and, importantly, the biggest proponent
07:12 of steamed fish I know.
07:14 This is your favorite dish, right?
07:15 Yes.
07:16 In all of Cantonese cooking.
07:17 It's nice to see you.
07:18 Thank you.
07:19 Let me know what you think.
07:21 Not fishy at all.
07:25 Not fishy at all.
07:31 Really firm flesh.
07:32 Like it's been swimming around a lot.
07:34 Which it has because it's wild.
07:36 Fish cheeks.
07:37 Yes.
07:38 Not only is it gonna be tender,
07:39 it's also going to be cohesive in one piece.
07:42 Every time we go out to dinner,
07:44 we take out this piece,
07:45 give it to the person you love the most.
07:47 Mmm.
07:49 Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.
07:51 You like?
07:52 Okay, humpback grouper.
07:54 This is Chen Tai's favorite.
07:56 Slightly silkier flesh
07:58 and a lot more collagen.
08:00 It's a sticky mouth.
08:01 Oil.
08:02 Ooh.
08:04 Aromatics need hot oil and direct contact
08:08 for them to activate at the correct temperature.
08:10 If we steam with it,
08:11 we wouldn't get this flavor
08:12 and we wouldn't get that wave of smells.
08:15 Here's the soul.
08:16 Nice, fatty, thin flesh.
08:19 Totally different from the grouper.
08:21 Ooh.
08:23 Ah.
08:25 Last one.
08:27 This is the knife jaw.
08:29 Spotted knife jaw.
08:30 One of the best ways to enjoy steamed seafood
08:33 and steamed fish in particular
08:34 is with a nice bowl of rice.
08:36 That fattiness and that oil that comes off of the fish
08:39 is gonna mix with the soy sauce
08:42 and any of the juices that came off of the fish
08:44 on top of rice.
08:45 It feels like the essence of the dish.
08:48 These four types of fish are all very different.
08:51 The soul is all about silkiness,
08:54 slipperiness because of its fattiness.
08:57 Creamy, silky, buttery.
09:01 You know why French people like pan-frying this in butter.
09:03 It's because the fish itself has that flavor.
09:06 The knife jaw is all about firmness.
09:10 The flesh is more dense.
09:13 Cooked to the same degree,
09:15 but it's got bite.
09:18 It's got chew.
09:21 Now, Chanthai's favorite.
09:24 Oh, yeah.
09:25 This favorite is very good.
09:27 Which one is the best?
09:30 She knows her stuff.
09:32 It's sticky.
09:33 It almost sticks to your teeth a little bit.
09:35 The edge near the fin,
09:37 a little bit like small tender grains of rice.
09:41 And it's got fattiness.
09:43 It's very well-balanced with the intense fish flavor.
09:47 Everything about the clean steam technique
09:51 is about minimalism because we know the fish is delicious
09:55 and fresh in and of itself.
09:57 Whenever we talk about the cooking steamed fish,
10:01 half of the battle, if not most of the battle,
10:04 is picking the right fish.
10:05 And you can only pick the right fish in the right place.
10:08 Here at A Bei Jiao, we travel a minimum distance.
10:11 One floor up, and they will steam it for you.
10:13 It's all about proximity and the lay of the land.
10:17 You can't eat like this anywhere else in the world.
10:21 Yes.
10:22 So, that was Chanthang Gei in the A Bei Jiao fish market.
10:27 Now, on to the next.
10:30 [music]
10:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]