Catch, Cook, Serve: Hong Kong’s Legendary One-Stop Fish Market

[Chef Lucas] Ooh.

[steam hissing]

Oh. [steam hissing]

We're taking a ferry from Ap Lei Chau to Aberdeen.

Aberdeen is known for one of the largest fish markets,

[speaks in foreign language]

But outside, there's a little bit of a dawn market

where individual mom and pop fishermen

will go and catch fish.

They'll bring them back and they'll sell it,

right on the side of the harbor.

[people speaking in foreign language]

Okay, so there's a large scale fish markets,

mostly speaking.

You can get fish that is imported

or brought from elsewhere further away.

If you want the fish that's actually caught in the harbor,

usually slightly smaller,

but certainly caught by mom and pop individual operators,

this is where you go.

Basically, like a street market

and whatever they get that day.

If you come here on our recommendation,

you don't get what you want, too bad.

The quality of the catch is dependent

as most fishermen know on at hundred things.

It could be weather, it could be skill,

but it also could be the mood of the fishermen,

whether they have a doctor's appointment

and they're rushing to get back.

This is just what...

I mean, that's life, right?

Our friend, Shantai, runs a little restaurant

where they steam fish for you.

They cook the fish for you, and we're gonna go meet her

'cause she's showing us a little bit.

You take a look down here,

you have to fight for this space next to this railing,

and you look at what's fresh.

You ask them what's fresh, they give you a price.

[Chef Lucas speaks in foreign language]

[fisherman speaks in foreign language]

[Chef Lucas laughs]

That's the transaction, fish and the net, money,

and the net, it comes back down.

So, [speaks in foreign language].

[fisherman speaks in foreign language]

[Chef Lucas speaks in foreign language]

In English, we're gonna call this brownspotted grouper.

That's the best catch of the day.

Now they're butchering our fish on the boat.

Our grouper at the back,

he's gonna split it down the middle.

He's taking off all of the scales.

He's also ripping off the gills

and any of the intestines inside

because all of that stuff is fishy.

So when you steam the fish,

you're really only eating the flesh.

It's a big fish.

[speaks in foreign language]

The question might be, what are we doing going to a market

because we normally just cover the cooking.

Here's the thing,.

Cantonese people care about steamed fish.

That's what we're talking about today.

And for steamed fish, half of the battle,

if not the majority of the battle is picking the right fish.

We're gonna get a couple more in the street market itself,

above which, Shantai has a restaurant called Chan Sun Kee.

[footsteps thudding]

Okay, now welcome to the Ap Lei Chau fish market,

the seafood market.

Let me tell you how this sort of works.

These are Hong Kong's indoor wet markets.

So each one of these stalls

is going to be either own business,

and usually it's set up into multiple zones.

You see the meat over here, tofu goods over there.

But here today, we're here for the fresh seafood.

The important thing when you enter a seafood market

is to identify what type of business

and what type of stall they have.

The fresh catch seafood stalls.

That water, when you see it,

is gonna be a little bit muddier

and the variety is going to be a little bit more diverse

because it honestly is what they catch that day.

Let's go over here to some other stalls.

So here is one of Shantai's favorite fish to steam.

It's called a humpback grouper.

[speaks in foreign language]

[Shantai speaks in foreign language]

[Chef Lucas] Really silky smooth.

[Shantai speaks in foreign language]

And really high in gelatin so that after you eat it,

your mouth should feel a little bit sticky.

[Shantai speaks in foreign language]

[Chef Lucas speaks in foreign language]

That is sole.

Obviously, French people love this

roasted, pan fried in butter, nice and fatty

'cause it doesn't move that much.

First-

[Shantai speaks in foreign language]

We have our grouper from before.

We're gonna get a humpback grouper as well,

and then we're gonna get that sole.

Nice different textures to show you.

Let's get one more.

I wanna see all the textures and B is footing the bill

so, let's get one more.

If you're asking, is this fish fresh?

The speed at which they swim, if they're moving around more,

if they're not floating on their sides,

that's usually a good sign for good fish.

So this fish, super [grunts] lively.

It's more meaty fish compared to the sole that we bought.

So, we're just seeing it for texture.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay,

That's everything.

We're gonna go upstairs to Chan Sun Kee

and ask them to cook it for us.

What we're expecting, different textures,

similar steaming method.

Into the kitchen.

This is the little kitchen that they cook in.

Shantai's husband is the chef here.

There's a little wok for stir fries,

there's a little steamer

for the steamed fish, obviously, and soup.

Fish rinsed in cold water to get as much of that blood out.

That blood, those guts,

that's the fishiness and that's the gaminess.

So she's rinsing it very, very well

under cold running water to scrape up any little bit

that the butcher might have missed.

Grouper is one of the most famous

and well-known types of fish here in Hong Kong.

People prize it for its color, for its look,

as well as the flakiness of its flesh.

Keep in mind that this fish that we have today

was caught this morning, butchered a couple of minutes ago.

Now, it's going directly into the steamer.

After it's been rinsed and cleaned,

and it's gonna be prepped and steamed directly

on top of the plate that we're going to eat it on.

A little bit of salt is rubbed on.

Just a little bit of seasoning.

The fat's going to go on the side just so that

when this steams, it's going to render out a little bit.

Directly into the roaring hot steel steamer,

Chef says, going to take about 15 minutes.

There is a difference

in the bottom steamer and the top steamer

in terms of the velocity of the steam itself.

[Speaker] I heard you're bring a special guest?

My dad might stop by. He loves fish.

He also taught me how to steam fish

so can't do this episode without him.

[people chattering]

Whoa.

[videographer speaks indistinctly]

Whoa. Yay!

[Chef Lucas speaks in foreign language]

This is the brownspotted grouper.

You can see that some of the skin has started to break apart

as it's beginning to cook.

The fat on this side has started to render

into those little droplets over the top.

[Chef Lucas speaks in foreign language]

[steam hissing]

[Charleston] Oh.

Whoa! [exclaiming]

[speaks in foreign language]

In English, the direct translation is clean steaming.

The idea is to express

what the fish is all about and nothing more.

So everything on top of it, minimalist.

No ginger because it takes over the natural,

fresh flavor of the fish.

Only scallions, steamed fish, seasoned soy sauce

that is proprietary to the restaurant,

though it's sweeter than regular light soy sauce.

And then just hot oil

to bring out those aromatics of that scallion.

A little bit of a dance with the flesh of the fish itself.

Look at that collagen, the shininess of the skin.

You don't smell fishiness at all.

You just smell the aromatics

down the middle where that bone is.

This is the back, that's the belly portion.

Usually the nicest cut is gonna be here for the leaner meat

and the fattier meat down here.

You see how like individual pieces all come out immediately,

like grains of rice, just individual little flakes.

By the way, this is my dad.

This is the person who taught me how to cook,

and importantly, the biggest proponent of steam fish I know.

Yes.

This is your favorite dish, right?

Yes.

In all of Cantonese cooking.

[indistinct] Thank you.

Let me know what you think.

Mm-mm.

[Charleston speaks in foreign language]

[Chef Lucas speaks in foreign language]

[people chattering]

Really firm flesh.

Yes.

Like it's been swimming around a lot,

which it has because it's wild.

Fish cheeks. Yes.

It's not only is it gonna be tender,

it's also going to be cohesive in one piece.

Every time we go out to dinner,

you take out this piece,

give it to the person you love the most.

Mm. [exclaiming]

Wah! Y'all like?

Okay. Humpback grouper.

This is Shantai's favorite.

Slightly silkier flesh

and a lot more collagens with sticky mouth.

Oils. [steam hissing]

[Charleston] Ooh.

Aromatics need hot oil and direct contact

for them to activate at the correct temperature.

If we steam with it, we wouldn't get this flavor

and we wouldn't get that wave of smells.

Here is a sole. Nice fatty thin flesh.

Totally different from the grouper.

[steam hissing]

Ooh. Wow!

[steam hissing]

Last one.

This is the knifejaw. Spotted knifejaw.

One of the best ways to enjoy steamed seafood

and steamed fish in particular, is with a nice bowl of rice.

That fattiness and that oil that comes off of the fish

is gonna mix with the soy sauce

and any of the juices that came off

of the fish on top of rice,

it feels like the essence of the dish.

These four types of fish are all very different.

The sole is all about silkiness slipperiness

because of its fattiness.

Creamy, silky, buttery.

You know why French people like pan frying this in butter?

It's because the fish itself has that flavor.

The knifejaw is all about firmness.

The flesh is more dense, cooked to the same degree,

but it's got bite.

It's got chew.

Now, Shantai's favorite. Oh, yeah.

Oh, the fish favorite is very good.

[Chef Lucas speaks in foreign language]

She knows her stuff. [laughs]

It's sticky. It almost sticks your teeth a little bit.

The edge near the fin,

a little bit like small tender grains of rice,

and it's got fattiness with a very well balanced

with the intense fish flavor.

Everything about the clean steam technique

is about minimalism because we know the fish is delicious

and fresh in and of itself.

Whenever we talk about the cooking steam fish,

half of the battle, if not most of the battle,

is picking the right fish.

And you can only pick the right fish in the right place.

Here at Ap Lei Chau, we travel a minimum distance.

One floor up and they will steam it for you.

And it's all about proximity and the lay of the land.

You can't eat like this anywhere else in the world.

Yes.

So that was Chan Sun Kee, in the Ap Lei Chau fish market.

Now, onto the next.

[people chattering]