Hong Kong Food & Culture: 2nd Edition

336 Pages·2021·66.707 MB·English

by  Adele Wong

HONG KONG
FOOD
FOOD
CULTURE
&
2ND EDITION
HONG KONG
FOOD
FOOD
& CULTURE
2nd Edition
Hong Kong Food & Culture: 2nd Edition
Author: Adele Wong
Translator : Chan Sin Yan
Editor: Sean Hebert (1st Edition)
Creative Directors: Jenna Li, Edmund Ip (1st Edition)
Proofreaders: Edwin Liem, Diane Dang (1st Edition)
Photographer: Alan Pang
Recipes Creator: Blackie Hui
Copyright © 2020 Man Mo Media Limited. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying,
recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without
the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other
non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission
requests, write to the publisher at [email protected].
2nd Edition: 2020
Printed in China, Published in Hong Kong

1st Edition: 2016
ISBN 978-988-77560-3-3
www.manmomedia.com
PING YUM
PRONUNCIATION
NASAL SOUNDS
GUIDE
Mm - hmmm
We have developed our own
Cantonese pronunciation guide that
VOWELS / FINALS
doesn’t follow Jyutping, Yale or any
other official romanization system.
Ah - papa Eet - neat with U - close to lewd
Our goal is to spell out the Cantonese silent t
Ahm - arm Uck - yuck with
words in the simplest, most intuitive (British pronunciation) Eh - ever silent k
way possible via the English alphabet. Ahn - Cannes Em - Emulate Uht - close to put
It’s not exactly foolproof or scientific, Ahng - Angkor Eng - sang Un - sun
but we hope it’ll make your Cantonese Ahp - cap Ep - leprosy with Ui - fengshui (or oeil
silent p in French)
learning journey easier. We’re Aht - at with silent t
Une - close to
unoffically calling it the Ping Yum Ahk - black with
immune
silent k Ick - sick with
(拼音 ping3 yum1) system.
silent k Urk - lurk with
Ai - bite, bike
silent k
Ing - sing
Ao - cow
Ute - close to mute
Iu - pew
Au - ouch, out with silent t
Aw - saw Uhn - duh, with an n
O / Oh - so, toe ending
Awn - lawn, dawn
Ohng - don’t with Um - sum, lum
Awng - Hong Kong
CONSONANTS silent g ending Un - sun, run
Awk - hawk with
Oo - boo, woo
silent k Ung - sung
Oon - spoon
B - but, boy Gw - gwen Awt - hot with silent t Up - pup with silent p
Ook - cook with
P - pat, pig Kw - quick Ay - hay Ur - fur
silent k
M - mom, man W - wait Utt - but with a silent t
Oot - boot
F - fan, fun Eck - beck with silent k with silent t
J - close to jay Ee - key Ooi - phooey Ye - bye, rye
(between dz and zh) (said quickly)
D - dog Eem - seem, team
Ch - church Oy - toy, soy
T - tomorrow Een - seen
Urng - Church with
N - no, nanny Eep - peep with silent g ending
L - luck, lot S - sand, so silent p
Y - you, yawn
G - go
Cantonese is a very tonal language. In fact, every word in Cantonese can
K - cat
be attributed to a note/note blend on the western classical major scale.
H - how
TONE 1 2 3 4 5 6
(same as
mi do-re do so ti-do ti
Jyutping)
A lthough I was born in Hong Kong, my Fast forward to today. These pages in front of you are
family emigrated to Toronto in the my attempt at rediscovering a heritage that I hadn’t
early 90s. I was still a child then, and really lost, but at the same time never had a chance
effectively spent my formative years to fully grasp while growing up abroad. And what
in a completely different environment than that of better way to learn about Hong Kong, than through
my native city. its rich culinary offerings?
Children absorb culture and languages like sponges. The story of Hong Kong can be found in humble
My English soon became better than my Cantonese, cha chaan teng restaurants, old-school dim sum
and my favorite foods changed from deep-fried houses, colorful wet markets, classic herbal tea
fish balls from a hawker cart in Rennie’s Mill village shops. It’s told by local butchers, street food hawkers,
(present-day Tiu Keng Leng), to baked potatoes third-generation noodle-makers continuing their
with butter and chives. grandparents’ legacy.
To make sure we didn’t completely lose our roots, Hong Kong’s Cantonese connection and its colonial
my parents sent my sister and I to Chinese classes past can be glimpsed from a simple bowl of macaroni
every Friday night, and made fried rice for our school noodle soup. Hongkongers’ holistic approach to
lunches. But over time, my Cantonese just got health is embodied in a glass of cooling five-flower
worse, and I began to appreciate a slice of pizza tea. The city’s coastal advantage can be easily gleaned
more than a bowl of double-boiled pork bone soup. via its citizens’ love of seafood, both dried and fresh.
And on and on and on.
When I relocated back to Hong Kong for a work
opportunity, I experienced a huge dose of reverse This second edition of the book is essentially the same
culture shock. The city where I was born had become as the first, but with minor corrections and updates.
something foreign. The towering skyscrapers, the Some establishments we had interviewed have since
bustling alleyways, the crowded tables at the dai pai sadly closed — but their stories remain as powerful
dong stalls all felt overwhelming. and poignant as ever.
Adele Wong
Author
Overview 8
Classic Dishes and Essential Ingredients 14
Sauces, Oils, Pastes and Condiments 34
Rice, Noodles, Dumplings 64
Local Restaurants 100
Wet Market Culture 140
Street Food Culture 164
Dim Sum and Tea Culture 188
Traditional Chinese Medicine 212
Herbs, Spices, Preserved Goods 232
Food for Every Occasion 266
Dining Etiquette 288
Cooking Techniques 298
Tableware, Utensils and Cooking Equipment 316
REFERENCES 336

OOvveerrvviieeww
of
HONG KONG
CUISINE
9

H ong Kong (香港 hurng1 gawng2) Cantonese (廣東話 gwawng2 dohng1 wah2), in
(“fragrant harbor”) is a collection of contrast to China’s official language of Putonghua
beautiful islands and mountainous (普通話 po2 tohng1 wah2) (“common tongue”).
terrains in southeast China. The city In fact, many Chinese food terms that have been
once belonged to Guangdong province translated into English originate from Cantonese.
(廣東省 gwawng2 dohng1 sahng2), a coastal Words like wok (鑊 wawk6), wonton (雲吞 wun4
landmass that faces the South China Sea and borders tun1) and dim sum (點心 deem2 sum1) are just a
Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangxi to the north, east few examples.
and west. Currently, Hong Kong is an autonomously
governed region with its own set of laws. To really Cantonese cuisine (粤菜 yute6 choy3) refers to the
cuisine that comes out of Guangdong province, and
understand its unique position in the Greater China
is considered one of eight major Chinese culinary
narrative, it is necessary to take a step back and look
styles — alongside the cuisines of Sichuan, Anhui,
at the city’s historical and geographical influences.
Zhejiang, Shandong, Hunan, Fujian and Jiangsu.
Hong Kong started out as a humble fishing village In short: China is a country with a rich and diverse
blessed with a few rice paddies — a big contrast culinary history that dates back thousands of years,
to the skyscrapers and concrete jungle that we and Cantonese cuisine is one prominent piece of
see today. the whole.

Cantonese cuisine in general is known for its seafood-
To its north is Guangzhou (廣州 gwawng2 jau1)
based dishes (both fresh and dried), its reliance on
(formerly Canton), the capital city of Guangdong.
sauces, its roast meats, and its dim sum. Broadly
Guangzhou was a trading port for foreign merchants
speaking, Cantonese cuisine also emcompasses
in the late-17th to the mid-19th century, and at
a few distinct regional styles — like the intense
one point, it was the only official port of entry for
European traders, under a setup known as the flavors of Chaozhou (潮州 chiu4 jau1) city, and the
Canton System (一口通商 yutt1 hau2 tohng1 surng1). simple homey dishes of the Hakka people (客家
hahk3 gah1) who inhabited different parts of China,
A significant portion of the population in Guangdong including Guangdong. While Cantonese cuisine is
province speaks a Chinese language known as the undisputed backbone of Hong Kong cuisine, and
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