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Commonly used fish in Chinese restaurants...

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  1. #1

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    Commonly used fish in Chinese restaurants...

    I know a few of the regulars have some connections with the Chinese restaurant trade and I suspect there are a fair few knowledgable people here who might be able to answer this question that has been bugging me for the last few weeks.

    What is the commonly used fish in chinese restaurants? Typically get a very decent fish at my local takeaway near work served up with sweet&sour / black bean sauce. $40 dish with a very decent amount of fish in it. I cannot seem to find anything of similar quality and I assume in the $20 / lb price range in the super markets or at the meat vendors we normally use.

    The closest we can find is some random frozen fish from the wholesale market in Western. Cannot figure out the name as someone else buys that for us.

    Is there something specific I need to be asking or looking for?


  2. #2

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    The usual suspects featured in a Hong Kong banquet venue or holding tank of any proclaimed "seafood restaurant" almost always fall into the following: (Google for images)

    flatfishes: dover sole, flounder, halibut

    grouper

    sea bass

    striped bass, largemouth bass

    walleye pike, northern pike (North American fish, so not sure if they reach asia)

    They tend to have a white flakey flesh and are commonly steamed with ginger, scallion and/or blackbean sauce. Often regarded as premium choices, I'd doubt many of the above would be filleted into a $40hkd sweet & sour take-out dish.

    Tai O - Steamed Tiger Grouper - Foodspotting

    Imported frozen cod or Pollack fillets might very well be used in an inexpensive sweet & sour entrée. Worldwide consumption of McDonald's fish fillet sandwich jeopardized cod so they switched to Pollack years ago. Figuring the industrial scale at harvesting this sustainable-ish fish, it might be a possible candidate that may reach as far as the HK kitchen.

    As you didn't complain about the level of boney-ness in the fillets, I'll rule out snakehead (burbot) or Asian carp. These latter two are popular in the mainland, but it's a veritable bone gauntlet to all but the seasoned aficionados... carps in general can sometimes have a 'muddy' flavor to boot.

    Skimming through a variety of sweet & sour fish recipes, there are calls for using sea bass, halibut, or cod.

    rani and shri like this.

  3. #3

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    Probably pangasius. Freshwater fish from VN, easy to farm, very cheaply available frozen. And basically the mozzarella of fishes - pretty neutral taste, lends itself to all kinds of sauces.
    Disclaimer - I have no clue about local restaurants. Could be chicken for all I know


  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by er2:
    Probably pangasius. Freshwater fish from VN, easy to farm, very cheaply available frozen. And basically the mozzarella of fishes - pretty neutral taste, lends itself to all kinds of sauces.
    Disclaimer - I have no clue about local restaurants. Could be chicken for all I know
    That one is vile... Vietnam Sole(?)

  5. #5

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    FYI, I from my bookmarks.

    HK Fish Net - Wholesale Prices


  6. #6

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    Vile in what sense? Taste is fine. Fish farming conditions might be atrocious but I guess that's the case with any animal-based food you buy for 40hkd/dish. And while there are all kinds of horror stories about contamination etc with fish from VN, I doubt that it would get past EU food inspectors at the scale that it is important if that was a wide-spread issue.


  7. #7

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    I would go with pangasius as well, certainly here the freezer section of tge supermarkets are full to the gills with it (under the name cream dory). Fine with sauces, I frequently have it sweet and sour. Cheap.