chinese condiment shop 醬油鋪

For most Western cities Chinese cuisine is often poorly represented or outright altered to please the sweet palate. Similar to many Asian countries Chinese cuisine employs a wide variety of cooking condiments. In truth I am at a lost to find a better word than condiment. Condiment typically refer to sauce or sauce-like substance that you added to cooked food as enhancements. In China there are shops that sell a variety of condiments. While some are used as condiments as the word's original meaning, most are used for cooking. They are called joun yau po 醬油鋪 - meaning sauce and oil shop poorly translated.

I came across the biggest one in Beijing a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I didn't take any photo of it.



The Chinese joun yau po 醬油鋪 typically sells cooking oil, all types of fermented soy based food stuff, and pickled and salted. Some are modest in size but some can have mind boggling amount of varieties from different regions of China. Instead of selling everything in a container the shop would sell the condiments in bulk, often in very small quantity enough for the customer to prepare a meal. With the ravage of modern time where labor is prohibitively expensive and all but a few of these joun yau po 醬油鋪 had vanished. Replaced them are the rows of cans and bottles of condiments in Asian supermarkets. The customers are forced to buy in large quantity that often goes to waste after languishing in the refrigerator for months or years. Worst yet are the proliferation of new wonder sauces that promise to make you an instant chef just by pouring copious of the sauce on top. Most of these sauce is laden with sugar and MSG.

I encounter this modest size joun yau po 醬油鋪 near Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. The owner let me take pictures after I ask him politely. Most of the condiments sold in the shop are made in their own factory in the town of Sheung Shui 上水 in the New Territories.

sign of a third party review comparing different brands of soy sauce including the shop's brand

 pickled condiments in bulk

 sweeten cucumber - mainly for cooking

pickled young ginger - this is like the Japanese pickled ginger you found in sushi shops; used as condiment or cooking

pickled old ginger that is quite sweet and sour - it is used to make sweet and sour braised pig trotters and eggs in shell eaten by pregnant women.

 sweeten zucchini and and other vegetable - mainly used for cooking with fish or fish head

 this is an assortment of sweeten vegetables like cucumber and zucchini - also used for cooking

 sour plums - it is very sour and salty and is used for cooking

 salted lemon - it is very sour and salty and is used for cooking

 pickled spring onion head - as condiment and for cooking with

 red pickled ginger - i think again it is used for cooking

 sour bamboo shoots - it is very sour and salty for cooking (like steamed carp head)

Now we move on to the pastes.

This is a paste made of fermented soy quite like Japanese miso. This one is a dark variety and is used often to make braise brisket or cow entrails.

 sesame paste - used as condiment or for cooking

 i have no idea what this one is and the name on the lid is no help for me

hoi sin sauce - contrary to perception in the West that it is for eating seafood with, I have never seen it eaten with seafood in Chinese food in Hong Kong or China
red bean curd - it is a fermented soy product; the red one is mainly used for cooking; there is a white one in smaller cubes intended for eating (with a plain bowl of rice)

i use the red bean curd to make braised briskets used in this bowl of beef soup noodle

fermented soy bean sauce (like miso) but with some beans in whole instead of ground up mixed with chili peppers - use mainly for cooking

another type of miso - this one is red and made with ground soy bean so it is called ground bean paste 磨豉

another miso with whole soy beans - Japanese miso also is available in different shades of darkness for different dishes

 the signs say everything here are made in their own factory in Sheung Shui 上水 and is freshly arrive daily

small pre-packaged bags of condiments tied with old school dried straws called 鹽水草 (meaning salt water straw); even in Hong Kong fresh produce market you seldom see their use now

 

they also sell cured meat products like cured duck and pork sausages - collectively these are called lap mei 腊味

Many dishes in Chinese uses condiments like these but even in Hong Kong a lot of younger people have little encounter with them. Even chefs in restaurant may know and use only very few. What you see in this shop are mostly those commonly used in the province of Guangdong. Stay tuned for more.