Pre-Cooked Food in Supermarkets in China

[liuzhou]

Following my posting a supermarket bought roast rabbit in the Dinner topic, @Anna N expressed her surprise at my local supermarkets selling such things just like in the west supermarkets sell rotisserie chickens. I promised to photograph the pre-cooked food round these parts.

I can't identify them all, so have fun guessing!

Rabbit

 

Chicken x 2

 

 

 

Duck

 

 

 

Chicken feet

 

Duck Feet

 

Pig's Ear

 

 

Pork Intestine Rolls

 

 

Stewed River Snails

 

Stewed Duck Feet (often served with the snails above)

 

Beef

 

Pork

 

Beijing  Duck gets its own counter.

 

More pre-cooked food to come. Apologies for some bady lit images - I guess the designers didn't figure on nosy foreigners inspecting the goods and disseminating pictures worldwide.

Edited April 11, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[chromedome]

LOL I had difficulties getting the locals to try lamb...I can just imagine their response to "pig intestine rolls."

[Duvel]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

LOL I had difficulties getting the locals to try lamb...I can just imagine their response to "pig intestine rolls."

You sell them in Canada as sausages ...

[weinoo]

The larger Asian supermarkets here (H Mart, NY Mart, Mitsuwa, a few others) I've visited, be they geared toward Korean, Chinese, or Japanese clientele (I don't see much in the Vietnamese and Thai markets, but they are much smaller), also have large sections where cooked food can be purchased.  I always find the food to be less than great, but taking home a duck, chicken or some roast pork to the be reinterpreted into another dish works fine.  The meats and poultry tends to be, shall we say, well-cooked. The less said about precooked garbage fish (I'm looking at you farmed tilapia and farmed everything), the better.

 

Another "ethnic" supermarket chain with a giant prepared food section is Russian - the Net Cost markets.

 

Let's face it though - ready-to-eat foods are not all that new here either. Whole Foods and before them, health-food stores (god, i hate that term) always had sections devoted to it. Sure, river snails may not be on the menu, but I'll bet it's not that easy to find meatloaf and mashed potatoes to take home in @liuzhou's city.

[Anna N]

Thank you, @liuzhou. 
Even in the Asian stores that I have visited only pork, duck and chicken seem to be given the rotisserie/grilled treatment.  Mind you I may have missed something. My eyes are always drawn to the half pig!  It is always cooked to perfection whereas the poultry seems to be cooked to near desiccation. I am envious of your choices. 

[liuzhou]

56 minutes ago, weinoo said:

I always find the food to be less than great, but taking home a duck, chicken or some roast pork to the be reinterpreted into another dish works fine.

 

They do a good job here. They have to. No one has an oven at home, so there is really no way to get roasted meats other  than the supermarkets or sometimes markets. And Chinese shoppers are demanding. If the meat were over or undercooked, the vendors wouldn't last long.

I've had excellent birds and pork from them.

Edited April 11, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[weinoo]

3 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

They do a good job here. They have to. No one has an oven at home, so there is really no way to get roasted meatsother  than the supermarkets or sometimes markets. And Chinese shoppers are demanding. If the meat were over or undercooked, they wouldn't last long.

I've had excellent birds and pork from them.

 

The birds and pork are definitely what I limit my buying to here. Ducks are usually pretty damn great. Often, the chickens (well, certain styles) are actually cooked less than many people who grew up with their mother's over cooked chickens like. I like them; my wife doesn't.

 

But if you're saying that that beef doesn't look overcooked...

[weinoo]

Couple of interesting articles on that prepared food section in American supermarkets...

 

https://www.cheatsheet.com/culture/the-gross-truth-about-the-prepared-foods-section-at-the-grocery-store.html/

 

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/ready-meals-market

 

https://progressivegrocer.com/outlook-grocery-prepared-foods-remains-strong

 

 

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, weinoo said:

 

But if you're saying that that beef doesn't look overcooked...

 

It isn't totally overcooked. The colour is from a soy sauce marinade.

 

That said, the Chinese do not eat rare or even medium meats. It causes immediate death! So they are happy with the wellish done meat. It isn't leather overcooked.

 

[weinoo]

36 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

It isn't totally overcooked. The colour is from a soy sauce marinade.

 

That said, the Chinese do not eat rare or even medium meats. It causes immediate death! So they are happy with the wellish done meat. It isn't leather overcooked.

 

 

I remember you mentioning that previously. Funny how chicken can be rare-ish (at least looking rare-ish) without fear of death!! And I think you mentioned sushi is also deadly.

[weinoo]

I don't know if it's a loss leader or what, but I can pretty much buy a cooked duck at a Chinese supermarket (or restaurant, for the matter) for the same price (or less than) a duck needing to be cooked. Limiting that to a roasted duck, not a specially prepared one.

 

Not so with the chicken, pork, etc.

[liuzhou]

2 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

And I think you mentioned sushi is also deadly.

 

Nah. They've taken to sushi. (In fact, there is strong evidence that it originated in China.)

[heidih]

Not so much here in big Chinese markets. Biggest draw is you buy - we fry fish. Chinatown is different story. 

[liuzhou]

There are two supermarkets about equidistant from my home - both within an eight minute walk. Today, I went to the other one (I often go to both as they have different things).

 

Today's choice has all the same birds, pork, snails etc I posted above but also:
 

Fried Noodles (made to order). Various Types

Fried Rice (complete with Devil's Droppings!)

 

They have a wide range of Dim Sum items including these dumplings. I could have taken a lot more pictures of these if it weren't for the hundreds of ancient crones mobbed round the display area. They are the most aggressive people on the planet!

I did manage this one, though.

粽子 (zòng zi). Glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaf and steamed. They come with various ingredients in addition to the rice. These were 板栗肉粽 (bǎn lì ròu zòng) chestnut zongzi.

 

Pork and rice stuffed tofu puffs

 

Prepared salads (Note: These are all cooked.)

 

艾葉粑 (ài yè bā) - mugwort cakes

发糕 (fà gāo - Brown Sugar Cake

[Anna N]

25 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Fried Rice (complete with Devil's Droppings!)

Devil’s Droppings?

[liuzhou]

4 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Devil’s Droppings?

Look closely! Those yellow droplets aren't egg!

C@rn!

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, liuzhou said:

Look closely! Those yellow droplets aren't egg!

C@rn!

Ah. Eyesight challenging these days. Missed those. 

[rotuts]

interesting point about the Ancient Crones 

 

exactly the same here.

 

they all seem to be wearing the same padded jacket

 

and are very aggressive at the ( service ) meat counter.

 

if you are polite , you will never get served.

 

fortunately , they are pint sized it seems

 

about 1/2 my height.

 

easy to gently move aside.