On Sunday Jeffrey and I visited one of my favorite grocery stores in the city. New May Wah is located on Clement St. in the Richmond district and has one of the largest selections of Asian foods that I have ever seen. More importantly however is myriad of fresh vegetables, meat and fish that they carry at VERY affordable prices. When it comes to recession cooking, this is the place to shop. Honestly however, I think their selection is so amazing that I shop at New May Wah frequently - recession or no recession.
I went with one thing in mind, I wanted to make black bean soup with the ham hocks that I purchased from another favorite Asian grocery store Pacific Supermarket. The aisles however got the best of me and I found myself roaming up and down and oogling all of the products, sauces, beans and things we do not have in our "regular" grocery stores. Then it appeared, a bag of pearly barley and my mind took me back to a restaurant in Pittsburgh that has the best barley soup. Snatching them up I quickly dialed Jeffrey's mother for her thoughts on how I should make the soup and I was on a mission.
Her wisdom came quickly and she advised making a broth from the hocks using carrot, celery, onion, a bay leaf and peppercorns. Cook it for a while and then add your barley. I hurried to the fresh veggies and gathered what I needed, but the Shitakes stopped me dead in my tracks and so I snatched those up too (they were only $2.79 a lb. -- NO LIE).
Making our way to the meat department Jeffrey spotted a chicken carcass display. $0.59 for a chicken carcass? What? A can of broth costs more than that. We knew immediately what needed to be done. We grabbed four. Three for chicken stock and one to put into my soup. An important lesson that I have learned while shopping at Asian groceries is that they use every part of the animal in food preparation. I've seen lamb testicles, pork uterus, fresh blood... Seriously. This was the first time I saw a carcass display and it was truly a thing of very affordable beauty.
I highly encourage you to break your regular stride and discover new places to shop. If you are in the Bay Area and looking for a place to shop you will find a list of Asian groceries here.
I also suggest you try this soup.
- 1 very large stock pot
- 5-6 ham hocks
- 1 chicken carcass or collection of chicken bones
- 4 medium carrots
- 4 celery stalks
- 2 medium onions
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp peppercorns
- 2 cups of pearly barley
- 4 cups of Shitake mushrooms, cut into strips
- Kosher salt
Place the ham hocks, chicken carcass, 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks,1 onion (remove skin and chop in half) and the bay leaf and peppercorns into the stock pot. Cover with water, add about 4 additional cups of water and cook on medium heat until the liquid has reduced by half (2-3 hours). About 30-45 minutes into cooking you should skim the top of the soup removing the foamy muck that presents itself during the cooking process.
While the broth is cooking clean the remaining veggies and dice into small pieces. Cut the mushrooms into strips. Set aside.
Once the liquid has reduced, remove from the heat and strain the broth into another pot. Remove the ham hocks and chop off the cooked meat. Add the meat, veggies, mushrooms and barley to the pot with the stock and cook until the barley is tender.
Taste the soup and add salt as desired.
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