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This is one of the things I enjoy doing the most whilst on holiday. I’m certain most of us travelling food lovers feel the same way. So many fascinating things. Seeing how people interact with one another there is just as fascinating to me.
Please do share cool things you see at (super)markets on your travels, be it domestic or international. There are always new things I/we can learn.
I am posting market photos from my most recent holidays just this past september and october. I shall keep the theme of cheese, meat, veg in this first post. The butcher’s shops are fantastic in all 3 places.
Sheffield, UK.
With some internal organs intact
Not basil
Skhoder, Albania. (in northern Albania)
Seen at one of the butchers
Interesting that Albanians rig okras like this at all the markets
In northern Greece: Kalambaka and Thessaloniki. A lot more “advanced” and clean than in Albania.
Lamb specialist
“Albino” aubergines
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
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Excellent piccies.
And such well priced pigeon in Sheffield (piccie 2). My “pigeon guy” at the farmers market has gone bust, apparently.
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I pay a bit more for the pigeons, packaged by game dealer Bambridge & Sons in Norfork. Maybe you could find an online source in the area that delivers?
One or two butchers (Moor market, Sheffield) had mallards and rabbits complete with fur and everything intact. Are they hung to age or…? There were no price tags on them.
I thought mallards were protected. Then I had a look over at basc.org.uk. They are allowed during hunting season but there’s a limit of course.
Anyhow, I have had wild mallard breast before. Just once. The gamey taste is quite very strong.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
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I’ve got a whole wild mallard and a couple of breasts in the freezer. Both supermarket purchases.
Yes, I’d presume the fur-on beasts were being hung for ageing
By the by, your first photo has some good cheeses in it. Top left, you seem to have the genuine article by way of Wensleydale. Top right, the Isle of Mull Cheddar is a “proper” farmhouse cheese. At the bottom, Wigmore, another farmhouse cheese but a bit mild for my tastes
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One of my favorite things to do too! I wish I were more organized and had my pictures ready, but I could’ve spent all day at La Boqueria in Barcelona. That place is heaven!!
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Just a few from a small market near my lodging.
Cheap plonk. The most expensive wine is a little over eur.6,-. Names of wine regions are written on cardboards. Hungary has many wine growing regions and they all produce certain wines in them.
Rendered fats of goose, duck or pig. I always get mine from the Hungarian at the market. I don’t think Hungarians ever cook with other fats such as vegetable oil or olive oil.
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Central Market. So very mesmerising, especially the butchers and cured meat stalls. I notice the butchers do sell some cured meats but the cured meat stalls only sell cured and smoked meats.
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Poles are mad about mushrooms and the season is about to start. Eur.50 worth of dried cep mushrooms on the table. A fraction of it would cost me here for the same weight. The caps alone are more expensive than slices. Market stallholder says the caps are more aromatic.
They do have the first fresh ceps now but they need more care to carry in my bag so I didn’t get them. For this kilo price in Poland I get only 100g at home.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
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No photos, I’m afraid, but we return from Norway with our only souvenirs being food related (well, that’s a shock, I hear you think).
The Fish Market is now very much a touristy place with most of the stalls turned into casual cafes, selling seafood related lunches. It did provide us with a tube of locally smoked caviar spread. You’d squeeze it out of the tube onto, say, crackers. Think a salty, fishy spread, the texture of cream cheese.
Another stall provided cloudberry jam
And the farmers market in Flaam turned up reindeer and whale salamis. Yep, a cutesy Christmas animal and an endangered species (probably) - sometimes you just have to say fuck the food ethics.
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I called it “tourists’ fish market”. My experience was more or or less the same as yours. The locals do their shopping at another fish market since it turned touristy. Loved reindeer salamis. Saw it in Finland as well. Reindeer salamis from Lapland of all 4 countries are a speciality.
I’m sure you recognise this: (open-faced) sandwiches. Those you haven’t been, that’s whale meat sandwich on far right.
I was also in Flåm for a couple of days. Astonishingly crowded when cruise ships passengers disembark for a few hours. Brought back a block of locally made sheep’s cheese called Geitost. Rich and unique. Never had such a cheese here.
Karjalanpiirakka - rice pie from the Karelian region, it has a think rye crust with a filling of rice or potato and butter mixed with boiled egg. We have tried both versions, the seller recommended the potato one, I have preferred the rice one. But since they were cold, I didn’t find them very appetizing. I saw in the Bourdain’s show that the pie were like an accompaniment served with a stew in a tradition meal.
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I have photos taken inside this market near the boat terminal. Will post them when I can.
There was no outdoor market when I was there but I had a good looked inside. I think I probably missed the market in the morning or on that day there was no market.
A charcuterie shop I like a lot in Tonneins, Lot-et-Garonne in south-western France.
The shop’s speciality is Sauce de Jambon de Tonneins, Ham from Tonneins. Ham is cooked for 12 hours with salt, pepper, Rabelais spices and a lot of garlic. It is a stew dish for winter, very good with boiled potatoes.
Usually blood sausage is quite floury, but theirs has some other parts of pork, like the cheek or the feet and some tendons plus some vegetables like pickles, the texture is more elastic, and crunchy, I like it more than the traditional blood sausage.
Paté de tête, is my favourite. Similar to blood sausage, this paté of head / cheek has even more pickles, the savoury - acidity and texture is well balanced.
We tried the second charcuterie shop that was also famous for their Jambon de Tonneins, we found it okay but nothing very special, we preferred the one from Carlotti for sure. We bought a lot last Christmas to bring back to Paris in the ice bag with the train. The price was like half or 1/3 of what we find in Paris.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
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That looks very like a product from the Flanders area of the Pas de Calais and across into the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. Sold as “pot jevleesh” in France and “potje vleesh” in Belgium. Uses pork and rabbit, I think. Always traditionally eaten with frites & salad.
It’s usually sold in jars which you decant into a flat bowl to solidify. I usually stock up at the Carrefour in Calais but didnt have time to visit the supermarket last trip.
I have tasted potjevleesh once or twice, as far as I remembered, it was wine based, was conditioned in a pot container and could be served cold out of the jar or reheated. While paté de tête, head cheese in English (I just found out) has to be pork offal - head, cheek, tongue, heart or feet with gelatine as binder with pickles and parsley. I think many European countries have their versions, even the Asian or the American (North or South).
Below was the version we ate in Din Tai Fung, Hong Kong last year.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
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I believe that’s in American English. In English English, we call it brawn.
Translated from the Flemish dialect of Dutch “potje vleesh” is “meat in a pot” or, better, “potted meat”.
I did a search on Google, it didn’t show a lot of results on brawn, I saw one recipe from an English chef James Martin. Is it common to eat this? Or is it too classic that is out of fashion?
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
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Certainly out of fashion, naf.
That said, I’d expect to find it on sale in market halls in the north of England - sold by stalls that sell other sliced cooked meats like ham, corned beef, tongue, etc.
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Brawn is common in much of Europe (since the middle ages). Very common the farther north and east you go. I love it and make sure I eat it when in Germany (several variations and the best of them all).
I still remember being told upon hearing how much I like brawn… “did you know… when Bach was writing his masterpieces all we had to eat was brawn.” (The “we” is now developed countries here in northern Europe)
