Friday, August 22, 2008

Canning Vale Markets




To market, to market, to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again, jig-a-de-jig.

So goes the nursery rhyme that invades my head every time we make the family pilgrimage to the
Canning Vale Markets at Market City each weekend. I'm having a bit of a love affair with them at the moment. Not only for their unparalleled freshness when compared to supermarket-bought produce, but for their gob smacking value (read: cheapness), too.

This morning, for instance, we visited the butcher's. Not your normal butcher, mind, but cases and cases of fresh meat with every conceivable cut prepared in every conceivable fashion. Ten frantic staff ran up and down the aisle serving a crowd that was permanently three-deep. With all that selection, it was difficult for a carnivore to decide. In the end we were overwhelmed and bought 500gm of fresh lamb mince for $2.00, and a blade of sirloin for $26 that had a deep, almost purplish hue when sliced into and enough marbling to rival Wagyu. We got ten rich, tender steaks out of it - that's $2.60 per steak! We passed on the stash of whole giant hog's heads sheathed in tight clingfilm. I could not even begin to fathom the prep it would take (remove eyes, eyelashes, ears and brains. Machete into four equal pieces..). Nope.

The fish market is also excellent. There's nothing like fresh whole fish packed in ice to swell a crowd and expand the cooking repertoire. Last week we bought two red perch for $7.00 (but ask for it to be scaled and gutted or, like me, you too will have a job on your hands) which tasted so sweet it reminded us of fresh marron. This week we bought four garfish for $9.00. If anyone knows of any good recipes, do let me know.



Oh, and give the bakery a miss. It's crap.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your fish eye winked at me...I swear, it is such a clear pic...WOW.
I'm in Perth too, never made the packed lunch trek to the CV markets, but now will just have to!

Published articles and pics by Jenny Susanto-Lee said...

Hi Tenina,

It always easier to photograph things when they're immobilised in ice!

Markets are great. I wih we had more of them.

Anonymous said...

I've been looking for a pigs head for a while, and now I know where to go. Thank you!

daphne said...

I adore the canning vale markets! Such great value and freshness!!

Published articles and pics by Jenny Susanto-Lee said...

Tom - I'm glad it helped someone out. Def look forward to seeing your recipe on it and - gulop - pics!

Daphne- I know! I'm completely hooked