I took a photo of all the mooncakes at the market the other day- the bakery i went to had some individual but they were the fillings I don’t like (black bean, or all egg yolk) was hoping for the lotus seed paste kind. The market had several other large displays as well that looked like additional brands and varieties- some boxes were $50!
That photo showed an interesting range, there were some coming from Vietnam as well. All of them were sweet mooncakes. There was egg yolk pies as well, the flaky skin was that of the savoury ones, but the insert was sweet.
If you buy them after the mid-autumn moon festival (which is today), they will sell them for a discount to clear off the remaining stocks.
A lot of dough folding, the result was not the state of art. I think it would be wiser to fold a bigger sheet and cut into individual pieces than folding n times each dough for each cake as stated in the link.
I’m not in chinatown very often now but may have to return for more of those king trumpet mushrooms…! If so i’ll look more closely for a small box of them. Is the Vietnamese kind a different pastry or filling flavors?
I also saw some of the “ice skin” mooncakes, can’t recall the flavor.
They may not be different. Sometime they can have similar and different filling. Based on what I saw on the photo, your store has some are very similar like “egg + nuts”, and some are more different like “durian” and “coconut”. Nevertheless, at this point, a lot of things are merged. I have seen traditional Chinese bakery stores make durian mooncakes. They sometime can still have a different take on the same ingredients. Sort of like a Japanese style pork fried rice is slightly different than a Chinese style pork fried rice. In the big picture, they are not hugely different, but for someone who looks for that specific taste/feel, then it is big enough.
For me, even Shanghai wonton is way different than Cantonese wonton. A New York pizza is not quiet the same as a New Jersey tomato pie. For others, they are the same damn things.
In this shop, the selection of the Vietnamese and the Chinese (on top row) were quite different. As Chem pointed out, the Vietnamese were the durian, mixed nut or coconut with egg yolk, the Chinese lotus seed with yolk. The Vietnamese ice skin cakes were with durian.
By the way, from the gap, I can see more mooncakes the shelf behind…
Yeah. Mooncake with lotus seed paste and 2-3 egg yolk is my go-to mooncake. I didn’t use to like nuts mooncakes. In fact, I dislike them the most. However, after a few trials, I started liking them as well. Cured ham+mixed nuts+egg yolks (雙黃金腿伍仁月).
So many mooncakes… so little time… I am eating my mooncake from San Francisco now. So happy. I am eating one mooncake a day. Do you know what I am saying?
I know. I should have bought more. I used to live near in areas where I can buy good quality mooncakes throughout the years (San Francisco and New York). Yes, wife cake is one of my top favorite Chinese pastry. It is definitely my top 10, possibly top 3. Egg tarts, pineapple buns (similar to melon pan), wife cake…etc, and egg tarts and pineapple buns are not even traditional. So if you count, traditional ones, then wife cake is way up there for me.
I like egg tarts too. Pineapple buns, I like them when they are still warm, I liked to pick all top off, before eating the bread. Does honey ‘sak ke mah’ (horse) count too? I like that. Another of my favourite is egg roll biscuit. I think I like wife cake a bit more than moon cake.
Some even more.
Do you know what I am saying?