mooncake
1 It is no exaggeration to say that 95% of moon cakes on the market are not worth buying; 99% of hotel moon cakes are not worth buying.
For example, most of the Cantonese-style moon cakes in Hangzhou Hotel (like other cities) are made by Guangzhou Restaurant.
Since they are all processed moon cakes, why not buy them directly from Guangzhou restaurant?
How to judge whether moon cakes are processed on behalf of others? It is clearly written on the box, and it is not in black and white.
There are many additives in most moon cakes.
For most moon cakes, there must be preservatives in the stuffing, because the stuffing has high water content and long shelf life. If no preservative is added, the shelf life may be only a few days, so it can't be sold.
Although there is no clear connection between eating preservatives and health, it is recommended that you try to eat moon cakes with short shelf life and no additives.
The moon cakes bought are basically only valid for 3-7 days. Also, look at the ingredient list. You can tell whether there are additives at a glance.
How to choose
1 Find out whether to give it away or eat it yourself.
The mooncakes given to people are completely different from those eaten by themselves. The mooncakes given to people should have a high face value, and the gift box should look good and be a little different.
The most beautiful moon cake I received was donated by Marriott and the Forbidden City. This box looks like a jewelry box.
Of course, this should be for friends who are not close. Or he doesn't know your friends.
If you send some good friends, you will choose some handmade, freshly made and delicious food.
For example, Shanghai Andashi bought a bunch of fresh meat moon cakes, which are cost-effective and delicious. Not even express delivery. Shelf life is too short.
Compared with fancy moon cakes, Andaz's fresh meat moon cakes win with spicy and salty taste. Everyone likes to queue up to buy fresh and delicious food. Absolute means: eat while it's hot!
But if you are an unfamiliar friend, and you give him such a simple package, and then a box of eight moon cakes will come to 60 yuan, the other party may think you are particularly stingy.
If the other person's relationship is getting better and better, and he knows how to eat at the same time, then buy him a Rong Yue.
It is no exaggeration to say that it is the best mooncake, and it is definitely the Rong Yue of Guangzhou Big Brother Restaurant. Although Rong Yue is not cheap, four moon cakes cost 188 (dried tangerine peel, bean paste, vegetarian month) and four expensive ones cost 398 (lard, bean paste, ginger, gold and silver month).
However, Rong Yue, after all, cooked bean paste with all hands and no additives. The key is to stick to it year after year. Many people think it's the smell of moon cakes when they were children. I can't buy Rong Yue this year, so please eat early next year.
If you eat it yourself, you don't care about the packaging at all. More than half the cost of many moon cakes is spent on packaging. I don't care so much about the expiration date of moon cakes. The shorter the validity period, the less additives and preservatives. The moon cakes you eat are basically made, sold and eaten now, and the validity period is no more than 3 days.
Choose one that suits your taste.
Traditional moon cakes are divided into four schools, namely, Beijing style, Guangdong style, Suzhou style and Yunnan style, each with its own characteristics and flavor.
Most people eat Cantonese and Soviet styles.
Cantonese-style moon cakes are full of fillings, which are characterized by heavy oil, thin skin and many fillings.
Su-style moon cakes are actually called shortcakes, and layers of pastry must be the essence of shortcakes. Pay attention to hand-made, not machine, dough kneaded and freshly baked.
Moon cakes with Yunnan flavor are filled with ham with Yunnan flavor, with loose skin and salty and sweet stuffing.
Beijing moon cakes are characterized by moderate sweetness, moderate proportion of skin and stuffing, and a large amount of sesame oil, which tastes sweet and crisp.
It is relatively simple for Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai generations to eat Soviet-style moon cakes. In Suzhou, meat and moon cakes are a natural couple. Meat moon cakes, hairy crabs and sweet-scented osmanthus fragrance make up the autumn in Suzhou.
I feel it's time to go to Suzhou.
Do you want a machine or a hand? Do you want the original factory or process it for you?
People who know moon cakes must know that the mini cream yellow in Hong Kong Peninsula is very delicious. But compared with the mini milky moon cake in Jialinlou, a Chinese restaurant, it is slag.
Why? The ordinary mini cream yellow on the peninsula is mass-produced by machines; But the mini cream in Jialin Building is handmade.
The old master has limited manpower, and it is already the limit to produce 40 thousand boxes of moon cakes a year. If you want to buy it, you can only shake the number online and take it offline.
So why are so many hotels unwilling to make handmade moon cakes? Because there is no money to earn. Zi Xuan's black truffle fresh meat moon cakes are tall enough, and a box of six is 128. Shanghai Andashi sells a box of eight fresh meat moon cakes to 60 yuan.
Selling 10 box does not necessarily mean selling a box of Cantonese moon cakes for processing.
In addition, the shelf life of moon cakes is short, so it is definitely a thankless thing to make handmade moon cakes by yourself.
Many restaurants and star-rated hotels have mooncakes not from their own kitchens, but from food production enterprises. And they are basically looking for Guangzhou restaurant.
Guangzhou restaurant has its own three-inch golden lotus production base and duck egg yolk production base. The income of the restaurant is far from making money on behalf of processing moon cakes.
So most moon cakes really cost money to buy a box. In that case, why not just buy moon cakes from Guangzhou restaurant? Mooncakes in Guangzhou restaurants can also be sold directly to consumers.
4 to make moon cakes, restaurants are often more reliable than hotels.
The best mooncake I have ever eaten is Rong Yue, which is produced by Guangzhou Big Brother Restaurant. The best moon cake eaten so far this year is abalone moon cake from Guangzhou, produced by Guangzhou restaurant in Shanghai.
There is a restaurant in Shanghai that is very good at cooking local dishes, called Shanghai Beach. Every year, several exquisite and meticulous Mid-Autumn moon cakes are launched, such as Suzhou-style fresh meat and Cantonese-style bird's nest moon cakes, which Shanghai people like.
Whenever I want to eat moon cakes with Yunnan flavor, I will not only ask my friends for help from Guanshengyuan and Jiahua, but also forget about this Yunnan restaurant. In Kerry Center here in Hangzhou, their moon cakes with cloud legs are quite punctual.
In Hangzhou, it's not that easy to eat moon cakes with Yunnan flavor.
Even in the same hotel, the products of the restaurant are more authentic than those of the hotel. For example, the incense in the city of Hangzhou and the Cantonese-style moon cakes sold in hotels are all processed on behalf of others, with no special features, and the color of the staple food is given by Xiangla Group.
However, Chinese restaurant city has pickled mustard tuber fresh meat and dried plum meat, which are 8 yuan each, and you don't need to eat them in the lobby, you can buy them at the stalls in Chinese restaurants. It is much more reliable and cost-effective than the hotel.
Time-honored moon cakes from all over the world are actually not bad.
I actually prefer time-honored mooncakes to those processed on behalf of others or those of some online celebrities. Time-honored moon cakes are cost-effective and delicious.
Take Hangzhou as an example. In September, you can go to stay and buy pickled mustard tuber fresh meat. Life in September is not an old brand. Mainly because there are more points. Occasionally passing by Jiuzhizhai and Wang Baolai, I will also buy them. During the moon cake season, these two stores often have to queue up.
Which moon cake is delicious?
Recommend several time-honored brands worthy of recommendation.
Shanghai, Guangming Hotel, Changchun Food Store, Laoda Factory, Laoda Room.
Hangzhou, Jiuzhizhai, Wang Baolai
Suzhou, the program building, often send cakes, Cai Zhizhai.
Beijing, Beijing big three yuan
Guangzhou, Lianxianglou, Guangzhou Restaurant
Yunnan, Jiahua and Guanshengyuan
Hong Kong, Yuen Long Ronghua, Qihua, Peninsula Jialin Building, Huang _
The only choice for Cantonese food is Rong Yue in Big Brother's restaurant. After eating Rong Yue, you can eat other Cantonese-style moon cakes, which are really dross. But the biggest problem in Rong Yue is that the output is too small, and it is a peak every year.