Zhongxin Wanghai News, August 21 (Xu Mingrui) The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, what is new this year, the mooncakes that are expected every year? The reporter learned from Yuyuan Cultural Catering Group that many of its time-honored brands, such as: Shanghai Dexing Pavilion, Old City God Temple, Songhe Tower, etc., have accelerated innovation this year, integrating mooncakes, a traditional seasonal dim sum, with national chao culture and art, and Shanghai-Guangdong intangible cultural heritage time-honored brands have joined hands to create cross-border co-creation, so that traditional fresh meat mooncakes have also turned over new tricks.
When "small fresh meat" meets "oriental cheese", Shanghai-Guangdong intangible cultural heritage time-honored brands join forces
At about seven o'clock in the morning, in the Fuxing Club store of Shanghai Dexingguan, a time-honored Chinese store on Yancheng Road, the first batch of fresh meat mooncakes with bursting juice was freshly baked. Passing citizens stopped one after another, some people directly bought a few for breakfast, and some people couldn't help but buy a few boxes, ready to share a share with colleagues and families.
"The fresh meat mooncakes I have always eaten are characterized by crispy skin and not loose, large meat filling, and full of juice, so I buy them every year." Mr. Wu, a citizen who lives near Menghua Street, is not old, but eating fresh meat mooncakes from Shanghai Dexing Hall can be regarded as old seniority, and every time he passes by, he can't help but buy a few, "The freshly baked fresh meat mooncakes are the most delicious and have juice." ”
Shanghai Dexing Pavilion's fresh meat mooncakes are well received by customers
Shanghai Dexingguan fresh meat mooncakes, famous for their crispy fillings, used to be a low-key snack hidden in 16 shops, but now they have become the "new Internet celebrity" in the hearts of public diners. The reporter saw that in addition to the continuous middle-aged and elderly customers coming to buy at the scene, there were many young faces in the crowd, and even the post-00s began to queue up "busy" (Shanghai dialect to make a splash).
"I saw that they made fresh meat mooncakes with the taste of southern milk, and I had never eaten them before, so I specially bought some to taste." College students who were still on summer vacation were attracted by the new flavors in the store when they passed by. It turned out that this year, in addition to the fresh meat mooncakes baked every day, Shanghai Dexing Pavilion also cooperated with the Guangdong time-honored brand "Guanghe Curd Milk" for the first time to create a trendy taste - Nanlu fresh meat mooncakes.
Shanghai Dexing Pavilion and Guanghe Curd Milk cross-border innovation, the first launch of "Nanlu fresh meat mooncake"
Nanlu fresh meat mooncake, as the name suggests, is to add Nan milk, that is, red curd milk, to the recipe of fresh meat moon cake, Shanghainese like to combine it with pork to cook into Nan Milk meat. Known for its thick and silky curd, curd milk is known as "oriental cheese" by Western diners, and the "Guanghe curd brewing technique" has been selected into the fourth batch of provincial intangible cultural heritage list of Guangdong Province.
"Our fresh meat mooncake making process uses the traditional method of making puff pastry and puff pastry, which is the classic way of making Chinese puff pastry." According to Zhang Jian, the non-genetic inheritor of Shanghai Dexing Pavilion, Nanlu fresh meat mooncake follows the traditional fresh meat mooncake recipe in their store, the difference is that a certain proportion of Guanghe red curd milk is added to the pork filling, and the filling core after being soaked in the color of curd will show a faint rose pink color after baking, and the soup looks very appetizing, and it tastes delicious and juicy, with a strong fermentation aroma of curd.
It is worth mentioning that in order to allow more citizens and tourists to taste at home, in addition to online takeaway platforms can also place orders, they also specially developed frozen fresh meat mooncakes, and carefully planned the packaging bags of Nanlu fresh meat mooncakes, inspired by the founder of two long-established brands: Ah Xing and Mr. Fang, more vividly introduced the history and culture behind this innovative mooncake, and how customers can easily replicate at home with an oven and air fryer. It is reported that the frozen fresh meat mooncake will be successively launched on multiple online platforms such as Zhendianjia Tmall and Douyin flagship stores, Old City God Temple fresh Jingdong self-operated flagship store, etc., to facilitate customers' choice.
Integration of culture and art Time-honored brands use mooncakes to "say" good oriental life aesthetics
The mooncakes of the time-honored Chinese Old City God Temple, which are familiar to Shanghainese, have continued to deepen and innovate in the national chao culture this year. Many classic elements of Yu Garden: Nine-curved Bridge, Lake Pavilion, Lotus Pond, and many long-established restaurants and famous restaurants, etc., are all integrated with mooncakes around the cultural theme of "happiness", hence the name "Happy Mooncakes".
Old City God Temple "Happy Mooncake" gift box
Taking the Nine-Curved Bridge on the box as an example, the Nine-Curved Bridge, located in the core of Yuyuan Mall, is full of customers during the Lunar New Year. In addition to local citizens, foreign and even foreign tourists also come to take a walk, because the people have "walking through the nine-curved eighteen bends, the coming year is happy and safe", therefore, the nine-curved bridge has gradually become one of the symbols of blessing, with a beautiful meaning, so the nine-curved bridge has also become an important part of the "happy mooncake" of the old city god temple.
In terms of taste, in addition to the classic Cantonese style tangerine peel bean paste and egg yolk white lotus paste mooncakes, they also added two new "members" with a national trendy atmosphere: osmanthus pear paste and jasmine tea mooncakes. The pear paste in osmanthus pear paste comes from the famous Shanghai souvenir in Yu Garden - pear paste candy. The earliest pear paste candy dating back to the Qingxian and Feng dynasties is one of the most popular souvenirs in Shanghai. In May 2021, "Shanghai Pear Paste Candy Making Technique" officially became a representative item of national intangible cultural heritage. The pear paste recipe is added to the mooncake filling, which combines the old and the new, which is quite characteristic of Shanghai culture.
At the same time, in order to enhance the gastronomic experience of citizens and tourists visiting the Mid-Autumn Festival, the box of happy mooncakes also comes with a hand-drawn version of Yuyuan Garden time-honored food shopping map, which not only marks the clear geographical location of each classic time-honored brand in Yuyuan Mall and their signature specialties, but also scans the code to participate in coupon activities worth a total of 100 yuan, such as Nanxiang Mantou Shop and Chunfeng Songyue Lou, so that people can enjoy the Mid-Autumn Festival Garden while enjoying the benefits.
Also continuing to innovate in the national chao culture is the 260-year-old Chinese time-honored Songhe Tower. This year, Songhe Tower launched a series of themed mooncakes with high "artistic content", the design elements are borrowed from Tao Cheng's "Toad Palace Jade Rabbit Diagram", Shen Zhou's "Green Mountain Red Tree Map", ancient painting "Songyue Map" and so on. Among them, the "Guitu Mochizuki" co-branded mooncake in cooperation with Suzhou Museum is expected to become a popular model this year.
The mooncake jointly created by Songhe Tower and Suzhou Museum is modeled after a jade rabbit
"The rabbit is regarded as a rui beast in traditional Chinese culture, a symbol of auspiciousness and wisdom, and the ancients often used 'Gui Rabbit' to refer to the moon, which has a sense of the atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival." According to Huang Xiaoyi, co-general manager of Songhe Tower, the joint mooncake is based on the precious collection of the Suzhou Museum - Zhang Ao's "Laurel Rabbit Under the Moon" in the Qing Dynasty as the source, extracting the beauty of "portrait" in Chinese painting art, and symbolizing the Mid-Autumn Festival reunion with the image of the double rabbit in the picture, and the blooming osmanthus and full moon figures fully cater to the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival atmosphere.
The mooncake type is mainly Soviet-style and Taiwanese, and the flavor is a combination of Chinese and Western styles, such as: Su-style cheese blueberry, Su-style nut multigrain, peach mountain peel Da Hong Pao Dan Gui Liuxin, Peach mountain peel sea salt nut latte, etc., a total of six flavors. What is especially special is that the mooncakes are also made into jade rabbit and four-leaf clover shapes, which are enduring. The attached gift is also ingenious: a paper screen can not only be used as a letter to carry the friendship of the Mid-Autumn Festival, but also can be used as an ornament to make up the desk, experience the ancients' Mid-Autumn Festival moon appreciation painting and chewing shortbread, and hold a pen to express the elegant charm of the Mid-Autumn Festival. (End)
Note: Please be sure to indicate the source when reprinting the content of the article!