[Same period] Xu Limin, owner of Xinxiang Bingdian Bakery
Eating moon cakes means reunion. When everyone gets together as a family, it means reunion.
To this day, Hong Kong people still have the habit of eating moon cakes.
[Explanation] The small cakes are like chewing moons, with crisp and glutinous rice.
Moon cakes, also known as moon cakes and reunion cakes, are one of the traditional Chinese delicacies.
Every Mid-Autumn Festival, the streets and alleys of Hong Kong will be filled with people who come to buy moon cakes in front of the Tang cake shops.
Xinxiang Ice Hall in Kwai Chung, Hong Kong has a history of half a century, and it is also one of the few ice houses in Hong Kong that sells freshly baked handmade mooncakes.
[Same period] Xu Limin, owner of Xinxiang Bingdian Bakery
The most special feature of our hand-made moon cakes is that the skin is hand-made, and its skin is very thin.
Because the skin wraps the filling, it is difficult to make it very thin. If it is not done well, it will break and the filling will flow out.
It does not feel dry in terms of taste, and it is easy to eat.
Some guests may see moon cakes freshly baked, because if some guests come to have afternoon tea in the afternoon, for example, if they see five-ren moon cakes, or double yellow, or dried tangerine bean paste, they will order them.
Because to be honest, we should be the only family in Hong Kong that can make moon cakes and eat them immediately with milk tea. This is quite unique.
[Explanation] Freshly baked handmade moon cakes with freshly brewed Hong Kong-style milk tea are the enduring "unique recipe" of this ice shop, and it is also the delicious secret of this fifty-year-old brand that has been passed down by word of mouth among the neighbors. .
[Same period] Xu Limin, owner of Xinxiang Bingdian Bakery
The first step, of course, is to prepare the materials first, and then start weighing. Every piece of filling and skin needs to be weighed. Then the process of wrapping begins, and the master wraps it by hand.
If you want to make double yellow moon cakes, you have to peel the salted duck eggs one by one, and then clean them after peeling, such as removing the egg whites, and then moulding.
After the mold is finished, put it into the oven and then look at the heat. The heat is very important. If the heat is not well controlled, the moon cake will be baked and can be successfully baked.
[Explanation] The front shop sells traditional Tang cakes such as wife cakes, chicken cakes, and Hong Kong-style breads such as pineapple buns. The back shop is a tea restaurant that can accommodate fifty or sixty people. Guests drink milk tea and eat snacks in the shop, which outlines Hong Kong bit by bit The old neighborhood has the same breath of life that has not changed over the years.
"Post-80s" Hong Kong husband and wife couple Xu Limin and Jiang Renzhong just took over this old-fashioned ice parlour bakery in March this year. While passing on their old feelings, they also took great care to innovate and improve the shape and taste of traditional mooncakes to serve the old shop. Inject new flavors.
[Same period] Xu Limin, owner of Xinxiang Bingdian Bakery
We have pure lotus paste, double yellow and white lotus paste, four yellow and white lotus paste, and bean paste mooncakes have pure bean paste, double yellow bean paste, dried tangerine bean paste, and Jinhua ham five kernels (moon cake).
Because some people don't want to eat very sweet, if it is bean paste filling, it will be sweeter, and after adding tangerine peel, it will not be very sweet, and the taste of tangerine peel is very fragrant in the mouth.
When I was young, I had no money to buy moon cakes, so I would eat this pig cage cake. This pig cage cake is mainly moon cake skin. The moon cake skin, and then evolved into a feeling.
After baking, let it cool, and it will be placed in a small pig cage, which means "the pig cage enters the water", which means the money is rolling.
[Commentary] In addition to good taste and good intentions, for Xu Limin and his wife who were born and raised in Hong Kong, moon cakes mean the family's reunion and sharing after hard work, and it is also the Mid-Autumn Festival memory engraved in the taste genes of Hong Kong people.
[Same period] Xu Limin, owner of Xinxiang Bingdian Bakery
I have the habit of eating moon cakes when I was a child, because when it comes to (Mid-Autumn Festival) everyone eats moon cakes together, even if it is very busy, the family will go back to eat together after get off work.
After everyone has eaten, they will take out the moon cakes and cut them.
When I was a child, I would separate the moon cakes, maybe cut them into eight pieces, one for each person, and I would find it especially delicious and sweet.
[Explanation] Although making handmade moon cakes is time-consuming and labor-intensive and the profit is meager, the couple still adhere to the tradition of the small shop. On the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, they serve a steaming moon cake to the guests, which symbolizes sweetness The blessing of reunion is shared with more people.
[Same period] Xu Limin, owner of Xinxiang Bingdian Bakery
Maybe although the economy is not particularly good due to the impact of the epidemic, we all want to take advantage of the Mid-Autumn Festival to share the sweetness of (moon cakes) and bring more happiness to everyone. Mid-Autumn Festival (moon cakes) have a reunion I hope everyone will be reunited and happy, and I hope everyone will be happy and continue to work hard.
Reporter Fan Siyi and Luo Siyu report from Hong Kong
Responsible editor: [Ji Xiang]