MOONCAKES ON MY MIND: MID AUTUMN 2018

Now it turns out that when you do amateur translating while having Hong Kong milk tea and an egg tart, you end up with a free Hong Kong milk tea and an egg tart. As well as a red bean paste moon cake with an egg yolk.
Which is very nice, but I did try to pay and turn down the moon cake, because I would have done it all for funsies anyhow.
What with being a show-off.
At tea time.


The Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節 'jung chau jit') is on September 24 this year. In the period leading up to it, mooncakes are all over the place. The supply tapers off afterwards.


Aside from numerous observances, one of the most enjoyable things is the common availability of such pastries. Which are about as thick as a good steak, and the diameter of a can of catfood. Usually round, sometimes square. They're filled with a sweet paste, very rich and delicious, and often have a preserved duck egg yolk for a yummy taste contrast.


月餅

So, for the benefit of Asian Americans who cannot read Chinese OR speak Cantonese, what with being from Shanghai or Taiwan, or tenth generation, AND those non-Chinese with open culinary minds who are not far from a Chinese bakery, here are some translations.

The most common types of mooncake:

純正蓮蓉月餅 ('juen jeng lin yung yuet bing'): no yolk lotus seed paste mooncake.
單黃蓮蓉月餅 ('daan wong lin yung yuet bing'): single yolk lotus seed paste mooncake.
雙黃蓮蓉月餅 ('seung wong lin yung yuet bing'): double yolk lotus seed paste mooncake.
純正豆沙月餅 ('juen jeng dau saa yuet bing'): no yolk red bean paste mooncake.
單黃豆沙月餅 ('daan wong dau saa yuet bing'): single yolk red bean paste mooncake.
雙黃豆沙月餅 ('seung wong dau saa yuet bing'): double yolk red bean paste mooncake.

[純正 ('juen jeng'): pure, unadulterated. 雙黃 ('seung wong'): two yellows. 蓉 ('yung'): hibiscus, Chengdu city; smooth confectionary paste. 月餅 ('yuet bing'): mooncake.]


Other types of mooncake that are well-known:

白蓮蓉月餅 ('paak lin yung yuet bing'): white lotus seed paste mooncake.
棗泥月餅 ('jou nei yuet bing'): red Chinese date paste mooncake.
五仁月餅 ('ng yan yuet bing'): five types of nuts mooncake.
金華火腿 ('kam waa fo tuei'): Jinhua ham with fruits and nuts.


Five less common types of mooncake filling:

芋頭 ('wu tau'): taro. 芝麻 ('ji maa'): sesame. 榴蓮 ('lau lin'): durian. 綠茶 ('luk cha'): green tea. 栗蓉 ('luet yung'): chestnut paste.


西木米

Note regarding that last one that 栗 ('luet') looks remarkably like 粟 ('suk'), which means millet, and is used for corn (maize) in Cantonese.
The difference is that while both have "west" (西 'sai') on top, the first has "wood" (木 'muk') underneath, the second "husked rice kernel" (米 'mai').
It's easy to misread or mis-write one for the other.



永興，東亞，榮華

In addition to two deservedly famous and very excellent bakeries (永興餅家 'wing hing bing kaa', the AA Bakery on Stockton Street; 東亞餅家 'tung ah bing kaa', the Eastern Bakery on Grant) for Chinese style patisserie, San Francisco Chinatown is loaded to the gills with square four-cake tins from numerous other manufacturers, including several kinds from Hong Kong.

And surely you've heard of Wing Wah (香港榮華餅家有限公司 'heung kung wing waa bing kaa yau haan kung si') in the New territories?



POST SCRIPTUM

While I was typing this, our landlady rang the doorbell. At present there are more mooncakes in this apartment than there were before.
They will be very much enjoyed.



==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================