"Crows live on white trees in the atrium, and sweet osmanthus are cold and silent. Tonight, people look forward to it at the bright moon, and I don't know who will miss it." Unconsciously, it was Mid-Autumn Festival again in the blink of an eye! The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the four major traditional festivals in my country. According to historical records, the Mid-Autumn Festival originated in ancient times, and most of the festival and customs factors it contains have ancient origins. People often use the Mid-Autumn Festival and the full moon to symbolize the reunion of people, thereby expressing their longing for their hometown and relatives. At the same time, they also hope for a bumper harvest and happiness. It is a rich and precious cultural heritage of the Chinese nation.

There are many customs during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Although different regions vary, eating mooncakes is a common symbol. Mooncakes can also be called moon cakes, small cakes, harvest cakes, reunion cakes, etc. They were originally used as offerings to worship the moon god, but later gradually evolved into seasonal food for the Mid-Autumn Festival. They became a must-have food for people to appreciate the moon and miss their hometown. It is also a good gift for personal use.

Mooncakes have a long history. According to documentary records, the earliest word "mooncake" is included in Wu Zimu's "Dream Liang Lu" in the Southern Song Dynasty. Although mooncakes are available in various places, due to different dietary customs in various places, the methods and tastes of mooncakes vary greatly from place to place. The more famous ones are Guangzhou-style, Jin-style, Beijing-style, Suzhou-style, Chao-style, Dian-style and other mooncakes.

Recently, Yu Fan and several friends visited Lili Ancient Town in Suzhou. They had the honor to meet Teacher Yuan Xiaochun, the inheritor of Sugar-style mooncakes in the town, and interviewed and recorded his entire process of making Sugar-style mooncakes. On the occasion of this festival, I will share its making method with you in the form of pictures and texts, hoping to help friends who want to make their own mooncakes at home.

Master Yuan said that Su-style mooncakes originated in Suzhou and were once a tribute to the imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty. Even when Emperor Qianlong went to Jiangnan, he named to eat Su-style mooncakes. This skill has been passed down to Master Yuan for nine generations. He said that Su-style mooncakes are different from other mooncakes in that they have thin skin, large filling, crisp skin and delicious taste.

Master Yuan told Yufan that the reason why Su-style mooncakes are delicious is that the making process is more complex than other mooncakes. Second, the materials are extremely particular and the process is relatively complex. The process includes: material selection, preliminary processing, stuffing polishing, skin making, crispy making, filling, forming, stamping, baking, and packaging.

He said that Soviet-style mooncakes pay attention to manual operation and do not require any molds. The equipment is relatively simple to use, as long as there is a scraper, glossy paper, roller, and baking plate.

Su-style mooncakes are mainly divided into three parts. One is the filling inside. The common ones are salt and pepper five-kernel and ginkgo five-kernel. The second is crisp, which is made of super flour and pork board oil. The third is the mooncake skin. The cake skin is crispy and requires repeated folding and rolling to form a layered meringue effect.

During the making of the filling skin, pig suet and hot water need to be continuously added to the flour. The fat content of the suet can make the mooncake skin softer and enhance the aroma and flavor. Therefore, a good cake crust needs to pursue the ultimate and full mixing of various raw materials, otherwise the cake crust will easily break and become incomplete during the baking process.

Cake crust and pastry The quality of the mooncake (made from a mixture of lard and flour) will directly affect the taste of the mooncake, while the success or failure of the filling determines the soul of the Su-style mooncake, especially the salt and pepper five-kernel stuffing shown to us by Master Yuan. It must be made with fried flour and sesame powder, melon seeds and walnut powder, kumquat cake, sugar, pepper salt, etc. in proportion. The taste is sweet, salty and numb, and it mixes starch flavor, grease flavor, nut flavor, and dried fruit flavor. Can you make it well? You can directly see the craftsmanship and skills of the mooncake master.

When making mooncakes, it is a bit like making glutinous rice balls. First, the dough is pulled into small balls, and the pastry is also pulled into small pieces. Press the crust flat with your hands, then put the pastry on it, then put the stuffing into it, and finally tighten the mouth like a steamed bun, ball it into a round ball, and place it on the oil paper.

Master Yuan said that when wrapping mooncakes, attention should be paid to controlling the total amount of fillings. If the fillings are too small, the skin will be thicker. If it is not evenly wrapped, it will be difficult to close it. I saw that he skillfully wrapped mooncakes and could wrap one in less than a minute. The size of the cake skin and the amount of fillings put in all depend on his decades of experience in making mooncakes. It can be said that the taste of the mooncakes is all in Master Yuan's hands.

The freshly made mooncakes are round like glutinous rice balls with cores. After they are placed on oil-paper, gently press them with your palm to form a chess piece. Then use vegetable dye to cover the mooncakes with a red seal (if it is ginkgo stuffing, cover one ginkgo, if it is five-kernel stuffing, cover one Wucen mooncake), then the mooncakes are completed.

Look, this is the Su-style Wuren mooncake just made by Master Yuan. It is the size of a chess tree and it is said that it will expand a little after roasting.

After about 20 minutes of baking, the Su-style mooncakes were finally baked. Following the steaming heat, Yu Fan took a freshly baked ginkgo five-kernel mooncake from Master Yuan. The aroma came to his face. When he opened it and took a look, he found that the outside The stuffing was extremely crispy and fell straight down. Take a piece and put it into your mouth. It feels much better than the mooncakes in the supermarket and is not greasy at all.

Teacher Yuan said that in addition to making small mooncakes costing 5 yuan each, their family also makes large mooncakes like the one in his hands. Such mooncakes cost 30 yuan each. People who buy them will usually buy a large one and then buy 7 small ones. Together, it is the famous Seven Stars Accompanying the Moon. Finally, I wish you all a happy Chinese and National Day Festival!