Which brand of mooncakes is more delicious? How to choose Mid-Autumn mooncakes?

Have you bought the mooncakes you want to eat during the Mid-Autumn Festival? In fact, every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, a lot of people buy mooncakes as gifts. Of course, some people also eat them themselves. So where are they? Which one tastes better? Let’s take a look.

Mooncakes

1 It is no exaggeration to say: the 95 mooncakes on the market are not worth buying; the 99 hotel mooncakes are even less worth buying.

For example, most of the Cantonese-style mooncakes in Hangzhou hotels (and the same in other cities) are made by Guangzhou restaurants.

Since they are all mooncakes made on behalf of others, why not Just buy it from a Guangzhou restaurant.

How to tell if the mooncakes are processed by others? It is clearly written on the packaging box, and the black and white words are not deceptive.

2 Most mooncakes are not deceptive. There are many additives in them

Most mooncakes must have preservatives in the fillings, because the fillings have high moisture content and require a long shelf life. If no preservatives are added, the shelf life may only be a few days. , it cannot be sold.

Although there is no clear connection between the consumption of preservatives and health, it is still recommended that everyone try to eat mooncakes with a short shelf life and without various additives.

Most of the mooncakes you buy are only valid for 3-7 days. You should also check the ingredient list to see if there are any additives.

How to choose?

1 Make it clear whether you want to give it to others or eat it yourself.

The mooncakes you give to others are completely different from the mooncakes you eat yourself. It looks a little different.

The best-looking mooncake I received is a joint model between Marriott and the Forbidden City. The box looks like a jewelry box.

Of course, this is. It should be given to a friend with whom you are not very close, or a friend who doesn’t understand you that well.

If you give it to a good friend, you will choose something handmade, freshly made, and delicious.

For example, I bought a bunch of fresh meat mooncakes from Andaz in Shanghai, which are very cost-effective and delicious. However, delivery is not possible and the shelf life is too short.

Compared with the fancy mooncakes, Andaz's fresh meat mooncakes are famous for their hot and salty taste. Everyone loves to queue up to buy fresh ones. The secret of deliciousness is definitely: eat them while they are hot!

But if it is a friend who is not familiar with it, you can give it to them. If he packs it simply like this, and a box of 8 mooncakes only costs 60 yuan, the other person may think that you are very stingy.

If the other person has a good relationship and is very good at eating. Yes, buy Rong Yue and give it to the other party.

It is no exaggeration to say that the most delicious mooncakes are definitely Rong Yue from Guangzhou Big Brother Restaurant. Although Rong Yue is not cheap, 4 mooncakes are sold. 188 (Original tangerine peel bean paste and bean paste), the more expensive 4 pieces cost 398 (lard, bean paste, ginger, gold and silver moon.

But after all, Rong Yue makes all the bean paste by hand, without additives, and cooks the bean paste in a firewood iron pot. The key point is to make it year after year. A year of persistence. After eating it, many people feel that it tastes like mooncakes when they were young. This year, they can no longer buy it. If you want to eat it next year, please hurry up.

If you eat it by yourself, you don’t care about the packaging at all. More than half of the cost of many mooncakes is spent on packaging. The shorter the expiration date, the less additives and preservatives the mooncakes have. If you eat it, the validity period will not exceed 3 days.

2 Choose the taste that suits you

Traditional mooncakes are divided into four major styles, namely Beijing style, Cantonese style and Suzhou style. style and Yunnan style, each has its own characteristics and flavor.

Most people eat Cantonese style and Soviet style.

Cantonese-style mooncakes, rich fillings are the connotation of Cantonese-style mooncakes. They are characterized by heavy oil, thin skin and lots of fillings.

Su-style mooncakes are actually called crispy-style mooncakes, and the layers of puff pastry must be the essence of crispy-style mooncakes. Pay attention to hand work, not machines, and the dough should be well kneaded and freshly baked.

Dian-style mooncakes are filled with Dian-style ham. The crust is loose and the fillings are salty and sweet.

Beijing-style mooncakes are characterized by moderate sweetness and skin-to-filling ratio, heavy use of sesame oil, sweet taste and crispy texture.

It is still easy to eat Su-style mooncakes in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. In Suzhou, meat and mooncakes are a natural pair. Meat mooncakes, hairy crabs, and the fragrance of osmanthus constitute the autumn of Suzhou.

I feel like it’s time to go to Suzhou.

3 Do you need a machine or do it by hand? Do you want original factory or OEM processing?

Those who know mooncakes must know that the mini custards from Hong Kong Peninsula are already very delicious. But compared to the mini custard mooncakes at my Chinese restaurant Jialin Lou, they are just scum.

Why? Peninsula’s ordinary mini custards are mass-produced by machines; but Jialinlou’s mini custards are purely handmade.

The manpower of the old master is limited, and the production of 40,000 boxes of mooncakes a year is already the limit. If you want to buy, you can only win online and then pick it up offline.

So why are so many hotels unwilling to make handmade mooncakes? Because there is no money to make. Hangzhou Zixuan’s black truffle meat mooncakes are quite high-end, and a box of six only costs 128. A box of eight fresh meat mooncakes at Andaz in Shanghai only costs 60 yuan.

Even if you sell 10 boxes, you may not make as much money from selling one box of processed Cantonese mooncakes.

Coupled with the short shelf life of freshly made mooncakes, making handmade mooncakes by yourself is definitely a thankless task.

Many mooncakes in restaurants and star-rated hotels are not produced in their own kitchens, but are manufactured by food production companies. And basically the ones I find are Guangzhou restaurants.

Guangzhou Restaurant has its own three-inch lotus production base and duck egg yolk production base. The restaurant's revenue is far less profitable than processing mooncakes.

So most of the mooncakes are really just bought in a box. In this case, why not just buy mooncakes from Guangzhou Restaurants? Mooncakes from Guangzhou Restaurants can also be sold directly to consumers.

4 When it comes to making mooncakes, restaurants are often more reliable than those in hotels

The best mooncake I have ever eaten is Rong Yue, produced by Guangzhou Big Brother Restaurant. The most delicious mooncake I have eaten so far this year is Guangzhou’s abalone mooncake, produced by Guangzhou Restaurant in Shanghai.

There is a restaurant in Shanghai that is very good at cooking local dishes, called Shanghai Tang. Several exquisite Mid-Autumn Festival mooncakes are launched every year, such as Su-style fresh meat, which is loved by Shanghainese, and Cantonese-style bird's nest mooncakes.

Whenever I want to eat Yunnan-style mooncakes, in addition to asking friends to help me go to Guanshengyuan and Jiahua, I will also go to Yisiyiwang, a Yunnan cuisine restaurant. The one in Hangzhou is located here in Kerry Center, and their cloud-leg mooncakes are quite on point.

In Hangzhou, it is not so easy to eat Yunnan-style mooncakes.

Even in the same hotel, the food served in the restaurant is more authentic than the food served in the hotel. For example, the Cantonese mooncakes sold by Chengzhong Xiang in Hangzhou are processed by the hotel and have no special characteristics. They are generic goods from Xiangla Group.

However, the Chinese Restaurant City sells pickled mustard meat and prune vegetable meat for 8 yuan each, and you don’t need to dine in. You can buy them at the stalls of Chinese restaurants. It’s much more reliable than what’s sold in hotels, and it’s also much more cost-effective.

5 The time-honored mooncakes from various places are actually quite good

Compared with the mooncakes produced by contract manufacturers or some Internet celebrity mooncakes, I personally prefer the time-honored mooncakes. The mooncakes from time-honored brands are very cost-effective and delicious.

Take Hangzhou as an example. You can go to September Life to buy pickled mustard and fresh meat. September Life is not yet a time-honored brand. Mainly because there are too many spots. Occasionally, I would buy them when passing by Jiuzhizhai and Wangbaolai. During the mooncake season at these two stores, there is often a queue.

Which mooncakes are delicious

Recommend several time-honored brands that are worth recommending.

Shanghai, Guangming_Da Restaurant, Changchun Food Store, Laodachang, Laodafang

Hangzhou, Jiuzhizhai, Wang Baolai

Suzhou, Xucheng Building , Changfa Western Cake, Caizhizhai

Beijing, Beijing Dashanyuan

Guangzhou, Lianxiang Tower, Guangzhou Restaurant

Yunnan, Jiahua, Guan Shengyuan

Hong Kong, Yuen Long Wing Wah, Kee Wah, Peninsula Jialin House, Royal_

Cantonese style, the only choice is Yung Yue at Big Brother Restaurant. After eating Yung Yue If you eat other Cantonese mooncakes, they are really dregs. But Rong Yue's biggest problem is that the output is too small, and every year there is a flash sale.