Quoting Dale Shipp to Sean Dennis <=-
chicken wings. They used to be essentially throw-away part of
the chicken, but now are priced higher than breasts or thighs.
There was no cheap chicken of any kind in the store yesterday. More
and more people are beginning to appreciate dark meat and prices for
it are rising. I found chicken feet at $2.99 per pound, legs at
$3.49, wings, drums, and whole birds all at $3.99, while breasts and
thighs were both $4.99! I ending up buying just 2 turkey thighs
priced at $4.50 with hopes of better deals next week.
My store doesn't always carry chicken feet but it is the time of
the Chinese Moon Festival. They also have dozens of moon cakes in
stock as a special. We have quite a large Chinese and Vietnamese
population as well as a handful of Korean and Japanese families who
celebrate it too. It's the Mid-Autumn Festival held at the full moon
of the eighth lunar month and celebrates good harvests and family
reunions. It's also an auspicious time to get engaged, or married or
conceive a baby.
Moon cakes are a large round rich pastry filled with sweet bean or
lotus seed paste.
---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06
Title: Small Mooncakes
Categories: Chinese, Beans, Pastry, Holiday
Yield: 12 servings
FILLING:
1 lb Red azuki beans
Water
3/4 c Lard
1 3/4 c Sugar
WATER-SHORTENING DOUGH:
2 c Flour
5 tb Lard
10 tb Water
1/4 ts Salt
FLAKY DOUGH:
1 c Flour
5 tb Lard
Red food coloring for
Design
Soak red beans in water to cover 2 hours. Drain and discard the
water. Cover with 8 cups fresh water and bring to a boil, then
simmer over low heat 1-1/2 hours or until skins open. Strain the
beans and discard the skins. Place the strained beans in several
layers of cheesecloth and squeeze out any excess water. Place in a
saucepan with the lard or oil and the sugar. Cook, stirring
continuously, until almost all the moisture has evaporated. Let
cool. You will need 2 cups of filling for the mooncakes. Divide
this into 20 portions and shape into balls.
Dough: Mix ingredients for the water-shortening dough and the
flaky dough separately until smooth. Divide each dough into 20
equal portions. Wrap one portion of flaky dough inside each
portion of water-shortening dough. Roll out each piece of dough,
then fold in thirds to form three layers. Roll out again, and once
more fold in thirds to form three layers. Flatten each piece of
dough with the palm of your hand to form a 3" circle. Place one
portion of filling in the center. Gather the edges to enclose the
filling and pinch to seal. Place the filled packet in the mold,
gently pressing to fit. Invert and remove the mold. Dilute red
food coloring with water and pour onto a damp paper towel on a
plate. Take some food coloring onto the cookie-design stamp, then
press on top of the mooncake. Repeat process for remaining
mooncakes. Arrange mooncakes on a baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes at
350 degrees. Let cool before serving.
The original author notes that making mooncakes is fairly
complicated, and this recipe uses two doughs that are folded and
rolled together in a manner similar to French puff pastry. Also,
the mooncakes are formed in a special decorative aluminum mold and
stamped with a Chinese cookie-design stamp, which might be
available in better-stocked Chinese kitchenware stores. If
necessary, you could substitute a miniature Bundt pan or fluted
brioche pan and a Western cookie-design stamp. Finally, while this
recipe has a sweet filling of red beans, you could mix in other
ingredients, such as Chinese chopped dried fruits and chopped
nuts.
Recipe found on another food group list serve.
From: Preston Pittman to alt,food, asian
----
Cheers
Jim
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20
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