As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, the mooncake market is embracing a new wave of innovative flavors. Guangzhou Restaurant has sparked widespread discussions with the launch of its "Golden Ginger Chicken Mooncake," which incorporates Cantonese ginger chicken into its filling, offering a harmonious blend of savory and sweet tastes.

The new creation revives a traditional Republican-era recipe for chicken-filled mooncakes, inspired by historical archives at the Cantonese Cuisine Museum. During the Republican era, Cantonese restaurants frequently wrapped various local dishes into mooncakes under the philosophy that "anything can be stuffed into a mooncake." Paired with the local saying that "no feast is complete without chicken," Guangzhou Restaurant recreated the popular award-winning Cantonese dish—Golden Ginger Chicken—in the form of a mooncake. Designed to preserve the distinct flavors of both tender chicken and zesty ginger, the savory-sweet pastry has gained relatively high acceptance among consumers.

One consumer told reporters that having previously heard of milk flavored with Cantonese poached chicken, they were now equally eager to give this new ginger chicken mooncake a try.

During the Republican era, Guangzhou boasted over 100 varieties of Cantonese-style mooncakes, whereas today's market is dominated by three main fillings: five nuts, lotus seed paste, and red bean paste. Historically, the five nuts mooncake itself underwent numerous variations, including versions with Chinese Jinhua ham, "Char Siu" (ChineseBBQ pork), or dicedroast chicken.

Beyond ginger chicken mooncakes, regional specialty dishes across China have been combined with mooncakes—featuring fillings like "Bazi Rou" (braised pork belly), stinky tofu, and chili oil. Today, virtually any culinary element can be crafted into a mooncake. Looking at the innovative flavors introduced in recent years is akin to assembling a full banquet of regional specialties from across China.

Source:PEARL

在广州，姜蓉鸡也被包进月饼！

中秋临近，月饼市场再掀新口味热潮。广州酒家推出的“金丝姜蓉鸡月饼”将广府姜蓉鸡融入馅料，咸甜交杂，迅速引发热议。

据称，该产品脱胎于民国“鸡蓉月”古方，灵感来源于粤菜博物馆的文献。民国时期，粤菜酒楼就有把各种粤菜包入月饼的做法，可以说“万物皆可入月”，广州人也有“无鸡不成宴”的说法，所以广州酒家便将很受欢迎的金奖粤菜“金丝姜蓉鸡”，以月饼的形态呈现给消费者，做到鸡有鸡味、姜够姜味，咸甜交织，口味接受度较高。

有消费者告诉记者，之前已经听说过白切鸡风味的牛奶，这次又有姜蓉鸡月饼推出，很愿意去尝尝鲜。

据介绍，在民国时期，广州有100多种不同风味的广式月饼，现如今大家最熟悉的主要是五仁、莲蓉和豆沙这三种馅料。过去五仁月饼本身就有大量变化。例如，加入金华火腿的金腿五仁月饼，加入叉烧的叉烧五仁月饼，加入鸡丁的烧鸡五仁月饼等等。

除了姜蓉鸡月饼外，全国多地也曾推出过“地方特色菜+月饼”的组合，如把子肉、臭豆腐、油泼辣子等各色馅料，当前的月饼已是“万物皆可包”。若把近年来出现的新口味月饼摆在一起，几乎能凑出一桌来自全国各地的特色菜。

文｜记者 王隽杰
翻译｜徐芷晴
审校｜林佳岱