Every late July, I look up the solar calendar dates of Tet Trung Thu (Autumn Moon Festival), which is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month and usually falls mid-to late September. An ancient Chinese harvest festival akin to Thanksgiving, it is a time for family and togetherness. The culinary focus of the celebration is the moon cake, a small baked pastry shaped in a hand-carved wooden mold. Thin, pliable dough encases a dense, sweet filling, at the center of which sits a salted egg yolk, symbolizing the moon. In between nibbling thin wedges of cake and sipping fragrant tea, you gaze at the largest and brightest moon of the year and reflect on your good fortune. Making moon cakes requires lots of ingredients and time, so most people buy them from bakeries and markets. But the culinary process is remarkable, requiring both precision and artistry, and the results are splendidly beautiful and delicious, making store-bought cakes pale imitations of homemade. Moon cakes are often filled with a paste of red beans or lotus seeds, but my family prefers an aromatic mixture of nuts and sweetmeats. My mother used this recipe in Vietnam, where she and her friend Mrs. Ly mastered the techniques. Some minor changes were made over time. For example, Mom substituted canned cooked chicken to mimic the luxurious texture of shark fin, and I added corn syrup to prevent the filling from drying and hardening. For decades, I watched and assisted my mother with the annual ritual. A few years ago, she handed me the molds, asking me to carry on the tradition. You must plan well in advance to make these cakes. The eggs need to stand in brine for four weeks, which is why I check the dates in July and work backward. While the eggs are curing, you can roast and freeze the pork at any point, and you can prepare the sugar syrup up to a few days in advance. The night before making the cakes, chop all the filling ingredients. The next day, forming and baking the cakes will be a pleasure. Moon cakes keep well in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks and will keep in the freezer for months, which means that you may make them way ahead of the celebration date or even enjoy them on other special occasions. Before embarking on this recipe, read it carefully from beginning to end, including the Note, which provides information on where to find the molds and any unusual ingredients. Also, make sure you have all the special equipment you will need: one or two wooden molds, a scale, toothpicks (preferably flat ones), and a water spray bottle.
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