Chinese Shortbread Recipe Trials
Over the last few years, I was asked a few times for information on the origin of mooncakes . Alas, they don't seem to show up in recipe books as such until quite recently. There's enough evidence to point to them being wrapped in a shortbread-style dough, and indeed modern recipes are as well, usually a combination of flour, sugar syrup, a fat, and sometimes a small amount of alkali. We do have some shortbread recipes. Qimin Yaoshu (544 CE, northern Wei) has one: 髓餅法：To Make Marrow Cakes 以髓脂、蜜，合和麵。 Take marrow fat, honey, and mix with flour. 厚四五分，廣六七寸。 Make them four or five fen [9.7-12.1 mm] thick, and six or seven inches [14.5-16.9 cm] wide. 便著胡餅鑪中，令熟。 When ready, put in a western-barbarian cake oven until cooked. 勿令反覆。 Do not flip. 餅肥美，可經久。 If the fat is good, they will keep a long time. "Western-barbarian" refers vaguely to Central Asia, Parthia, and Persia. This is probably a covered ceramic device that goes over a heat source, perhaps similar to a Roman...
