List of Chinese bakery products

Arome Chinese bakery in Hong Kong

Chinese bakery products (Chinese: 中式糕點; pinyin: zhōng shì gāo diǎn; literally: "Chinese style cakes and snacks" or Chinese: 唐餅; pinyin: táng bǐng; literally: "Tang-style baked goods") consist of pastries, cakes, snacks, and desserts of largely Chinese origin, though some are derived from Western baked goods. Some of the most common Chinese bakery products include mooncakes, sun cakes (Beijing and Taiwan varieties), egg tarts, and wife cakes.

The Chinese bakeries that produce these products are present in countries of Chinese ethnicity, and across the world in Chinatowns. The establishments may also serve tea, coffee, and other drinks.

Bakery types

There are regional differences in cities with large Chinese presences, particularly those in Asia like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Ipoh, Jakarta, Manila and Bangkok. Bakery fillings especially may be influenced by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, or Thailand. In North America, the largest Chinatowns, such as San Francisco, Vancouver, New York, and Toronto, have the widest range of offerings, including influences from France, Italy, Japan, and Mexico.

There are also large overlaps in the products sold at Hong Kong style and Taiwan style baked goods; there nevertheless remain significant differences between these two major types. For instance, bread cake and pineapple tart were developed in Taiwan-style bakeries, while the cocktail bun is a Hong Kong style product. Hong Kong bakeries have more western influence due to the 150 years of British rule that ended in 1997, and the nearby presence of the former Portuguese colony of Macau. Taiwan style bakeries may have more influence from the Japanese bakery or Korean bakery styles.

Some bakeries also offer small snacks traditionally associated with dim sum cuisine. There is considerable overlap between these categories.

Eastern-origin pastry

Eastern-origin pastry section

Some types of steamed or baked buns have a very similar appearance, making it difficult to determine what they have been filled with. Informal de facto standards have developed for indicating the filling by some external mark on the buns, such as a colored dot or a sprinkling of a few sesame seeds.

Unless otherwise indicated, most of the following foods are baked. Some foods are steamed, boiled, deep-fried, pan-fried, or do not require further cooking at all.

Western-influenced pastry

Western-influenced pastry section

The biggest influence of the West on Chinese "baking" was the more widespread introduction of the oven. Most traditional Chinese foods were steamed, boiled or fried in a wok. For example, a "bao" currently means a bun (steamed or baked) as found in a bakery, but to the Chinese from the northern regions of China it still mostly means a steamed bun.

Some Western-influenced baked goods are essentially identical to their Western counterparts, whereas others differ subtly (for example, by being less sweet). The items listed here are often found in Chinese bakeries, in at least some parts of the world.

Drinks

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hsiung, Deh-Ta. Simonds, Nina. Lowe, Jason. [2005] (2005). The food of China: a journey for food lovers. Bay Books. ISBN 978-0-681-02584-4. p24.
  2. ↑ Chowtime. "Chowtime." Egg tart. Retrieved on 2009-03-20.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chinese bakery products.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/7/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.