Wife Cake (Lao Po Bing)
奥さんが作った究極のパイ！？サクサク生地とモチモチ餡の広東銘菓
Description
An ultra-famous traditional pastry originating in Guangdong (esp. Chaozhou) and HK, absolutely sold in Chinatown bakeries worldwide. The name 'Lao Po' means 'Wife' in Chinese. Inside a flaky, multi-layered pastry crust made with lard is a 'chewy, sticky' translucent filling kneaded from candied winter melon, sesame, and coconut.
Classification: Everyone, Snack, Dessert, Pastry, Dim Sum, Guangdong Cuisine, Wife Cake, Winter Melon
Shops selling Wife Cake (Lao Po Bing)
Researching
We are researching shops that sell this item.
On this site you can check dictionary details and, later, places to buy or eat related items.
The How to use section below is a general reference, not instructions from the listed shops.
How to use
Ingredients
- Wheat flour
- Lard(or Veg oil/Butter)
- Candied winter melon
- Glutinous rice flour
- Sugar
- Sesame
Instructions
- [Typical Uses]
- [Yum Cha Sweet]: After eating a full round of Dim Sum, eat as a finishing dessert with warm Pu'er tea.
- Warming slightly in an oven/toaster resurrects the crust's fresh-baked flakiness and melts the winter melon filling syrupy soft into premium flavor.
Learn more Substitutes, pairings, tips
Key spices
Crumbly roasted flakiness of the pastry crust、chewy texture of the winter melon filling、and gentle elegant sweetness
Substitutes at Japanese supermarkets
(Hard to substitute. Close to a pastry-crust version of mooncake)
Pairing
Pu'er Tea / Black Tea / Warm Soy Milk
Trivia
Sold in boxes or plastic trays in Asian store snack aisles. The surface is often glazed with egg wash and sprinkled with sesame. A counterpart 'Lao Gong Bing' (Husband Cake = savory pie with minced meat/Five Spice) also exists.
Eating tips & etiquette
Theories on the name vary, but the most famous is a tear-jerking love story: 'A wife sold herself to pay for her sick father-in-law's medicine. To buy her back, the husband sold this delicious pastry she used to make, and it was a massive hit.'
Allergen
Wheat, Sesame, (Eggs sometimes used for glazing)