Fermented Tofu Pastry 腐乳饼

How it is made

Chen Ying'e (陈应娥), an inheritor of the Chaozhou craft, told the provincial newspaper Southern Daily (南方日报) that the filling holds more than a dozen ingredients, among them peanuts, pork, garlic, red fermented bean curd (南乳) and aged liquor, and that the fermented bean curd and the liquor are its soul. Makers usually use red fermented bean curd that has been kept for one to two years and liquor of more than 60 degrees to get the pastry's particular aroma. Southern Daily adds that the craft demands strict choice of ingredients, skill in mixing and marinating the filling and in blending the pastry dough, and a good judgement of the heat.

Flavour and texture

From the outside it looks like any small, neat pastry. The bite mixes sweet, salty and wine-like flavours, which is why Southern Daily calls it the odd one out among cakes (饼中异类).

Where it comes from

Chen says the pastry is found only in Chaozhou. The Chaoshan region has many overseas Chinese, and people used to buy it before traditional festivals such as the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month to take to Southeast Asia. Households once bought it mainly as an offering at worship; today it is an everyday tea snack in Chaozhou, eaten with Fenghuang Dancong tea (凤凰单丛茶).

The making technique is a municipal intangible-heritage item, and Guangdong's eighth batch of provincial intangible-heritage items includes it as pastry-making technique (Chaozhou fermented tofu pastry). Houji (厚记), a Chaozhou maker recognised as a Guangdong time-honoured brand, is run by a fifth-generation inheritor, Chen Xu (陈栩).

How it is eaten

The Chaozhou city government describes visitors at the snack stalls of Paifang Street (牌坊街) buying the pastry, with mung bean cakes, to take home for family and friends.