Savory mooncakes, or xian rou yue bing (鲜肉月饼), are filled with ground pork and prized by people in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, the areas where I grew up. In fact, simply mentioning xian rou yue bing will make most Shanghainese people weak in the knees! Needless to say, I’m very excited to share this recipe with you guys.
If you’re thinking that there’s no point in making these from scratch, trust me, you will not find these in your neck of woods (unless you happen to live somewhere in China). These are definitely not your typical chewy, sweet moon cakes; the uniqueness of these Shanghai savory mooncakes is in the dough or the crust.
It is quite similar to pastry dough, with all that layered, flaky and crumbly goodness—plus, there’s a savory meat filling. Sound weird? Not really! The cooking from this region tends to be on the sweeter side, so the sweet/salty filling with the pastry-like crust is a perfect combo.