Meet the man who has been making rare hand-molded mooncakes in Hanoi for nearly 40 years

In the days approaching Mid-Autumn Festival, inside alley number 19 Nguyen Sieu street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi , there are more people coming and going. Because inside there is a small house, which sells unique traditional moon cakes shaped like pigs, hand-molded.

The moon cakes are completely handmade, rustic but very soulful.

Just standing outside, customers can smell the fragrant smell of baked cakes. Therefore, it is not too difficult for people to find Ba Giau brand moon cakes. There is no signboard, but for decades, this has been the address for those who like traditional pig-shaped moon cakes, which must be hand-made and not molded.

Hand-molded mooncakes of Ba Giau brand.

"My family only sells cakes in the shape of pigs. This family really likes pigs, from children to adults. When traveling to other countries, everyone has to buy souvenirs in the shape of pigs. In her attic, there is a cabinet full of pig shapes, all kinds of pigs. In general, no matter which country my grandparents go to, they buy them all, and when their children go abroad, they also buy them as gifts. But I have to admit that Vietnamese pigs are the most beautiful" - Mrs. Thai, wife of Mr. Truong Huu Ba (nickname Ba Giau), shared.

Mooncakes shaped like pigs symbolize a prosperous and happy life.

In Vietnam, the image of a pig carries the meaning of wishing everyone good luck, many children, happiness, and abundance. Therefore, the moon cakes of a herd of pigs are a symbol of affection between family members, as well as a warm and happy life. On the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival, people often give each other boxes of cakes shaped like a herd of pigs to relatives and friends as a wish for a warm family and a prosperous life.

Baskets with pigs inside look rustic and familiar.

Coming to Mr. Ba Giau's moon cakes, you will see all kinds of different pig-shaped cakes. There are pig cakes in baskets, boxes of 2 pigs next to each other or cakes shaped like pig heads... The most special is the pig moon cake consisting of 1 mother pig and 10 piglets.

The inside of the cake is soft, spongy and very fragrant.

The cakes here are only baked, the small cakes are coconut cakes, and the big pig cakes are green bean and salted egg cakes. All are handmade, without preservatives, so they don't last too long, but the important thing is to make sure that children can eat them with peace of mind. In addition, the ingredients are prepared by the grandparents themselves, the salted eggs are also selected by the grandmother and salted herself. When enjoying, you can see that the cake crust is soft and spongy, the coconut filling is very delicious, the overall cake has a moderate sweetness, not too sweet.

A pig shaped cake with a mother pig and 10 piglets surrounding her.

Talking about hand-molded cakes, Mrs. Thai said: "The hardest part is making the cakes. Nowadays, everyone makes molds, there are few families that make them by hand like this. My family makes hand-molded pigs, so they look alive, each one is different, no two are alike. And because they are hand-molded, they are not uniform, sometimes I make them big, sometimes I make them small, sometimes I make the pigs with their noses up, sometimes I make them lying down, there are many different shapes."

Nearly 40 years of making moon cakes, simply because of the love for the job

Mr. Truong Huu Ba, nicknamed Ba Giau, is the person who directly molds these pig-shaped moon cakes. Mr. Ba's family is famous for making spongy biscuits, and during the subsidy period, customers had to queue up to buy cakes. Later, Mr. Ba took over the family's baking business and created his own pig-shaped moon cakes.

Mrs. Thai, Mr. Ba's wife, said: "Talking about the baking profession, he has been doing it since 1965, when he made sponge cakes, which has been almost 60 years. As for making animal-shaped cakes, he has been doing it since 1988, which is almost 40 years. Since switching to making these cakes, the family has only made pig-shaped cakes. The family still makes traditional baked cakes, but on the 14th day of the lunar calendar, they only make them for the family to burn incense on."

Mr. Truong Huu Ba, nicknamed Ba Giau, has been making pig-shaped cakes for nearly 40 years.

As for the reason for choosing a pig to create the cake, it is known that during a visit to Hoai Duc village, Hanoi, Mr. Ba accidentally saw a herd of pigs suckling their mother. He found that image very beautiful and symbolized prosperity. So when he returned home, he decided to make pig-shaped cakes.

In the small house on Nguyen Sieu Street, the first floor is where Mr. Ba and Mrs. Thai live and make cakes. Helping them are a few grandchildren in the family. These days, Mr. Ba is diligently molding each small cake. Because he is so familiar with it, he does each step regularly, and in just a moment, the lovely pigs are molded. The man is over 70 years old, has gray hair, wrinkled skin, and walks slowly, but molds cakes in the shape of pigs very quickly. With just a little bit of dough, with skill and talent, Mr. Ba gently strokes, shapes, bends or squeezes a little to create different pigs that look very interesting.

Each pig has a different appearance, no two are alike.

Although they are husband and wife, Mrs. Thai confided: "He is used to it, but if I can't make cakes, I won't be able to learn his craft in decades." Having said that, Mrs. Thai is the one in charge of baking the cakes, an equally important step in making delicious moon cakes. "He specializes in making cakes, she specializes in baking. Now my hands hurt so my grandchildren have to help, but I still have to do the technique to get it right. A batch of cakes like this looks like this, but it takes nearly 50 minutes to bake. My family uses a small oven so each batch can only bake a moderate amount" - Mrs. Thai added.

There are different types of pig-shaped moon cakes for buyers to choose from, Mr. Ba also names each box of cakes.

Having just finished making a batch of cakes, Mr. Ba had time to share more about his passion for the pig moon cakes. Mr. Ba smiled as he talked about the pigs he made himself: "Everyone likes these pig cakes, especially the children. The cakes made by hand have their own liveliness, ten of them look like one, but each one has a different shape. He made them by hand, some big and some small, some crawling on their mother's back, some lying next to them, some turning their heads away, and some jumping in to suckle. The most important thing about the pig is its nose, ears, and eyes, which must be shown. Besides, its shape, how it contracts, etc. When finished, people will not laugh yet, but after a while they will laugh because this pig has a soul, it is lively." Indeed, for Mr. Ba, making cakes is to bring smiles to everyone.

Because of their advanced age, for Mr. Ba and Mrs. Thai, this job is now a joy and passion every Mid-Autumn Festival, as Mr. Ba confided: "Mainly for me, this job comes from interest. We do this for fun." Looking at the way Mr. Ba passionately talks about the pig cakes, it is enough to understand how much he loves this job: "This pig is a pair of pigs, one male and one female, so I named it 'Pair of Pigs Together', the male is a little shorter. And this box has 4 pig heads, also known as pig heads."

In the past, making cakes was a way to earn a living to raise children, but now that the children are grown up and settled down, making cakes is a joy in old age for grandparents. Besides moon cakes, grandparents still make salty cakes from the subsidy period, just order them and they make them.

The table was filled with all kinds of pig-shaped moon cakes.

On the 14th and 15th of the 8th lunar month, people take the opportunity to visit their grandparents' house to buy pig-shaped moon cakes. Not only the elderly but also many young people come here to buy these handmade cakes. The large table of the house is used to display all kinds of pig-shaped cakes, people happily choose their favorite pig-shaped cakes. The atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival is also from here.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/gap-nguoi-dan-ong-gan-40-nam-lam-banh-trung-thu-lon-i-nan-tay-hiem-co-o-ha-noi-20240915233510415.htm