With the mid-autumn festival approaching, hotels and restaurants are trying to up their games by adding creative twists to traditional mooncakes. One Thai chef, however, has gone full galaxy brain, swapping the usual sweet or savory ingredients with a juicy beef wellington filling.
This meat-stuffed mooncake is the brainchild of Attasit “Big” Pattanasatienkul, a graduate student from the Culinary Arts Academy in Switzerland and a former chef at Gaggan. Big now runs Yaktummaiyakin, a private chef’s table and Facebook page of the same name, after the pandemic put a pause on his dream of pursuing Michelin stars in established kitchens.
To make his beef wellington mooncakes, Attasit sears a butter-soft, pricey cut of wagyu tenderloin to perfect medium-rare, finely chops porcini mushrooms into duxelles, and stir-fries spinach until it’s crispy. That all gets wrapped in pastry dough made with black truffle and cinnamon wine-infused cake flour.
As a final touch, he adds an orange zest-kissed palo demi-glace to accompany the mooncakes. His two beef wellington mooncakes are then packed into a classic gold and red package he makes himself.
Hungry? You may need to pre-order fast as Attasit has limited the offerings to 168 boxes. The price is B2,345 for two mooncakes. Pre-order now via Line Shopping from Sep 15-25.
by Thanut Manthanasarnchai
Image Courtesy of Yaktummaiyakkin
