老婆饼 (lǎopóbǐng) · wife cake

Measure Word

一块老婆饼 kuài

Meanings

1 wife cake

Made with

冬瓜 dōngguā 糯米粉 nuòmǐfěn 面粉 miànfěn 猪油 zhūyóu 糖 táng

About the dish

粤菜 Cantonese · 甜品 Dessert

A round, flaky pastry filled with a sweet, chewy paste of winter melon and glutinous rice flour, sometimes with sesame. The name means wife cake. It usually holds no meat, but the pastry and filling are often made with lard.

Usually contains wheat

Characters

old woman; wife (in 老婆)

饼

bǐng

flatbread; cake

Examples

HSK 7-9

茶楼里刚出炉的老婆饼最好吃。

Chálóu lǐ gāng chūlú de lǎopóbǐng zuì hǎochī.

Wife cakes fresh out of the oven at a teahouse are the best.

HSK 7-9

她顺手买了一盒老婆饼带回家。

Tā shùnshǒu mǎi le yì hé lǎopóbǐng dài huí jiā.

She picked up a box of wife cakes on her way home.

Tips

culture

Folk origin: a Chaozhou pastry-shop assistant, too poor to cure his sick father-in-law, sold his wife into servitude. He invented a fragrant winter-melon pastry, earned enough to buy her back, and named it 老婆饼 after her. Classic Cantonese/Chaoshan teahouse snack.