XO Soused - laminated pastry for dimsum puffs and tarts

‘Puff pastry’ in Chinese cooking is a very different beast. But what is unique about the laminated dough that dim sum chefs make to wrap, cocoon or encase dim sum fillings? What ingredients, ratios and techniques create the pastry of the Hong Kong egg tart or the millefeuille effect of baked dim sum savoury puffs? Was this mastery something that came out of early Chinese dynastic history? Or did it emerge during the later tumultuous centuries when European settled in China? Did their interactions with an open minded professional dim sum system lead to experimentation?

A. Wong Hong Kong Egg Custard Tart. Covering only half of the tart with a topping leaves diners to enjoy unfettered the look and crumble of the pastry when they slice or bite into it.