If you'd like to experience an "international gau fest" of your own, here's everything a group of us learned as we baked several different versions of gau.

Ingredients: Use rice flour that's labeled "sweet," "glutinous" or "mochi" or "mochiko." Traditional cooks prefer the penuche-type flavor of Chinese slab sugar, layered brown and white sugar with honey, sometimes labeled sugar candy (but NOT to be confused with Chinese rock candy). This sugar must be crushed or dissolved before use. Conventional brown sugar can be used in most recipes. Peanut oil is preferred, although salad oil is acceptable. Dried red dates, sometimes called jujubes, are sold in Chinatown; they resemble prunes in flavor and provide a splash of color as garnish on the top of most gau cakes. Be sure to remove the pit. If, however, the recipe suggests adding dates to the gau mixture, the jujubes can be first boiled to soften them. The other traditional garnish is a light sprinkling of sesame seeds, toasted to bring out the aroma.

Preparing the pan: Pans must be lined with some nonstick surface to assure that the gau cake can be removed. You also may need a "collar" to build up the height of the steaming container if it's too shallow; gau puffs and increases in size as it cooks.

For steaming, it's traditional to line the pan and build up the collar with dried bamboo leaves (available in Chinatown; must be soaked in water for a couple of days) or wilted ti leaves (pick the ti leaves several days in advance and let them wilt in the shade, or microwave them for 40 seconds on high). Line the baking dish or pan with cleaned, dried, trimmed, deboned leaves in a spiral fashion. Sew around the collar with cotton thread, secure with toothpicks or tie with kitchen string.

For baking, oil or spray the baking dish; a lining of Release brand nonstick aluminum foil assures easy release.

For microwaving, use well-oiled plastic wrap or kitchen parchment.

Gau techniques: Gau is traditionally steamed (covered, over simmering water) but may be baked or microwaved.

To bake, grease baking dish before pouring batter in. To steam-bake, place baking dish of gau in larger pan of hot water; cover with foil.

To microwave, use high setting and microwave in 2-minute increments until cooked through and firm.

Steaming equipment: The nicest equipment is a purpose-built Chinese steamer — a large pot with a rack built in and room for stacking and steaming multiple dishes, pans that fit inside and a lid. But you can improvise with a wok or frying pan or Dutch oven, a round cake pan, Chinese bamboo steaming baskets or other heat proof dishes, some empty cans to serve as a rack and heavy-duty foil for a lid.

Always place a cotton kitchen towel under the lid of the steamer to prevent condensation from raining down on the gau.

About the batter: Depending on your preference and your family's tradition, gau batter can be as thick as stiff cake batter or as thin and runny as crepe batter. Just remember that the thinner the batter, the longer the steaming time — a very thin mixture can take 8 hours of steaming.

Doneness: Gau is done when a chopstick or bamboo skewer plunged into the center of the pudding emerges clean, no sticking or "crumbs."

Cutting gau: A serrated plastic knife is best.

Keeping gau: Gau is good at room temperature for a day or two but quickly molds and spoils. It can be stored in the refrigerator but will harden and must then be sliced and fried, steamed or microwaved to soften.

This is the grandmother of gaus — a plain and simple mixture recognizable to any cook of Cantonese heritage. Gladys Lee demonstrated how to make this, which is based on a recipe from "Chinese Festivals The Hawaiian Way," by Toy Len Chang. The gau was silky smooth, mildly butterscotchy in flavor with a hint of "laulau" from the ti leaves.

TRADITIONAL STEAMED NEW YEAR'S PUDDING (GAU)