Pastel de nata

{{Short description|Portuguese egg tart pastry dusted with cinnamon}}

{{Infobox food

| name = Pastel de nata

| image = Pasteis de Belem.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = The typical appearance of the {{lang|pt|pastel de nata}} in Lisbon, Portugal

| alternate_name = {{lang|pt|Pastel de Belém|italics=no}}
Pastries of Bethlehem
{{lang|zh-MO|葡撻}}{{efn|Yale: pòuh tāat, literally "Portuguese tart"}} (Cantonese)

| country = Portugal

| region = Belém, Lisbon (originally); produced worldwide within the Lusosphere

| creator = Religious of the Jerónimos Monastery

| course = Dessert

| served = Fresh from oven, with cinnamon and icing sugar

| main_ingredient = Egg yolks

| variations = egg tart, custard tart

| calories = {{convert|299|kcal|kJ|order=flip|sigfig=2}}

| other =

}}

{{lang|pt|Pastel de nata}} ({{IPA|pt|pɐʃˈtɛl dɨ ˈnatɐ|lang}}; {{plural form}}: {{lang|pt|pastéis de nata}}) is a Portuguese egg custard tart pastry, optionally dusted with cinnamon.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/feb/18/custard-tart-brits-portugal-pasteis-de-nata |title=Custard tart fight: can the British version ever compete with Portugal's pastéis de nata? |newspaper=The Guardian |date=18 February 2015 |author=Julian Baggini }} Outside Portugal, they are particularly popular in other parts of Western Europe, Asia and former Portuguese colonies, such as Brazil, Mozambique, Macau, Goa, Malacca and East Timor. The Macanese variant has been adopted by KFC and is available in regions such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. In Indonesia, this pastry is especially popular in Kampung Tugu, Jakarta, a culturally Portuguese (Mardijker) enclave.{{cite web |url=https://www.infobudaya.net/2017/09/3-kudapan-khas-jakarta-hasil-akulturasi-budaya/ |title=3 KUDAPAN KHAS JAKARTA HASIL AKULTURASI BUDAYA |language=id |date=2017-09-18 |website=infobudaya.net }}

History

File:Tart telur Portugis (Pastéis de nata) 20230409 194702.jpg

{{lang|pt|Pastéis de nata}} tarts are pastries inspired by an original recipe called {{lang|pt|Pastéis de Belém}}, which were created before the 18th century by Catholic monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in the civil parish of Saint Mary of Bethlehem, in Lisbon.{{Cite web |url=https://theculturetrip.com/europe/portugal/articles/a-brief-introduction-to-pastel-de-nata-portuguese-custard-tarts/ |title=A Brief Introduction to Pastel De Nata, Portuguese Custard Tarts |first=Nina |last=Santos |website=Culture Trip |date=26 February 2017 |access-date=2019-11-12}} At the time, convents and monasteries used large quantities of egg-whites for starching clothes, such as friars and nuns' religious habits. It was quite common for monasteries and convents to use the leftover egg yolks to make cakes and pastries, resulting in the proliferation of sweet pastry recipes throughout the country.

In the aftermath of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, following the dissolution of religious orders and in the face of the impending closure of many convents and monasteries, the monks started selling {{lang|pt|pastéis de nata|italics=no}} at a nearby sugar refinery to bring in revenue. In 1834, the monastery was closed and the recipe sold to the sugar refinery, whose owners opened the {{lang|pt|Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém|italics=yes}} in 1837. The descendants own the business to this day.{{Cite news |url=https://www.cmjornal.pt/mais-cm/domingo/detalhe/175-anos-de-pasteis-de-belem |title=175 anos de pastéis de Belém [175 years of pasteléis de Belém] |date=12 August 2012 |work=Correio da Manhã |access-date=2018-06-06 |language=pt |archive-date=2018-07-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703000608/https://www.cmjornal.pt/mais-cm/domingo/detalhe/175-anos-de-pasteis-de-belem |url-status=dead }}

File:Pastéis de Belém工房風景.jpg

Since the opening of {{lang|pt|Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém|italics=yes}}, the original recipe that inspired {{lang|pt|pastel de nata|italics=yes}} varieties is kept in a secret room. The {{lang|pt|Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém|italics=yes}} is, therefore, the only place in the world that produces the original pastry that inspired many variations commonly known as "{{lang|pt|pastéis de nata|italics=yes}}"; the shop is located just a short three-minute walk from the Jerónimos Monastery.{{Cite web |url=https://www.golisbon.com/sight-seeing/jeronimos.html |title=Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon |website=www.golisbon.com}} The shop offers both takeout and sit-in services and sells over 20,000 pastéis a day.{{Cite web |url=https://www.lisbonguru.com/pasteis-belem-taste-history/ |title=Pastéis de Belém: A Taste of History |date=2016-05-27}} The tart is often sprinkled with canela (cinnamon).{{cn|date=October 2024}}

In 2009 The Guardian listed {{lang|pt|pastéis de Belém |italics=yes}} as one of the 50 "best things to eat" in the world.{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/13/best-foods-in-the-world |title=The 50 best things to eat in the world, and where to eat them (The Guardian) | location=London | first=Killian |last=Fox |date=13 September 2009}} In 2011, following the result of a public vote, the pastry was announced as one of Portugal's Seven Wonders of Gastronomy, further cementing it as one of the country's most popular national dishes.[https://wetravelportugal.com/pastel-de-nata-recipe/ Pastel de Nata] wetravelportugal.com. Retrieved 9 July 2022.File:Portuguese egg tart in Macau.jpg

Notes

References

Bibliography

{{citation |first=Dominick |last=Merle |work= The Christian Science Monitor |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0811/p11s01-trgn.html |title= There's history - and a secret - in every bite |date=11 August 2004 |access-date=23 April 2012}}
{{citation |first=David |last=Leite |work= Leite's Culinaria |url=https://leitesculinaria.com/10264/blog-history-pasteis-de-nata.html |title= Pastéis de Belém–The World's First Pastéis de Nata |date=8 September 2004 |access-date=9 June 2022}}
{{citation |url=http://www.mruiandre.com/docs/artigos/pasteisdebelem.pdf |title=O Segredo do Marketing dos Pastéis de Belém |publisher=Escola Superior de Comunicação Social, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa |date=December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001121149/http://www.mruiandre.com/docs/artigos/pasteisdebelem.pdf |location=Lisbon, Portugal |language=pt |archive-date=1 October 2022 |first1=André |last1=Amaral |first2=Carla |last2=Pires |first3=Daniel |last3=Castro e Silva |first4=Luís |last4=Medeiros |first5=Mário Rui |last5=André |access-date=23 April 2012 |url-status=dead }}