Pastel de nata
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Pastel de Nata (pron. IPA: [pɐʃ'tɛɫ dɨ 'natɐ]; plural: Pastéis de Nata) or Pastel de Belém (pron. IPA: [pɐʃ'tɛɫ dɨ bɨ'lɐ̃ĩ]; plural: Pastéis de Belém) is a small cream tart found throughout Portugal's pastry shops or cafés. It is believed that it was created before the 18th century by Catholic Sisters at the Jerónimos Monastery (Portuguese Mosteiro dos Jerónimos) of Belém, in Lisbon [1]. Casa Pastéis de Belém in Lisbon was the first place outside the convent selling this creamy dessert, and there they're called Pastéis de Belém, after the name of the area. Since 1837, locals have come here to get them warm out of the oven and sprinkled with the cinnamon and powdered sugar.
It was the sweet chosen to represent Portugal in the Café Europe initiative of the Austrian presidency of the European Union, on Europe Day 2006.
A Briton named Andrew Stow modified the recipe of making pastéis de nata with techniques of making English custard tarts and started selling the modified version at his Lord Stow's Cafe [2] in Coloane, Macau, as Portuguese-style egg tarts. It has since become available at numerous bakeries, as well as Macau-style restaurants and Hong Kong branches of the KFC restaurant chain. There was a craze of Portuguese-style egg tarts in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan in the late 1990s.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Pastéis de Belém - Official site
- Pasteis Belem Article by Gina Modesto in Accessible Travel Magazine, October 2006
- Pastéis de Belém: Hot on the Trail of a Legend from Leite's Culinaria
- There's history - and a secret - in every bite This article outlines the history and popularity of pasteis de nata in Portugal.
- Lord Stow's Bakery The bakery of Andrew Stow, who claims to have started the craze of Portuguese-style egg tarts in Macau and elsewhere in Asia.
- [3] O sabor original da antiga doçaria portuguesa
