Portugese Custard Tarts

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

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Finchley, London
Has anyone made these? I want to have a go though I'm a little intimidated by working with thin, sticky, fragile dough and the laminating process. I'm also not sure that my oven goes to 290c, I'll have to check tomorrow. Still, I think they'll be awesome so it should be worth the trouble.


Anyway, Chef John is my favourite, makes me laugh a lot. Watch this video, but then you must watch it at half speed. Someone commented below the video that at 1/2 speed he sounds like a happy drunk. It's true and it's so funny to listen to. :D

 
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Not made them myself but theyre normally awesome lol, let us know how they end up
Lidl have started sellin these, and costco do frozen ones.

First encountereed these in nando's but I refuse to go there now as the prices have consistenyl gone up wiht th quality and portion dropping in almost a linear fashion lol
 
I’ve made it once, in a cooking class run by a pastry shop in Lisbon about 6 months ago.

The main thing that I remember is the lady said most domestic ovens don’t get hot enough to make them. The dough is easy to make actually. It's all about folding the layers of butter, then you just push the pastry over to the edges in the tins.
 
6 months ago I went on a real Pastel De Nata adventure/journey/mission to find out as much about it as possible. Went to Lisbon and tried it all over town.

These 2 are the best ones known locally, the one in the white box is famous and original, like THE original.

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What to look out for is the crusty pastry. I hate those now with a soggy bottom. It should be crunchy all the way around, you can feel the layers of pastry and the effect of all that butter in between making it flakey. The custard should have this "skin" on top and the middle is gooey. If you look at the bottom you will see a circular pattern, almost like a finger print. That shows it was folded and the sliced before placing it into the tin.
 
These are just ace - could eat my own body weight in them :D

We went to Lisbon last September and every night walking back to our apartment we'd stop for a tart and a glass of port :cool:
 
The Pasteis de Belem are the best. But Aldi in Portugal do a pretty good copy and they are often only 25c each. I usually buy them and then stick them on the BBQ after a cook (on a tin) and the bottoms crisp up again. Bit of cinnamon and they are damn tasty!
 
My wife makes these, though she usually cheats with pre-made pastry. What's inside is home made custard, so that's not difficult in itself. She uses vanilla and a bit of orange oil to give it something a bit special.
 
Hey Raymond, I remember when you originally posted about the tarts you tried in Lisbon and they've been in the back of my mind ever since. And the ones you made look awesome.

My oven goes to 270c. Do you think that will cut it? How long was your preparation before baking, i.e, after the final rolling did you refrigerate the dough overnight or just a couple of hours? I want to try and make and eat some on the same day. :p If they turn out successfully, I'll record the crunch as I bite into one.

Did you use a cinnamon stick for the custard? I've got sweet cinnamon powder, will that do?

robj20 said:
Have you been watching Travel Man. Just watched the Portugal one and they do look very nice.
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Actually I caught some of that episode but must have missed the custard tarts, I'll watch it on catch up.
 
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Merlin5 said:
Hey Raymond, I remember when you originally posted about the tarts you tried in Lisbon and they've been in the back of my mind ever since. And the ones you made look awesome.

My oven goes to 270c. Do you think that will cut it? How long was your preparation before baking, i.e, after the final rolling did you refrigerate the dough overnight or just a couple of hours? I want to try and make and eat some on the same day. :p If they turn out successfully, I'll record the crunch as I bite into one.

Did you use a cinnamon stick for the custard? I've got sweet cinnamon powder, will that do?



Actually I caught some of that episode but must have missed the custard tarts, I'll watch it on catch up.
Click to expand...

Here is the recipe, top half for the dough, bottom for the custard. My notes next to it.

It says Margarine, but I would actually use butter….because I think that's lost in translation, the monks who made it 200 years ago didn't have margarine!

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it's quite yellow for butter, ?
and, although I think shop butter puff pastry tastes better (fish pies etc) it could be one of those paradoxical things, like for cakes, where the water boiling off in the margarine helps give cakes volume, improving texture.

.... the moulding technique is fascinating.
 
Thanks Raymond, I'll see how I get on. I won't be using a vanilla pod by the way, have you seen the price? Tesco sell a single pod for £3.50 :eek:

I'll use my vanilla extract.


edit: I just discovered why vanilla pods are expensive. Interesting facts of the day: It's work intensive because in countries outside of central america, the orchids the vanilla pods come from have to be hand pollinated to actually grow the pods before the flowers wilt and fall off, and thousands of farmers are employed for several months to do this. Pretty amazing. Whereas in central america, their is a species of bee called Melipona that does the pollinating.
 
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