Portuguese tarts are possibly the
best desert in the world, and we were staying where they were invented…
Portugal. To get an idea of what they taste like, imagine a really good custard
tart, now imagine a really good egg tart, now put them together and multiply
the yumminess by ∞, this
ladies and gentlemen, is a Portuguese tart. YUM!!!
Our rule while we were in Lisbon, was
that we needed to have at least one Portuguese tart a day. We tried not to have
a tart at the same place twice. Some tarts were served with cinnamon and icing
sugar, but some were fine without. We tried two different places on ‘Rua do
Arsenal’ and they were both delicious.
Supposedly, the first Portuguese tarts
ever made, were made by monks at Jerónimos Monastery (Which we visited whilst
in Lisbon!). The monks needed something to do with the yolks of the eggs, they
used the whites to starch their clothing.
In 1820, there was a Liberal Revolution
and the monks could tell that their monastery was soon going to be closed, so
they sold their recipe to a nearby sugar refinery. Three years later, the sugar
refinery opened ‘Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém’ and began to bake the tarts,
following the original recipe of the monks. Whilst in Belém, we actually got tarts
from this shop!
Pastel De Nata (literally ‘pastry of cream’) as the locals call it, is in the running for best desert of the year trip award. I will tell you the winner of this prestigious award near the end of our trip.
Yum!
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