The dish to eat in Lisbon · Portugal

Pastel de nata

Name: Pastéis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts)
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Portugal
Ingredients: 1 sheet (about 9 oz/250 g) all-butter puff pastry, cold; For the syrup: 1 cup (200 g) sugar, 2/3 cup (160 ml) water, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 strip lemon peel; For the custard: 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) whole milk, 3 tbsp (25 g) flour, 6 egg yolks, 1/2 tsp vanilla; Cinnamon and powdered sugar, to serve

Photo: Mon Œil, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · source

A small custard tart in crackly puff pastry, scorched on top and eaten warm with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

The monks of the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém made the first pastéis in the 1800s, and the recipe went to the bakery next door. Lisbon eats them standing at the counter with a bica (espresso), any time of day.

Where to eat it Cook it at home

Where to eat it: the best three in Lisbon

Pastéis de Belém
Rua de Belém, Belém
Order: Two pastéis de Belém, warm, with cinnamon, and a bica
Baking from the original monastery recipe since 1837.
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Manteigaria
Rua do Loreto, Chiado
Order: A pastel de nata straight from the oven
A bakery that makes only pastéis de nata, often named the best in town.
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Pastelaria Aloma
Rua Francisco Metrass, Campo de Ourique
Order: Pastel de nata, and try the bolas de Berlim
Has won Lisbon's best pastel de nata contest several times.
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All three are on Chef Amazing’s list The best pastel de nata in Lisbon, which you can save and take with you.

Cook it at home: Pastéis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts)

Serves 12Time 1 hr 30 min, plus chilling

Rolled puff pastry gives the tight, crackly spiral, and a custard made with a lemon-and-cinnamon sugar syrup sets silky. The secret is a very hot oven, so the tops scorch before the custard curdles.

Pans and tools

12-cup muffin tin
Saucepan and whisk
Candy thermometer
Fine strainer and jug

You’ll need

1 sheet (about 9 oz/250 g) all-butter puff pastry, cold
For the syrup: 1 cup (200 g) sugar, 2/3 cup (160 ml) water, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 strip lemon peel
For the custard: 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) whole milk, 3 tbsp (25 g) flour, 6 egg yolks, 1/2 tsp vanilla
Cinnamon and powdered sugar, to serve

Steps

Roll the puff pastry up tightly from the short side into a log. Wrap and freeze 20 minutes so it slices cleanly.
Cut the log into 12 rounds about 3/4 inch (2 cm) thick. Put one spiral-side up in each cup of a lightly buttered 12-cup muffin tin.
Dip your thumbs in cold water and press each round from the center out, thinning the bottom and pushing the pastry up the sides until it rises just above the rim. The bottom should be thin. Chill 30 minutes.
Syrup: boil the sugar, water, cinnamon and lemon peel without stirring until it reaches 220F (104C), about 3 minutes. Take off the heat.
Custard: whisk 1/4 cup (60 ml) of the milk with the flour until smooth. Heat the rest of the milk until steaming, whisk in the flour mixture and cook, whisking, 1 to 2 minutes until it thickens.
Remove the cinnamon and lemon from the syrup and pour it in a thin stream into the milk, whisking. Cool 10 minutes, then whisk in the yolks and vanilla. Strain into a jug.
Heat the oven as hot as it goes, 525 to 550F (275 to 290C), with a rack in the top third.
Fill each pastry cup about three-quarters full. Bake 10 to 14 minutes, until the pastry is deep golden and the tops have dark brown, almost black spots.
Cool 10 minutes in the tin, then lift out. Eat warm, dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

Chef’s tips

The oven must be as hot as yours goes; at 400F the custard sets before the tops brown.

Thin bottoms, thick rims: that's what makes the shatter.

They're best within a few hours. Rewarm leftovers 5 minutes in a hot oven.

Contains: Wheat (gluten), egg, milk.

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