 |
This article may require copy-editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone or spelling. You can assist by editing it now. (April 2009) |
Egg tart
|
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese: | 蛋撻 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese: | 蛋挞 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning: | egg tart | ||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
Egg tarts, custard tarts, or egg custard tarts are a kind of pastry popular in many parts of the world, particularly in Chinese and Western European cuisines. The tarts consist of an outer pastry crust that is filled with egg custard and baked. It is one of the dishes served in the Manchu Han Imperial Feast.
Contents |
History
Custard tarts were introduced in Hong Kong in the 1940s by cha chaan tengs; then, they were introduced in western cafes and bakeries to compete with dim sum restaurants, particularly for yum cha.[1] At the time of their introduction, egg tarts were twice the size of those we eat today. During the economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s, Lu Yu (陸羽) took the lead with the mini-egg tart.[1] Ironically, mini egg tarts are now a common dim sum dish and are usually richer than those served in bakeries.
One theory suggests Chinese egg tarts are an adaption of English tarts with custard filling. Guangdong had long been the region in China with most frequent contact with the West, in particular Britain. As a former British colony, Hong Kong adopted some British cuisine. Another theory suggests that egg tarts evolved from the very similar Portuguese egg tart pastries, known as pastel de nata, traveling to Hong Kong via the Portuguese colony of Macau.
Hong Kong-style egg tarts
Today, egg tarts come in many variations within Hong Kong cuisine, including egg white tarts, milk tarts, honey-egg tarts, ginger-flavoured egg tarts (the two aforementioned were variations of a traditional milk custard and egg custard, which was usually served in cha chaan tengs, chocolate tarts, green-tea-flavoured tarts, and even bird's nest tarts.
Overall, Hong Kong-style egg tarts have two main types of outer casings: shortcrust pastry and puff pastry, traditionally made with lard rather than butter or shortening. Most Hong Kong Chinese food purists hold the egg tarts made with puff pastry in higher regard.
Unlike in English custard tarts, milk is normally not added to the egg custard, and the tart is not sprinkled with ground nutmeg or cinnamon before serving. It is also served piping hot (preferably) rather than at room temperature like English custard tarts.
Cultural reference
- Chris Patten, the last British Governor of Hong Kong before the transition to China in 1997, was known to be fond of this pastry. He particularly enjoyed the egg tarts sold at Tai Cheong Bakery (TC:泰昌餅家; see external links below), and thus the eggs tarts sold at the bakery became known as "Fei-Paang egg tarts" (肥彭蛋撻; literally "Fat Patten's Egg Tart," "Fat Patten" being the governor's nickname in Cantonese); the story still remains popular among Hong Kong citizens.
Portuguese-style
Portuguese-style egg tarts were evolved from "pastel de nata", a traditional Portuguese custard pastry that consists of custard in a crème brûlée-like consistency caramelized fashion in a puff pastry case. It was created more than 200 years ago by Catholic Sisters at Jerónimos Monastery (Portuguese: Mosteiro dos Jerónimos) at Belém in Lisbon [2]. Casa Pastéis de Belém was the first pastry shop outside of the convent to sell this pastry in 1837, and it is now a popular pastry in every pastry shop around the world owned by Portuguese descendants.
The Portuguese-style egg tarts known in Macau (Chinese: 葡式蛋撻, more commonly simply as 葡撻) originated from Lord Stow's Café in Coloane, owned by a Briton named Andrew Stow. Stow modified the recipe of pastel de nata using techniques of making English custard tarts [3]. It has since become available at numerous bakeries, as well as Macau-style restaurants and KFC restaurant chains in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. There was an egg tart craze in Singapore and Taiwan in the late 1990s.
See also
References
External links
- Pictures of egg tarts being made, with text in Chinese including its history in Hong Kong
- A simple recipe for egg tarts
- Recipe of traditional English-style custard tart which inspired the Chinese version
- AVBuzz.com, a Hong Kong-based online photographic society, has its photographs capturing the crowds around Tai Cheong's Bakery.
- There's history - and a secret - in every bite
- Lord Stow's Bakery
- The egg tart column(蛋挞专题) form 5hpk.com contains many recipes, people's feeling, gallery and also history and so on. (text in Chinese characters)
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
