Pastel de Nata

The rim of thin pastry shatters crisply, and the surface of the egg custard bears dark scorch marks. Portugal’s pastel de nata is a small tart made by filling a laminated-pastry case with custard and baking the two together at a high temperature. One is called a pastel, and more than one are called pastéis. It is sometimes eaten dusted with cinnamon or powdered sugar. The brown on the surface is not a layer of caramel placed on afterward but the browning of the custard itself.

Pastéis de nata lined up in a shop in Lisbon. 2023, IngimarE (photo source / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Slicing rolled dough and spreading it into molds

Fat is wrapped in a dough of wheat flour and water, which is rested and folded, then rolled out thin and rolled up. A single slice from the roll is placed in a mold and spread from the bottom up the sides with wet fingers, so the rolled layers open outward toward the rim. The lines of the layers also differ from those of tarts lined with a single flat cut-out sheet.

The mold described in the traditional food documentation is about 7 cm in diameter. There are also the deep natão, with a high-rising rim, and bite-sized versions; even with the same custard and pastry, they are made in different heights and individual sizes.

Cooking milk and flour, adding syrup and eggs, and baking at a high temperature

The custard of egg yolks, milk, and sugar may be thickened with wheat flour or starch. In the method of Lisbon’s school of tourism and hospitality, wheat flour and corn flour are dissolved in a little cold milk, and the rest of the milk, hot, is added gradually while cooking. Off the heat, a syrup made by boiling sugar, water, lemon peel, and cinnamon is mixed in, and finally whole eggs and egg yolks are added. Cooking the flour first means the liquid does not have to be brought to a boil after the eggs are added.

The pastry cases are filled, and in the school’s method they are baked at 300–350°C. The high temperature bakes the thin rims while setting the filling and giving the surface a deep color.

Artisans making nata at a shop in central Lisbon. 2025, Philip Mallis (photo source / CC BY-SA 4.0)

There are also methods in which no separate syrup is prepared and the flour and sugar are cooked with the milk. In the published recipe of Portuguese pastry chef Paulo Duarte, wheat flour, cornstarch, and sugar are added to hot milk and cooked, and the mixture is then cooled to body temperature before the egg yolks are mixed in. The tarts are baked at 320°C with strong bottom heat, and immediately after they come out, their surfaces are misted with water to give them a sheen. While the sequence of cooking the flour before adding the egg yolks is shared, the way the sugar is combined and the finishing after baking are not the same.

Some fillings use fresh cream, and others use only milk. The notes left by João Ribeiro, head chef of the Hotel Aviz, combine milk, flour, sugar syrup, and egg yolks and contain no fresh cream. The 1936 book “Portuguese Cookery” records different filling recipes for tarts served warm and tarts served cold. Both had laminated-pastry exteriors, but the fillings were made differently depending on whether the tarts were served warm or cold.

The founding of the Belém workshop and the passing down of its secret

Pastéis de Belém, safeguarded by a shop in western Lisbon, is the name of one specific pastry. The shop’s own history relates that when the monasteries were closed in 1834, people connected with the Jerónimos Monastery sold pastries at a shop attached to a nearby sugar refinery, and that production began in 1837. The recipe is still handed down among its pastry makers as a secret.

Founder Domingos Rafael Alves is said to have hired a confectioner from the monastery in 1837. There is also an account that the company purchased the recipe (the proportions of ingredients and the method) in 1879, which means that more than 40 years separate the hiring of the confectioner and the acquisition of the rights to the recipe.

In 1987, the 150th anniversary of the founding, Maria Irene Silva visited the workshop, where the pastry makers Henrique and Luís Ramos carried on the secret recipe and the mixing room was kept locked. In addition to an old dough sheeter, they used electric ovens to meet demand and a wood-fired oven on Sundays and holidays. While guarding the secret of the recipe, they also adapted their tools and equipment to the volume of production.

In 2011, in “7 Wonders of Gastronomy (7 Maravilhas da Gastronomia),” a public vote to select elements of Portuguese food culture, pastel de Belém was chosen as one of the seven winning dishes.

Nata from monasteries in different places, and different ways of making the crust

Notes left by the last nun of Odivelas record a sweet combining cream, egg yolks, sugar, flower water, and cinnamon. That recipe, published in 1999, does not describe the crust in detail, and it is unclear whether it was laminated pastry. A 2001 municipal publication also records a crust closer to a short pastry than to laminated pastry. Several methods have also been handed down for the crust that holds the egg custard.

According to food culture researcher Virgílio Nogueiro Gomes, a 1729 manuscript from the Convent of Santa Clara in Évora contains “pastelinhos de nata,” in which cream, egg yolks, and sugar are placed in small laminated-pastry cases. However, there is also research questioning the origin and the authenticity of the contents of this convent manuscript, which has been attributed to 1729, so the year recorded in it cannot be taken directly as the date of the pastry. Small pastries made with cream, egg yolks, and sugar were handed down not only in Belém but also in convents in other places.

The related bom bocado puts a lemon-accented egg custard into a sweet short-pastry case. Even with a similar filling, the bite of the pastry gives each its own distinct flavor.

Refinement in Macau, and expansion to Hong Kong and Taiwan

For Macau’s po tat (葡撻), too, pastry that has been rolled out thin and rolled up is sliced, spread into molds, and baked with a filling of milk, eggs, and fresh cream. Cultural heritage documentation records differences in formulas and baking methods from shop to shop. With its light pastry, soft custard, and scorch-marked surface, it became a local specialty.

According to his bakery’s account, Andrew Stow, who was from Britain, opened a shop in Coloane in 1989 and, inspired by the nata he had tasted in Portugal, created his own recipe with British elements added. In the late 1990s, it expanded to Hong Kong and Taiwan, and, through a separate route, KFC Taiwan acquired the exclusive agency for Macau’s 瑪嘉烈蛋撻 (Margaret’s Café e Nata) in 1998. The small Portuguese tart has spread overseas as well, with each shop varying its dairy formula and through new sales networks.

Glossary