When you think of a fragrant baked treat bursting with the aroma of egg yolk, the first thing that comes to mind has to be the egg tart, a pastry with a caramelised top and a fascinating story behind it.
Today we've listed three interesting facts about the egg tart for you to enjoy.
1. The Egg Tart Is a Baked Pastry
The egg tart is classed as a baked good, or pastry, because its main ingredients are flour, sugar, milk, butter and eggs, and because it is made by baking.
2. The Egg Tart's Special Feature
Many people trying an egg tart for the first time wonder why the top looks burnt and whether it is a mistake. In fact it is deliberate: the scorched top is the egg tart's signature feature.
This browned top is called caramelised: the sugar on the surface is baked until it scorches. It comes from the special mix of ingredients and the baking method, which draw the sugar to the top and make it crisp, toasty and fragrant, just like the original.
3. The Origin of the Egg Tart
The egg tart is a Portuguese dessert. According to history, it was created before the 16th century by Catholic monks at the Hieronymites Monastery in the civil parish of Saint Mary of Bethlehem in Lisbon. At the time, convents and monasteries used large quantities of egg whites to starch clothes, leaving lots of egg yolks, which they used to make cakes and pastries such as the egg tart.
In 1837 the monastery closed, and the monks and nuns sold the recipe to the owner of a sugar refinery, who later opened a bakery called "Fábrica de Pastéis de Belém". This was the beginning of the egg tart's spread around the world.
