Egg tart

This article is about egg tarts in Chinese cuisine. For custard tarts in general, see custard tart.

Egg tart
Traditional Chinese	蛋撻
Simplified Chinese	蛋挞
Literal meaning	egg tart
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin dàntà Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping daan6 taat1

The egg tart or egg custard tart (commonly romanized as dan tat) is a kind of custard tart pastry commonly found in Hong Kong and other Asian countries, which consists of an outer pastry crust that is filled with egg custard and baked. It is listed at number 16 on World's 50 most delicious foods complied by CNN Go in 2011.^[1]

History

Custard tarts were introduced in Hong Kong in the 1940s by cha chaan tengs. They were then introduced in western cafes and bakeries to compete with dim sum restaurants, particularly for yum cha.^[2] During the economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s, Lu Yu Teahouse took the lead with the mini-egg tart.^[2] Ironically, mini egg tarts are now a common dim sum dish and are richer than those served in bakeries.

One theory suggests Hong Kong egg tarts are an adaptation of English custard tarts. Guangdong had more frequent contact with the West, in particular Britain, than the rest of China. 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 cuisine

Today, egg tarts come in many variations within Hong Kong cuisine, including egg white, milk , honey-egg, ginger-flavoured egg, which are variations of a traditional milk custard and egg custard served in cha chaan tengs), and also chocolate tarts, green-tea-flavoured tarts, and even bird's nest tarts.

Overall, Hong Kong egg tarts have two main types of crusts: shortcrust pastry or puff pastry, traditionally made with lard rather than butter or shortening. They are both filled with a rich custard that is much eggier and less creamy than English custard tarts or Portuguese pastéis de nata.^[3]

Unlike 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 rather than at room temperature like English custard tarts.

Portuguese cuisine

Pastéis de nata in Macau

Main article: Pastel de nata

Portuguese egg tarts were evolved from "pastel de nata", a traditional Portuguese custard pastry that consists of custard in a crème brûlée-like consistency caramelized 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.^[4] Casa Pastéis de Belém was the first pastry shop outside of the convent to sell this pastry in 1837. It is now a popular pastry in every pastry shop around the world owned by Portuguese descendants.

They are sold at KFC restaurants in across Asia and south-east Asia.

See also

Food portal

• Custard tart
• Meringue tart
• Pastry
• Pastel de nata
• Put chai ko
• Dim sum
• Gai daan jai
• Quiche

References

1. ^ CNN Go World's 50 most delicious foods 21 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-11
2. ^ ^{a b} Origin of eggtart
3. ^ CNN Go 40 Hong Kong foods we can't live without 13 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-09
4. ^ csmonitor

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, Pinyin: dàtà zhuāntí) form 5hpk.com contains many recipes, people's feeling, gallery and also history and so on. (text in Chinese characters)