Pastel de Chaves

Appearance & taste

The pastry is shaped like a half-moon; on the top there is a raised ridge at the side, formed as the puff pastry rises in the oven. Baked, it is dark yellow to golden yellow. There are two sizes: the normal Pastel de Chaves is 12 to 14 cm long, 6 to 8.5 cm wide and 3 to 4.5 cm high and weighs 60 to 90 g; the starter size measures 8 to 9 cm in length, 5 to 6 cm in width and 2 to 3 cm in height and weighs 20 to 30 g.

When cut, the pastry shows many very thin layers. It is golden yellow on top and, underneath, slightly moist and somewhat darker from the minced meat. The filling in the middle is thick, soft, moist, juicy and melting, with recognisable pieces of meat and onion; it tastes of veal, olive oil and onions. During baking the pastry absorbs the juices of the filling and is at once crisp, tender and melting in the mouth.

Production

For the filling, the veal is cooked through and bound with finely chopped hard wheat bread, which gives it cohesion and smoothness. According to the specification, the pastry cook’s experience decides when it has the right consistency.

The dough is stretched, rolled out and folded three times, then formed into a roll and cut into slices 2 to 3 cm wide. From these the pastry cooks shape equal-sized filled half-moons by hand, with the typical finely layered look and firm, crisp texture. The filling, the dough and the shaping must be done in the area. Some businesses freeze the pastries immediately after shaping; this, too, is done at the production site.

Origin & history

The area is the municipality of Chaves. The town lies in a wide valley surrounded by granite and schist mountains over 1,084 m high and, for lack of transport routes, was long difficult to reach. According to the specification, the know-how for making it has therefore never left the municipality, and no similar pastries from the surrounding area are known.

According to a magazine from 2004, the story begins in 1862: a saleswoman of unknown origin went through the town with a basket of unusually shaped pastries, of which there were not enough for everyone, and the pastry cook Teresa Feliz Barreira offered her one pound for the recipe. For more than 75 years it remained in the hands of a single business, where the original oven still stands today. Only in the 1940s do local publications show that the recipe no longer belonged to just one business and had become a symbol of the pastry-making craft of Chaves. The “Almanaque de Chaves” of 1949 mentions that orders paid in advance could be sent anywhere in the country.