Pastel de Tentúgal

Appearance & taste

The stick is a rectangular pastry of flaky dough with a “comb” at each end, filled with a straw-yellow to golden yellow cream and sometimes sprinkled with icing sugar or granulated sugar. A stick weighs 70 to 100 g and is 13 to 15 cm long; the mini stick weighs 30 to 70 g, the giant stick 500 to 2,000 g with a length of 25 to 40 cm. The half-moon (80 to 120 g) and the mini half-moon (40 to 80 g) have more or less pronounced combs and are sometimes sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon; because of the cinnamon and roasted almonds, their filling is yellow to yellowish brown.

The dough is flaky, delicate and crisp at the same time. The filling is creamy but firm, does not run out when cut and melts in the mouth. The sticks taste sweet of eggs, sugar and cinnamon, the half-moons also of roasted almonds.

Production

The only ingredients allowed are wheat flour of type 55 or 45, water, egg yolks and fresh eggs of quality class A and weight class L, refined white sugar, cinnamon, shelled almonds (only for the half-moons) and, as fat, a mixture of 90 % vegetable margarine and 10 % butter.

The dough of water and flour is placed on a wooden board lying on the floor covered with white cloths, and there the pastry makers stretch it by hand until it is almost transparent. According to the specification, this is the most critical step, because the dough must not tear beforehand. Once it has the desired moisture after drying, it is cut into circles, placed on trays and kept under a dry and a damp cloth; it then resembles parchment paper, but is even thinner. When shaping, the thin layers are folded together so that the filling cannot escape. Dough, filling, shaping and freezing must take place in the area. The pastry is sold baked on trays; raw or baked, it can also be offered frozen in packaging for frozen food.

Origin & history

The area is limited to the small town of Tentúgal; it extends to Lamarosa in the east, to Portela in the north, to Póvoa de Santa Cristina and Meãs in the west and to the Vala Real canal in the south. The proximity to the Atlantic at Figueira da Foz and to the Mondego river ensures mild temperatures and high humidity, averaging 70 % in spring and summer and up to 87 % in autumn and winter. According to the specification, in dry air the dough would tear while being stretched and could not be shaped into pastries.

The sweet was first made by the Carmelite nuns who lived in the convent of Nossa Senhora da Natividade from 1565 to 1898; according to the specification, the knowledge has not left the town since the 16th century. The oldest mention dates from 1860: Augusto Fonseca writes in “Velharias de Coimbra” that the Pastéis de Tentúgal were already sold in Coimbra before 1860. The poet António Nobre also mentions them, as do the newspaper “Conimbricense” in 1891 and reports on the Coimbra district exhibition of 1884. In 1904 Carlos Bento da Meia writes that the dough must become as thin and transparent as tissue paper. According to the specification, the pastry is sold throughout Portugal today, and visitors can watch in the bakeries how the dough is prepared and the pastries are shaped.