Today I learned to make the famous Portuguese pastry Pastel de Nata, an egg custard tart which people in Portugal usually eat as breakfast or as an afternoon snack. This one a big goal of this trip. To add Pastel de Nata to my patisserie repertoire.
After an excellent breakfast at Pestana Palace Hotel, I made my way to the Praca do Comercio, a large, elegant plaza overlooking the river. I had a few hours to burn so I went up Rua Augusta, did some shopping and ate a quick lunch of jamon serrano sandwich at Rossio Square.
At 2:00 pm, I entered the pastry shop Nat’elier, I was greeted by Jose, one of the pastry chefs who would be giving the class. Turns out he is from Peru and proceeded to speak to me in Spanish. He walked me up to the second floor where many patrons were enjoying pastries and coffee. The room was bright and filled with chatter. We entered a large salon where other students were already waiting. I took a seat by a blond girl named Melanie who is traveling from Australia.
After some polite chit chat, Jose and Sylvia, the two pastry chefs, entered the salon. We begun the class by introducing ourselves: our names, where we hail from, and of course, our favorite dessert. We had people from Scotland, Canada, Australia, Pennsylvania, Chicago and more. And everyone is a fan of dessert!
One by one, we washed our hands then walked downstairs to the pastry kitchen where we were all transformed into temporary chefs by donning on aprons and hairnets. There were to large work tables, so the group was divided in two. My group was made up of Melanie, a girl from Pennsylvania, and an American couple who after Lisbon were flying to Lyon (gave them plenty of tips).
As a group we weighted the flour, water and butter. We each worked our own dough and folded it various times to achieve the flaky layers we all associate with pastries like croissants. As a team we turned milk, sugar and eggs into a tasty custard. We all struggled to mold our pastels de nata, but we all had plenty of fun doing it. In the end, we all made delicious pastries. Each of us made three pastels de nata, and when they were nice and cool, we all went back to the salon and enjoyed the pastries together with a beverage (I paired mine with a white porto).
The chefs provided white, elegant boxes so we could take our leftover pastries with us. And a certificate so we can show the world that we can make some tasty treats.
I took my last pastry with me back to the hotel (yes, I ate two!) and enjoyed it with a strong espresso after dinner.
Today was a great day and I am happy to have fulfilled one of my bucket list items. I cannot wait to try to make Pastel de Nata on my own. I’m sure my coworkers wouldn’t mind being my quality testers.