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Egg tarts, custard tarts, or egg custard tarts are a kind of pastry
Pastry

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baking made from ingredients such as flour, butter, shortening, baking powder or Egg s. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked goods are called "pastries"....
 popular in many parts of the world but particularly in Chinese and Western European cuisines. The tarts consist of an outer pastry crust, filled with egg
Egg (food)

An egg is a round or oval body laid by the female of many animals, consisting of an ovum surrounded by layers of membranes and an outer casing, which acts to nourish and protect a developing embryo and its nutrient reserves....
 custard
Custard

Custard is a range of preparations based on milk and Egg s, thickened with heat. Most commonly, custard refers to a dessert or dessert sauce, but custard bases are also used for quiches and other savoury foods....
 and baked. It is one of the dishes in the Manchu Han Imperial Feast
Manchu Han Imperial Feast

Manhan Quanxi, literally Manchu Han Imperial Feast was one of the grandest meals ever documented in Chinese cuisine. It consisted of at least 108 unique dishes from the Manchu and Han Chinese culture during the Qing Dynasty, and it is only reserved and intended for the emperors....
.

ard tarts were introduced in Hong Kong in the 1940s by cha chaan teng
Cha chaan teng

A cha chaan teng is a type of Chinese food tea restaurant commonly found in Hong Kong, known for its eclectic and affordable menus which include many dishes from Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style Western cuisine....
s and western cafes and bakeries
Chinese bakery

Chinese bakeries in big cities like Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and across the world in Chinatowns, serve traditional Chinese goods such as mooncakes, sun cakes, and Sweet heart cakes....
 to compete with dim sum
Dim sum

Dim sum is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves a wide range of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea. It is usually served in the mornings until noon time at Chinese restaurants and at specialty dim sum eateries where typical dishes are available throughout the day....
 restaurants particularly for yum cha
Yum cha

Yum cha is a term in Cantonese which means "drink Chinese tea". It refers to the custom of eating small servings of different foods while sipping Chinese tea in Cantonese speaking areas of northern and southern China China....
.






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Egg tarts, custard tarts, or egg custard tarts are a kind of pastry
Pastry

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baking made from ingredients such as flour, butter, shortening, baking powder or Egg s. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked goods are called "pastries"....
 popular in many parts of the world but particularly in Chinese and Western European cuisines. The tarts consist of an outer pastry crust, filled with egg
Egg (food)

An egg is a round or oval body laid by the female of many animals, consisting of an ovum surrounded by layers of membranes and an outer casing, which acts to nourish and protect a developing embryo and its nutrient reserves....
 custard
Custard

Custard is a range of preparations based on milk and Egg s, thickened with heat. Most commonly, custard refers to a dessert or dessert sauce, but custard bases are also used for quiches and other savoury foods....
 and baked. It is one of the dishes in the Manchu Han Imperial Feast
Manchu Han Imperial Feast

Manhan Quanxi, literally Manchu Han Imperial Feast was one of the grandest meals ever documented in Chinese cuisine. It consisted of at least 108 unique dishes from the Manchu and Han Chinese culture during the Qing Dynasty, and it is only reserved and intended for the emperors....
.

History

Custard tarts were introduced in Hong Kong in the 1940s by cha chaan teng
Cha chaan teng

A cha chaan teng is a type of Chinese food tea restaurant commonly found in Hong Kong, known for its eclectic and affordable menus which include many dishes from Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style Western cuisine....
s and western cafes and bakeries
Chinese bakery

Chinese bakeries in big cities like Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and across the world in Chinatowns, serve traditional Chinese goods such as mooncakes, sun cakes, and Sweet heart cakes....
 to compete with dim sum
Dim sum

Dim sum is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves a wide range of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea. It is usually served in the mornings until noon time at Chinese restaurants and at specialty dim sum eateries where typical dishes are available throughout the day....
 restaurants particularly for yum cha
Yum cha

Yum cha is a term in Cantonese which means "drink Chinese tea". It refers to the custom of eating small servings of different foods while sipping Chinese tea in Cantonese speaking areas of northern and southern China China....
. It later evolved to become egg tarts today. At the time, egg tarts were twice the size of today's tarts. During the 1950s and 1960s when the economy started taking off, Lu Yu
Lu Yu

Lu Yu is respected as the Sage of Tea for his contribution to Chinese tea culture. He is best known for his monumental book The Classic of Tea , the first definitive work on cultivating, making and drinking tea....
 took the lead with the mini-egg tart. Ironically, mini egg tarts are now a common dim sum dish, and are usually richer than those served in bakeries.

One theory suggests Chinese egg tarts are a Chinese adaption of English tarts with custard
Custard

Custard is a range of preparations based on milk and Egg s, thickened with heat. Most commonly, custard refers to a dessert or dessert sauce, but custard bases are also used for quiches and other savoury foods....
 filling. Guangdong
Guangdong

Guangdong is a political divisions of China on the southern coast of People's Republic of China. The province is also known by an alternative English language name, the Canton Province....
 had long been the region in China with most frequent contact with the West, in particular Britain. As a former British colony, British food naturally assimilated to local Hong Kong tastes. Another suggests that they are evolved from the very similar Portuguese egg tart pastries, possible through the influence of Portuguese Macau.

Hong Kong-style egg tarts

Today egg tarts come in many variations within Hong Kong cuisine
Cuisine of Hong Kong

The cuisine of Hong Kong is Cantonese cuisine with extensive influences from parts of non-Cantonese-speaking China , The West, Japan, and Southeast Asia, due to Hong Kong's past as a British colony and long history of being an international city of commerce....
. These include egg white tarts, milk tarts, honey-egg tarts, ginger-flavoured egg tarts (the two aforementioned variations were a take upon traditional milk custard and egg custard, which was usually served in cha chaan teng
Cha chaan teng

A cha chaan teng is a type of Chinese food tea restaurant commonly found in Hong Kong, known for its eclectic and affordable menus which include many dishes from Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style Western cuisine....
s, chocolate tarts, green-tea-flavoured tarts and even bird's nest
Bird's nest

Bird's nest may refer to:*Bird nest*Bird's nest soup, a delicacy made from the salivary excretions of the swiftlet*Seafood birdsnest, a southern Chinese dish made of taro...
 tarts.

Overall, Hong Kong-style egg tarts have two main types of outer casings: shortcrust pastry
Shortcrust pastry

Shortcrust pastry is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart or pie. It does not puff up during baking because it usually contains no leavening agent....
, and puff pastry
Puff pastry

In baking, a puff pastry is a light, flaky, unleavened pastry containing several layers of fat which is in solid state at 20Celsius ....
 traditionally made with lard
Lard

Lard is Domestic pig fat in both its Rendering and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a Spread similar to butter....
 rather than butter
Butter

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermentation cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications such as baking, sauce making, and frying....
 or shortening. Most Hong Kong Chinese food purists hold the egg tarts made with puff pastry in higher regard.

Unlike in English custard tarts
Custard tart

Custard tarts have long been a favourite pastry in the British Isles, and are also widely enjoyed in Australia and New Zealand. They are often called egg custard tarts or simply egg custards to distinguish the egg-based filling from the commonly-served Bird's Custard....
, milk is normally not added to the egg custard, and the tart is not sprinkled with ground nutmeg
Nutmeg

The nutmegs Myristica are a genus of evergreen trees indigenous to tropical southeast Asia and Australasia. They are important for two spices derived from the fruit, nutmeg and mace....
 or cinnamon
Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a small evergreen tree 10?15 metres tall, belonging to the family Lauraceae, and is native to Sri Lanka.The leaf are ovate-oblong in shape, 7?18 cm long....
 before serving. It is also served piping hot (preferably) rather than at room temperature as per English custard tarts.

Cultural reference

  • Chris Patten
    Chris Patten

    Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, Order of the Companions of Honour, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council is a prominent British Conservative politician and a Patron of the Tory Reform Group....
    , the last British
    British Empire

    The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, and other Dependent territory ruled or administered by the United Kingdom , that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries....
     Governor
    Governor of Hong Kong

    The Governor of Hong Kong was the Head of Government of the Hong Kong Government, ex-officio Commander-in-Chief and Vice-Admiral of Hong Kong during British rule between 1841 and 1997....
     of Hong Kong
    Hong Kong

    Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located in Southern China in East Asia, bordering the province of Guangdong to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east, west and south....
     before the transition to China in 1997, was known in Hong Kong popular culture to be fond of this pastry. He particularly enjoyed the egg tarts sold at Tai Cheong Bakery (TC:????; see external links below), and thus the eggs tarts sold at the bakery became known as "Fei-Paang egg tarts" (????; literally "Fat Patten's Egg Tart", "Fat Patten" being the governor's nickname in Cantonese). The story still remains popular among Hong Kong citizens. In subsequent visits he makes a routine stop to help himself to his favourite Hong Kong speciality.

Portuguese-style

Portuguese-style egg tarts were evolved from "pastel de nata
Pastel de nata

Pastel de Nata or Pastel de Bel?m is a small custard tart found throughout Portugal's pastry shops or caf?s. It is believed that it was created before the 18th century by Catholic Monks at the Jer?nimos Monastery of Bel?m, Lisbon, in Lisbon ....
", a traditional Portuguese custard pastry that consists of custard in a crème brûlée
Crème brûlée

Cr?me br?l?e , burnt cream, crema catalana, or Trinity cream is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hard caramel, created by caramelizing sugar under a broiling, with a blowtorch or other intense heat source, or by pouring cooked caramel on top of the custard....
-like consistency caramelized fashion in a puff pastry case. It was created more than 200 years ago by Catholic Sisters at Jerónimos Monastery
Jerónimos Monastery

See also Monasterio de Jer?nimos, Madrid, SpainThe Hieronymites Monastery is located in the Bel?m, Lisbon district of Lisbon, Portugal....
 (Portuguese: Mosteiro dos Jerónimos) at Belém in Lisbon
Lisbon

Lisbon is the Capital and largest city of Portugal. It is also the seat of the Lisbon and capital of the Lisbon region. Its municipalities of Portugal, which matches the city proper excluding the larger continuous conurbation, has a municipal population of 564,477 in , while the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in total has around 2.8 million inha...
 . Casa Pastéis de Belém was the first pastry shop outside of the convent to sell this pastry in 1837, and it is now a popular pastry in every pastry shop around the world owned by Portuguese descendants.

The Portuguese-style egg tarts known in Macau
Macau

The Macau Special Administrative Region, , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong....
 (more commonly simply as ??) originated from Lord Stow's Café in Coloane
Coloane

Coloane is one of the two main islands of Macau, located directly south of Macau's other main island, Taipa , and east of Hengqin Island of Zhuhai in Guangdong province, People's Republic of China....
, owned by a Briton named Andrew Stow. Stow modified the recipe of pastel de nata using techniques of making English custard tarts . It has since become available at numerous bakeries, as well as Macau-style restaurants and Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwan branches of the KFC
KFC

KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky. KFC was a wholly owned subsidiary of YUM! Brands from 1997?2002, and has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Yum! Brands since 2002....
 restaurant chain. There was a craze in Singapore
Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country microstate located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometres north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands....
 and Taiwan
Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
 in the late 1990s.

See also

  • Pastry
    Pastry

    Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baking made from ingredients such as flour, butter, shortening, baking powder or Egg s. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked goods are called "pastries"....
  • Pastel de nata
    Pastel de nata

    Pastel de Nata or Pastel de Bel?m is a small custard tart found throughout Portugal's pastry shops or caf?s. It is believed that it was created before the 18th century by Catholic Monks at the Jer?nimos Monastery of Bel?m, Lisbon, in Lisbon ....
  • Put chai ko
    Put chai ko

    Put chai ko is a Hong Kong snack. The pudding cake is hand size and is sweet in taste. It is soft, but can hold its molded shape outside of a bowl or small bowl....
  • Dim sum
    Dim sum

    Dim sum is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves a wide range of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea. It is usually served in the mornings until noon time at Chinese restaurants and at specialty dim sum eateries where typical dishes are available throughout the day....


External links