Portuguese pastry, Lisbon, artisan craftsmanship
Pastel de feijão: the Portuguese pastry that hides beans
You bite into it looking for almond, and you find almond. What you never find is the white bean that makes up half the filling. That is the whole sleight of…
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Toucinho do céu: the cake named after an ingredient it no longer contains
Its name means "bacon from heaven". The lard disappeared from the recipe long ago, but the name stayed — and so did the gesture, carried out of a Portuguese…
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Sericaia: the Portuguese dessert that has to crack to be right
In the Alentejo, this dessert is never turned out of its dish, never smoothed over, never rescued. It comes out of the oven cracked, split, almost ruined — and…
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Pão de Ló: The Portuguese Cake Pulled From the Oven Too Soon
You push a spoon in and the middle runs. In any other European bakery this cake would be a failure. In Portugal it is exactly what you came for — and it took a…
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Bica: What the Portuguese Actually Order at the Counter
Thirty seconds at the counter, one word, a small cup. Portuguese coffee is not a break: it is a punctuation mark in the day. And in Lisbon it goes by a name…
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Rissóis: the Portuguese fried turnover, and its recipe
Rissol, rissóis, rissoles: the most misspelled breaded snack in Portugal. What it actually is, the two classic fillings, and the traditional recipe — including…
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Salame de chocolate: the Portuguese chocolate salami
It looks like a salami, is sliced like a salami, and contains not a gram of meat. What it is, where it comes from, and the traditional recipe — no oven, twenty…
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Empanada, chamuça, rissol: which is which?
Empanada, chamuça, rissol, empada: four parcels that look alike and have almost nothing in common. How to tell them apart at a glance, what is inside, and…
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Pastéis de Nata Recipe: The Traditional One, Step by Step
This is not our workshop recipe but the traditional Portuguese one: the proportions that work, the steps that matter, and the difficulty nobody warns you about…
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