Now, finally, what everyone’s been waiting to hear about . . . Portuguese pastry! Before coming, I read a lot about how the Portuguese love sweets, there are bakeries everywhere, etc. Maybe it’s because we just came from the pastry capital of the world, but it doesn’t seem like the Portuguese love sweets quite as much as the French. There are not bakeries on every single block, and there is less variety of pastry here than in France. This is actually a blessing for moi and my blood sugar.

Portuguese pastry, for the most part, all has a similar look — orange. It is not because they are orange-flavored (as I originally thought), but because everything is made with egg yolks which are bright orange. Fun fact, the Portuguese brought Oranges to Europe from China once upon a time — I’ve done no independent research to confirm this — which probably led to my incorrect assumption about the flavor of the pastries.

The primary flavor of the pastries is . . . egg yolk. I would guess the next favorite flavor is almond. You’ll see some chocolate too.

We’ve heard that Portuguese pastry is so yolk-centric because back in the day, the nuns used egg whites to starch their habits and the yolks were left over. Sugar was around because it was being imported from somewhere, so the nuns started making desserts. At some point, it’s thought that pastry making became a competition between convents. There are unique local pastries wherever you go in Portugal. But the theme is definitely egg yolk.

The preeminent eggy treat is the Pastel de Nata. The best ones come from Pastéis de Belém (you will wait in line), and Manteigaria (shorter line). I’d happily wait in both lines. Manteigaria has a location in TimeOut Market, so it’s pretty convenient.

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A pastel de nata is a little cup of egg custard sitting in a crispy puff pastry crust. Very lightly flavored with cinnamon and lemon (no vanilla was around when they were created). Then, you pour a bunch of cinnamon and powdered sugar on top. They are delicious. So delicious, we took a class!

Ingredients for the custard are simple – water, sugar, milk, flour, cinnamon, lemon peel, and egg yolk (it’s so orange!).

The custard is easy. The tricky part is getting the puff pastry smushed into the little tin so it has a perfect swirl.

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Okay, back to the other pastries, and proof that they are nuts about yolks. In the photo below, the pastry across the top is called a Pampilho. They are delicious. Made with egg yolk dough; filling is egg yolk with cinnamon and sugar. The filling in the cornucopia on the right is just straight egg yolk and sugar. If you look at a pastry counter where the ingredients are listed for the pastries, “egg yolk + sugar” will be repeated for all pastries. Sometimes “almond” gets added to the mix.

Below, the orange zest looking stuff in the left picture is, you guessed it, egg yolk! They put it through a sieve into boiling simple syrup and it comes out as yolk spaghetti. Kind of fun. On the right — though I did not ask — I am 100% sure that the orange-looking cakes are covered in egg yolk. More egg spaghetti on the chocolate cake.

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After straight egg yolk, another favorite combo is egg yolk + puff pastry + glaze. For example, the two pastries below have puff pastry bases, egg yolk, and glaze. Really just the shape and amount of egg yolk varies.

I could go on with the yolk theme, but I’ll stop. So for something completely different, a Pão de Dues. They are brioche buns with coconut on top. Tasty. A Padaria Portuguesa (where this Pão came from) is a nice little chain cafe. For the San Franciscans, its like a La Boulangerie.

If anyone is traveling to Lisbon, we have actually learned about things other than pastries, so if you have questions let us know!