The egg tart (; ) is a kind of

custard tart Custard tarts or flans pâtissier are a baked pastry consisting of an outer pastry crust filled with egg custard. History The development of custard is so intimately connected with the custard tart or pie that the word itself comes from Anglo- ...

found in

Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many o ...

derived from the English

and Portuguese

pastel de nata ''Pastel de nata'' ( (plural: ''pastéis de nata''; , )) is a Portuguese egg custard tart pastry, optionally dusted with cinnamon. Outside Portugal, they are particularly popular in other parts of Western Europe, Asia and former Portuguese colon ...

. The dish consists of an outer pastry crust filled with egg

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in consistency fr ...

. Egg tarts are often served at

dim sum Dim sum () is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuis ...

restaurants,

bakeries A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who w ...

and ''

cha chaan teng ''Cha chaan teng'' (; "tea restaurant"), often called a Hong Kong-style cafe or diner in English, is a type of restaurant that originated in Hong Kong. Cha chaan teng are commonly found in Hong Kong, Macau, and parts of Guangdong. Due to th ...

s'' (Hong Kong-style cafes).

History

The egg tart started being sold in the early 20th century in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

(Canton),

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

province, inspired by some kinds of European

. Guangzhou's status as the only port accessible to European foreign traders led to the development of

Cantonese cuisine Cantonese or Guangdong cuisine, also known as Yue cuisine ( or ) is the cuisine of Guangdong province of China, particularly the provincial capital Guangzhou, and the surrounding regions in the Pearl River Delta including Hong Kong and Macau.H ...

having many outside influences. As Guangzhou's economy grew from trade and interaction with European powers, pastry chefs at the Western-style department stores in the city were “pressured to come up with new and exciting items to attract customers”. So egg tart varieties, inspired by those from Europe, featuring a lard-based puff pastry crust and a filling similar to steamed egg pudding ( 燉蛋), were then created by department stores and appeared as a "Weekly Special". Nowadays, there are two main varieties of egg tart in China. One that appeared around 1927 in Guangzhou’s Zhen Guang Restaurant (真光酒樓) is close to the egg tarts popular in

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

today. The other one is from

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

and is influenced by the

as Macau was then a Portuguese colony.

Variations

Hong Kong

Egg tarts were introduced to Hong Kong via Guangzhou in the 1940s but initially could only be found in higher-end Western-style restaurants. In the 1960s, ''

s'' began to serve egg tarts, popularizing the pastry with the working-class Hong Kong population. Hong Kong egg tarts are typically smaller and served in twos or threes, in contrast to the original Guangzhou egg tarts which were larger and could be served as a single item. The custard filling may be flavored with

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec ci ...

green tea Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since th ...

, or bird's nest, and the outer shell may be made with

pastry Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" suggests ...

. In June 2014, the technique of egg tart production was formally included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Inventory of Hong Kong.

Macau

In 1989, British pharmacist Andrew Stow and his wife Margaret Wong opened Lord Stow's Bakery in

Coloane Coloane (Cantonese: Lou Wan) is a former island in Macau that is united with the island of Taipa by an area of reclaimed land known as Cotai. It is located at the southern part of Macau. Administratively, the boundaries of the traditional civil pa ...

, where they sold a Macau-style egg tart that attempted to recreate the pastel de nata. This variation is referred to as "Portuguese tart" in Chinese ( zh, t=葡撻, cy=poùh tāat, labels=no). In 1999, Wong sold the recipe to KFC, which then introduced the Macau-style

to other parts of Asia, including Singapore and Taiwan. In contrast to the Hong Kong-style egg tart, the Macau-style egg tart features a caramelized browned top.

References

External links