Portugal has very strong culinary traditions, and every region or city in the country has its own typical pastries and sweets. Very often, these culinary delights originated in the monasteries and have sound names like: Fatias de Tomar; Palha de Abrantes; Bolos de Dom Rodrigo; Nozes de Cascais; Brisas do Lis; Pudim do abade de Priscos; Queijadas de Sintra... a single trip to Portugal is probably not enough to taste a tenth of the variety of sweets the country has to offer. One thing they usually have in common: they contain plenty of egg yolks and sugar.
In the early 8th century, Portugal was invaded by Moorish conquerors. Apart from beautiful building styles and traditions, the Moors left the Portuguese with something else: a taste for sweets. The most famous Portuguese pastry is undoubtedly the Pastel de Belém, of which the original recipe is confected at the Fábrica dos Pastéis de Bélem near the capital of Lisbon, at an average of twenty thousand little tarts a day!
A few years ago, I was attending a concert of one of my favourite Portuguese music bands, Madredeus. I had noticed a beautiful long dining table at a remote corner of the theater bar where we ended up after the concert. From the way the table was dressed up, I could only guess that the band had been invited to have dinner at the theater. It happened to be a Portuguese theme evening and typical Portuguese dishes were being served. One thing struck me: there was no dessert on the menu. Well, a Portuguese meal without a dessert, that is unacceptable! I immediately called the restaurant manager, and proposed to make a typical Portuguese dessert for the music band. He agreed. A restaurant worker took his bycicle and I balanced on the back luggage holder to the closest nightshop in Antwerp, where I bought the necessary ingredients to make Toucinho do céu, served on a layer of custard cream. An hour later, I was sitting alongside and chatting with Teresa Salgueiro, the beautiful lead singer of the band.
That was a night to remember, and now you understand even better why Toucinho do céu is one of my favourite desserts, and its name already suggests why: it comes from heaven. Literally translated, it reads: 'bacon from heaven'. The original recipe from the monastery at Odivelas (near Lisbon), was extremely rich, and might even have contained bacon, hence its name. There are many varieties of this recipe, some contain flour and others don't. I created my own version, and adapted it a little bit to be closer to its origins: I made it very rich (much more egg yolks). If you indulge yourself, you better do it right:
Toucinho do céu 'Madredeus':
Ingredients
- 200 g sugar
- 100 g freshly ground almond powder
- 10 egg yolks and 3 entire eggs
- a tablespoon of ground cinnamon
- vanilla
Tools
A low round cake form (18cm)
Preparation
Beat the eggs end yolks and butter the cake form.
Baking
Put the sugar on a medium hot stove with 3 tablespoons of water. Let it simmer until the moment where another 2 minutes would turn the sugar into caramel (before it starts colouring).Add the almond powder and let it simmer for 2 minutes under continuous stirring. Turn of the heat and incorporate the eggs, cinnamon and vanilla. Turn the heat back on and let it simmer until it thickens. Keep stirring so its does not burn. Poor the batter in the cake form and bake for 15 minutes at approximately 190 degrees.
Serving
Leave to cool and decorate with icing sugar. Serve just like that or with ice-cream, custard, chocolate...
Hints and Tips
- Use freshly ground almonds.
- Never touch the sugar while it is on the stove. It is extremely hot. (in case you are tempted)
- Add a pinch of salt. Salt will make many desserts, including chocolate desserts, taste better.
- It is better to remove the Toucinho from the oven to early than too late. Extended baking will result in a dry pastry. Leave it a little moist at the center.
- Although this recipe is heavenly as it is, you can experiment: replace some of the almonds by coconut or add a little lemon peel; decorate with flaked almonds and sugar before baking in order to create a unique caramelized almond taste...
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