![]() ![]() ![]() I tested some yolk heavier recipes and loved them. This is what gives you the liquidy centre!įor this recipe, I’ve tried to get the best of both worlds. To achieve this, your sugar % is in the range of 30%, which is also why the cinnamon flavour (the sticks are boiled in the sugar) is so pronounced. The oozing goo is a result of 1) a high proportion sugar syrup 2) using very little yolk 3) using a very small amount of starch (less needed as there is not much yolk to prevent curdling) 4) using just enough milk to ensure the natas brown. There’s going to be a difference between those and the kind that I’ve developed for ‘at home’ eating, where I have drastically reduced the sugar. These natas also tend to have lighter brown spots, rather than very dark ones, suggesting a lower milk content. The natas you get in Lisbon, and in specialist places like Santa Nata, are permanently gooey. I set out to try and reduce this as much as possible whilst recreating the smooth and unctuous texture. My travel bucketlist 10000% includes Taiwain. BTW, just to clarify… Din Tai Fung is Taiwanese and XLB does not originate in Hong Kong (its origins are in the Jiangsu province), but I just wanted to be true to my personal travel experiences. Right, so now that I’ve talked up the professional spots and have really amped up my imposter syndrome… it’s time to get onto the recipe. Cafe de Nata and Santa Nata in central London also look like they’ve got the goods, made in-house and baked fresh every day. The other nata hot spot, also sadly closed, was undoubtedly Taberna De Mercado, whose custard tarts provided an impossibly satisfying squish (I’ve heard that the pastry chef behind them supplies A Portugese Love Affair on Hackney Road, who also do the most amazing outdoor grill/barbecue sardine situation in the summer months). My first gooey nata experience was at the dimly-lit and now closed ‘I love Nata’ in Covent Garden where, apparently, they used to fly their natas in from Lisbon. Since going to Lisbon every time I have a nata craving isn’t practical, I’m fortunate to have some pretty great natas on my doorstep, too. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about any of the natas I tried, but I have a particular soft spot for the flair of the Pasteis De Belem pastries and of course the Mantagaria ones are outrageous too. My mouth would have been hanging open in amazement if it hadn’t been filled with custard. ![]() I’d gawp as the custard was deposited and whisked away to the deck oven, immediately taking the place of a freshly baked and bubbling batch, leopard spots and all. With my nose pressed up against the glass (sorry bakers), I would stare as they lined hundreds of tins at unbelievable speed. I was there in 2018, with a Google map exclusively made up of Pasteis De Nata bakeries, where I’d park myself by the bakery windows to catch the show. In Lisbon, it’s the nata! Oh the nata, that magical pairing of crisp pastry and sweet, oozing custard. I even felt the same wonder the first time I saw one of those bratwurst chopping devices in Berlin. You know what I’m talking about: the pasta-rolling nonnas of Italy the soup dumpling machines in Hong Kong (I’m looking at you Din Tai Fung*) the pastrami guys at Katz deli the noodle pullers of Beijing and those crepe magicians in Paris. Every city in the world has its own unique food performance, a show of pure skill honed and passed down over generations. ![]()
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