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The sweet sea monster of Portuguese Christmas

39 points by galfarragem 5y ago

wintermutestwin 5y ago
So glad to see this posted as I am visiting Portugal for xmas and saw this crazy thing in the grocery store yesterday. It looked like it was covered in grated Taco Bell cheese. Now I am wishing I would have bought one. Got the rabanadas and sonhos though leading to happy xmas kids.
duarteoc 5y ago
Oh wow. I’m from Portugal. Never really thought about what the name of the sweet actually means. My sisters love this thing. It’s just too sweet for me
diego_moita 5y ago
This excess of egg yolks is also a strong characteristic of Portuguese pastry. A lot of Portuguese sweets are egg yolk (and cholesterol) rich: pastéis de nata (Portuguese Tarts), leite-creme (lemony custard), pastéis de Santa Clara, ambrosia, fios de ovos (the "angel hair" seen in the link above), etc... The main reason is that many of these recipes were developed by nuns in convents. Convents were the places were the "unwanted" women would be "placed" in Catholic patriarchal societies. In ancient times a source of income for these convents was to wash rich people's clothes. After washing the linens, they had to be ironed and a common ingredient for starching and making them crisp smooth was egg whites. Because of this they'd have an immense supply of egg yolks that they began using for making pastries, after sugar plantations where introduced in Madeira island and Brazil, in the 16th and 17th centuries.
- telesilla 5y ago
  I'm so glad to see this! I saw this explanation in a Lisbon museum a long time ago about this and always wondered if I'd imagined it. The expanse of egg yolk desserts is so distinct to Portugal. My favorite remains the chocolate mousse, not full of air like the French style but thick and with a touch of sea salt. So good when it's done well.
- guiraldelli 5y ago
  Thank you for the explanation: I was always intrigued by tge reasons of so much use of egg yolks in Portuguese pastries! (Seriously, no sarcasm!) Would you have any references on the subject? If so, would you mind sharing in here?
  - diego_moita 5y ago
    > Would you have any references on the subject? If so, would you mind sharing in here? I read it in an old recipe book, probably out of print. But after you asked, I tried to find an online reference and got this one: https://www.portugalthings.com/portuguese-conventual-sweets/ https://www.portugalthings.com/portuguese-conventual-sweets/ Just look at the huge amount of yellow on those pictures. To the "egg whites were used for starching rich people's clothes" (engomar os fatos dos homem mais ricos) they add another one: filtering impurities in wine. Probably they'd mix egg whites with wine, warm it to coagulate the whites so they'd grab impurities in wine and make it easier to filter them.
- kbcool 5y ago
  I always figured it had something to do with lactose intolerance. Somewhere between 40 and 50% of the population are intolerant which is high compared to most of western Europe.
  - voiprodrigo 5y ago
    Source?
Turing_Machine 5y ago
> During the Middle Ages, the lamprey reemerged as a prestige food. Henry I of England reportedly died from eating too many of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England
ohcomments 5y ago
My blood sugar rises just by looking at the damn cake!!! Interesting facts there too, learned something new today.

39 points by galfarragem 5y ago

So glad to see this posted as I am visiting Portugal for xmas and saw this crazy thing in the grocery store yesterday. It looked like it was covered in grated Taco Bell cheese. Now I am wishing I would have bought one. Got the rabanadas and sonhos though leading to happy xmas kids.

duarteoc 5y ago

Oh wow. I’m from Portugal. Never really thought about what the name of the sweet actually means. My sisters love this thing. It’s just too sweet for me

diego_moita 5y ago

This excess of egg yolks is also a strong characteristic of Portuguese pastry. A lot of Portuguese sweets are egg yolk (and cholesterol) rich: pastéis de nata (Portuguese Tarts), leite-creme (lemony custard), pastéis de Santa Clara, ambrosia, fios de ovos (the "angel hair" seen in the link above), etc... The main reason is that many of these recipes were developed by nuns in convents. Convents were the places were the "unwanted" women would be "placed" in Catholic patriarchal societies. In ancient times a source of income for these convents was to wash rich people's clothes. After washing the linens, they had to be ironed and a common ingredient for starching and making them crisp smooth was egg whites. Because of this they'd have an immense supply of egg yolks that they began using for making pastries, after sugar plantations where introduced in Madeira island and Brazil, in the 16th and 17th centuries.

telesilla 5y ago
I'm so glad to see this! I saw this explanation in a Lisbon museum a long time ago about this and always wondered if I'd imagined it. The expanse of egg yolk desserts is so distinct to Portugal. My favorite remains the chocolate mousse, not full of air like the French style but thick and with a touch of sea salt. So good when it's done well.
guiraldelli 5y ago
Thank you for the explanation: I was always intrigued by tge reasons of so much use of egg yolks in Portuguese pastries! (Seriously, no sarcasm!) Would you have any references on the subject? If so, would you mind sharing in here?
- diego_moita 5y ago
  > Would you have any references on the subject? If so, would you mind sharing in here? I read it in an old recipe book, probably out of print. But after you asked, I tried to find an online reference and got this one: https://www.portugalthings.com/portuguese-conventual-sweets/ https://www.portugalthings.com/portuguese-conventual-sweets/ Just look at the huge amount of yellow on those pictures. To the "egg whites were used for starching rich people's clothes" (engomar os fatos dos homem mais ricos) they add another one: filtering impurities in wine. Probably they'd mix egg whites with wine, warm it to coagulate the whites so they'd grab impurities in wine and make it easier to filter them.
kbcool 5y ago
I always figured it had something to do with lactose intolerance. Somewhere between 40 and 50% of the population are intolerant which is high compared to most of western Europe.
- voiprodrigo 5y ago
  Source?

Turing_Machine 5y ago

> During the Middle Ages, the lamprey reemerged as a prestige food. Henry I of England reportedly died from eating too many of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England

ohcomments 5y ago

My blood sugar rises just by looking at the damn cake!!! Interesting facts there too, learned something new today.