about egg tart

Egg tarts are a kind of pastry that is popular in Hong Kong, Macau, surrounding areas in southern China and overseas Chinese communities. It consists of a flaky outer crust, with a middle filled with egg custard, which is then baked. It is related to the English-style custard tart, a pastry commonly enjoyed in the British Isles, Australia, and New Zealand. Egg tarts are typically marketed at Chinese, Hong Kong, and Macau bakeries, cha chaan tengs (tea restaurants), and some dim sum restaurants. The second character in the Chinese name (ta) is a character that closely resembles 'tart' in pronunciation (used only for its sound), while the first (dan) is Chinese for 'egg'.

Today's egg tarts come in many variations due to Hongkongers' gastronomic curiosity. These include egg white tarts, milk tarts, honey-egg tarts, ginger-flavored egg tarts (the two aforementioned variations were a take upon traditional milk custard and egg custard, which was usually served in cha chaan tengs), chocolate tarts, green-tea-flavoured tarts and even bird's nest tarts.

[edit] History
There are also the records of Egg tart in the banquet of Kangxi Emperor,which was then an dish(zh:满汉全席)

One theory suggests Chinese egg tarts are a Chinese adaption of English custard tarts. Guangdong had long been the region in China with most frequent contact with the West, in particular Britain. As a former British colony, Hong Kong food would naturally assimilate British tastes. Custard tarts made of shortcrust pastry, eggs, sugar, milk or cream, vanilla, and nutmeg have long been a favourite pastry in the British Isles, Australia, and New Zealand. According to Laura Mason and Catherine Bell's Traditional Foods of Britain: An Inventory (Prospect Books, London, 2004) a version of custard tart has been made in England since the Middle Ages. The medieval recipe was a shortcrust pastry case filled with a mixture of milk or cream, eggs, sweetening agents, and other spices. Gary Rhodes's New British Classics (BBC Worldwide, London, 1999) states the recipe of making the modern version of English custard tart has been more or less set since the Tudor times.

According to one website [1] , custard tarts were introduced in Hong Kong in the 1940s by cha chaan tengs and western cafes and bakeries to compete with dim sum restaurants, later evolving to become egg tarts today.


[edit] Hong Kong-style
Hong Kong-style egg tarts have two main varieties, divided according to the type of the outermost layer or crust:

Butter-flavoured shortcrust pastry (牛油皮, pinyin: Niuyoupi, literally, "Cow oil (butter) skin"): made with shortcrust pastry. It is named "butter skin" in Chinese since it possesses a cookie-like flavour with a rich butter aroma.
Puff pastry (酥皮, pinyin: Supi, literally "Crispy skin"): made with puff pastry and with an extremely crisp texture. Lard is typically used in making the base rather than butter or shortening. This type is regarded as the most traditional and correct form of egg tart by food critics.
Another variety becoming more popular in the ever increasing focus on health are

Milk-centered egg tarts. It is composed of a smooth milky egg-white center and is somewhat healthier than traditional egg tarts.

History
There are also the records of Egg tart in the banquet of Kangxi Emperor,which was then an dish
One theory suggests Chinese egg tarts are a Chinese adaption of English custard tarts. Guangdong had long been the region in China with most frequent contact with the West, in particular Britain. As a former British colony, Hong Kong food would naturally assimilate British tastes. Custard tarts made of shortcrust pastry, eggs, sugar, milk or cream, vanilla, and nutmeg have long been a favourite pastry in the British Isles, Australia, and New Zealand. According to Laura Mason and Catherine Bell's Traditional Foods of Britain: An Inventory (Prospect Books, London, 2004) a version of custard tart has been made in England since the Middle Ages. The medieval recipe was a shortcrust pastry case filled with a mixture of milk or cream, eggs, sweetening agents, and other spices. Gary Rhodes's New British Classics (BBC Worldwide, London, 1999) states the recipe of making the modern version of English custard tart has been more or less set since the Tudor times.

According to one website [1] , custard tarts were introduced in Hong Kong in the 1940s by cha chaan tengs and western cafes and bakeries to compete with dim sum restaurants, later evolving to become egg tarts today.


蛋撻皮:
材料：　牛油5兩，麵粉8兩，古士粉2兩，糖霜2兩，雞蛋1只
製法：　將各料搓勻成團便可做皮

蛋撻水:
材料：　砂糖10兩，熱開水20兩，煉奶1兩，雞蛋12只
製法：　用熱開水開溶砂糖，下煉奶，待水凍和雞蛋調勻，用篩過濾

綜合製法：
將皮把蛋撻模填滿至高出模邊少許，放進蛋撻水，入焗爐焗20分鐘便成