Cooking this dish will get me cancelled in Portugal

Homemade Stock cubes: https://youtu.be/lYFVBTKrEwE
Recipe for a good prawn stock: https://youtu.be/FfHY8XOehDc

Everyone knows pastel de nata sweet, right? But today I’m breaking the rules and turning this Portuguese classic into a savoury prawn version, a seafood recipes revolution! Crispy and creamy, this cuisine pastry features puff pastry dough and will teach you how to cook like never before.

Ingredients (makes about 12–14 pastéis)

Custard
500ml prawn stock (divide: 450ml + 50ml)
4 tbsp flour
2 tsp corn starch
6 egg yolks
1 bay leaf
Pinch of sugar
Salt, to taste

Pastry & Filling
1 sheet store-bought puff pastry
2 tbsp softened butter
1 tsp garlic paste
12–14 prawns (1 per tart)

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Chapters:
0:00-Intro
0:50-Cooking Prawn Pasteis de Nata
7:30-Tasting

Everyone
knows pastel de nata is sweet right? But today we’re breaking the rules. I’m turning this Portuguese classic Into a savory prawn version. Crispy, creamy,
and maybe even illegal. Hi. My name is Bruno. And before you call the Portuguese
police on me. Yes, this does feel wrong. But sometimes the best discoveries come
from doing what you’re not supposed to do. Will it work? Well, my family might disown me. But we’re about to find out. From sacred custard
to seafood revolution. And honestly, this might be the greatest
crime against Portuguese food. Pastel de Nata is absolutely perfect. And you shouldn’t mess with perfection.
Should we? These tarts have been made
the same way for 300 years. The monks invented them by using leftover
egg yolks from the wine making process
and putting them in flaky tarts. So what am I doing putting prawns in them? Madness. And maybe if the monks were alive today,
they would say, Why not use prawns? Traditional pastel de nata custard starts with milk, sugar and egg yolks. We’re keeping the creamy foundation,
but completely flipping the flavor profile.
First we’re going to make our slurry. Flour and cornstarch. Whisk into cold prawn stock
until completely smooth. This is going to thicken our custard
and give it a proper nata texture. No lumps. We want this silky smooth. Now into a saucepan
with the rest of our prawn stock. This isn’t just any stock.
This is liquid gold. Concentrated prawn flavor. That’s going to be
the soul of our custard. We bring it to a gentle simmer. And if you’re questioning
where did I get this brown stock? And maybe your not.
But I’ll tell you anyway. I used my own stock cubes. It saves me a ton of time
and gives me all the flavor I need. I’ll leave a link for the cube video
in the description. I’ll throw bayleaf for the subtle
herbal note and a pinch of sugar. Yes, sugar in a savory custard. It will balance the salinity and enhances
the natural sweetness of the prawns. And just a touch of salt
to bring everything together. 2 to 3 minutes of gentle simmering. We want that bay leaf to perfume
the entire stock, but not overpower the delicate prawn flavor. Look how the steam carries
that incredible aroma. Bayleave comes out. And now we slowly whisk in our slurry. This is where technique matters. Too fast. And we got lumps Too slow
and the stock cools down. Steady whisking. Constant movement. And even if you get some lumps, don’t
overthink it. We’re going to strain everything later. Watch it ticken. We want it to coat the back of a spoon. This consistency is crucial because
it needs to set properly in the oven while staying creamy in the center. That’s the hallmark of a perfect, nata
custard. Off the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. We need this to cool just enough
so it doesn’t scramble our egg yolks when we add them. Temperature
control is everything in custard making. Pastel de nata is all about temperature
and technique, and we’re using the exact same methods, but just with completely different
flavors. Six egg yolks. The yolks is what give us this incredible
richness and silky texture. They’re also going to set our custard
in the oven. We’ll whisk this
until they’re pale and smooth. No lumps no streaks. Here’s a crucial part tempering. I’m adding
the hot custard base slowly whisking constantly. Go too fast. And you will scrambled the eggs. This is the make
or break moment for our savory nata. Keep stirring. Always moving it.. Gradually bringing the egg temperature up
so they can handle the full amount of hot liquid. Back to low heat. Now we’re cooking this gently
to exactly 70°C, hot enough to thicken and become silky. Not so hot that we scrambled eggs. This is where patience pays off. Constant stirring,
watching that temperature. Look how it’s transforming from liquid
to this gorgeous silky custard. The prawn flavor is elegant, refined. Nothing fishy about it. One final strain to catch any tiny
lumps or pieces we might have missed. We want this to be absolutely perfect, silky smooth
and ready to transform in the oven. And now for the assembly. And this is where technique really
matters. Traditional use uses a specific pastry
that’s rolled incredibly thin and shaped into molds. I’m starting with some store bought puff pastry,
but we’re going to transform it into something special. Let’s flour on the work surface
we want movement not sticking. Rolling this into a large rectangle
about two millimeters thick. We want it substantially enough
to handle our lamination process, but thin enough to create those incredible
layers. Spread the butter
over two thirds of a rectangle. This isn’t just about richness. It’s about creating distinct layers
that will puff and crisp in the oven. fold it like a letter
and butter third over the middle, then the remaining butter on top
Look at those layers forming already. This is classical French lamination
technique applied to Portuguese pastry. Into the fridge for 30 minutes. If you’re in a hurry,
ten minutes in the freezer will do because we’ll need that butter
to firm up and the gluten to relax. Patience here means perfect pastry later. Now round two
rolling back into a rectangle. Another thin layer of butter
over two thirds. But now a little twist,
a whisper thin layer of garlic paste over that butter just enough to add
some flavor, all without adding moisture. That could ruin our puff. This is going to perfume
every layer of our pastry. Same fold. Letter style lamination. Then back to the fridge
for another 30 minutes. The dough is building strength and character
with each rest. Final roll into our rectangle. And now we roll it up tight
like a jelly roll from the long edge. This spiral is going to become
the side of our pasteis. Each slice will have those beautiful
concentric circles of buttery garlic pastry. Look at that roll. You can see all those layers. The butter, The garlic paste,
creating those beautiful striations. This is going to be incredible when it bakes.One last 30 minute chill
to set everything. Then we’ll slice and shape this into
our moulds. Three lamination, three chills. And we’ve created pastry that’s going to be worthy
of our incredible savory custard. To form the dough,
just press with your thumb in the middle and use your thumb to spread the dough
all to the sides around. Make sure you go
a little bit over the top. Now here’s my innovation. A whole cooked prawn
in the bottom of each mold. Just salt and a quick fry on them
to really bring the flavor alive. This is going to be a surprise
in every bite. People expect custard
and get this beautiful piece of seafood. You can cook them whatever you prefer. I just seasoned them with some salt,
pepper, paprika and did a quick fry on them. Time for our custard to go in. Fill them about 80%. They need room to puff
and bubble in the oven. Look how that golden custard
looks against the real pastry. This is either going to be brilliant
or a complete disaster. And perfect little vessels of potential,
each one a gamble, each one step into uncharted Portuguese
territory. And traditional nata bakes at incredibly high heat around
250 Celsius or 480 Fahrenheit. That brutal heat creates a characteristic caramelized top
and keeps the custard creamy inside. No way my oven does that,
but I have a trick to finish them off and make them look perfect. This is the nerve wracking part
because there’s no going back either. Our savory custard
behaves like traditional nata custard, or we’ve just created a very expensive
brunch flavored scrambled eggs 10 to 12 minutes. That time our pastry should puff and golden, our
custard should set around the edges while staying molten in the center
and hopefully, hopefully we’ll have something incredible. Well, something is missing, right? So to get those beautiful caramelized spots on top,
I’m going to torch the top of it. The sugar would normally caramelize,
we’re going to go for that slightly charred complex flavor
on our savory crust. And when you finish,
remove them from the mold and let it cool down
for about 10 to 15 minutes. All right. Let’s see what’s inside. Oh, wow. Look at that molten center. The custard is perfect. Set around the edges, creamy
in the middle. And you can see that whole prawn
sitting there like a little treasure. All right, this is it. The moment that determines whether I’m
a genius or a complete idiot or both? It feels right. Crispy pastry. that slight give of molten custard inside Weight is perfect. Oh, wow. This actually worked. The flavor is delicate. Not fishy at all. The custard is silky and rich,
and the pastry is super crispy. And when you hit that prawn,
it’s like this burst of concentrated seafood flavor that plays perfectly
with the creamy custard. Savory, pastel de nata with prawns. Did i just commit a crime
against Portuguese pastries. Probably.
Did that make something delicious? Absolutely. This is what I learned. Tradition isn’t fragile. Technique can support innovation. The methods that make pastel
de nata special. Those work with different flavors too. Worst case scenario. No one from Portugal
ever speaks to me again. And if you want more Portuguese
classics gone rogue. Let me know in the comments
what dish do you want me to attack next? If you enjoyed that, give us a thumbs up
and I will see you on the next video. Bye.