Tomar Slices
Also known as: China Slices · Tomar-style Slices
Two dozen yolks steamed, sliced and bathed in cinnamon-and-lemon syrup.
- Origin
- Convent confectionery of Tomar · linked to the Convent of Christ; first written reference in 1876
- Region
- Tomar
- Season
- Year-round
Fatias de Tomar are among the purest convent sweets in the Portuguese repertoire: made solely from egg yolks, sugar and the fragrance of an aromatic syrup, without a single gram of flour. The yolks — twenty-four, sometimes twenty-eight, depending on the size of the mould — are beaten at length until pale and frothy, then cooked in a bain-marie in a very particular pan, until they acquire the consistency of a dense, buttery pudding.
Once cold, the compact mass is turned out and sliced into finger-width pieces. Each slice is plunged into a simmering syrup perfumed with cinnamon stick and lemon peel, turned and returned several times until it gleams. The result has a golden, almost amber sheen, and a moistness that dissolves on the tongue.
They are served in generous slices, arranged on a plate and bathed in the syrup itself, often dusted with cinnamon. They are a festive sweet and a Sunday dessert — rich and unmistakably conventual.
- Egg yolks (24 to 28)
- Sugar
- Water
- Cinnamon stick
- Lemon peel
- Star anise (optional)
- Butter (to grease the mould)
Intensely sweet and deeply rich with yolk, with a moist, velvety texture that melts in the mouth; the cinnamon and lemon in the syrup cut the sugar and leave a warm, fresh aroma on the finish.
The main differences lie in the syrup — some add star anise, others keep to just cinnamon and lemon — and in the number of yolks, which varies with the size of the pan. Some versions serve the slices more or less soaked in syrup.
They are found in the traditional pastry shops and cafés of Tomar, especially in establishments devoted to the city's convent confectionery. The cooking pan itself, with its characteristic chimney, is still sold locally as a piece of craftwork.
They call for a short espresso or, better still, a fortified wine such as Moscatel or Port, which balance the intense sweetness of the yolk.
The recipe for Fatias de Tomar was born within the convent confectionery of the city, intimately bound to the Convent of Christ, the former mother house of the Knights Templar and, later, of the Order of Christ. Tradition holds that they were the favourite dessert of the convent's religious community. For a long time they were known as "Fatias da China" — a name already recorded in the first known written reference, João da Mata's Arte de Cozinha (1876), and one that persists today despite not pleasing all Tomarenses.
The element that made the sweet truly local was the special pan in which it is cooked. This is a double vessel of tin or copper, fitted with a chimney through which boiling water is added to keep the inner mould submerged during the steam cooking. These pans, made in the mid-20th century by master tinsmiths of Tomar — tradition points to a Mr Aurélio — were sold with the dessert's recipe tucked inside, binding the utensil to the city for ever.
Sources: tradicional.dgadr.gov.pt · tradicional.dgadr.gov.pt · allaboutportugal.pt · cm-tomar.pt · 24kitchen.pt
Pastries from here — The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Portuguese Água-mel Syrup
Honeycomb-washing water transformed over hours of heat into a dark syrup of honey, pollen and propolis.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Alcomonias
Toasted flour, honey and pine nuts in an age-old diamond.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Amoreiras-Gare Alcôncoras
A large circular honey-and-olive-oil biscuit born from Amoreiras-Gare's promise-pole tradition.
The Alentejo
Portuguese icon Elvas Plums
Crystallised greengage that has crossed borders since the convents of Elvas.
The Alentejo