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Description: The Pastel de Feijão de Viseu is made essentially from beans, eggs, flour and sugar. It has the normal dimensions of a small rectangular pastel, about 10x5cm, it has a golden color. Regarding its texture, the filling inside is soft and moist, contrasting with the crispy puff pastry on the outside.
Special characteristics: The Pastel de Feijão is mainly characterized by the distinctive filling made from white beans, another singularity is the oval and scalloped shape.
Region: Viseu.
Ingredients Used: Wheat flour (type 55), white beans, egg yolks, common and powdered sugar, salt and water.
Preparation: The preparation of the filling begins by boiling the beans, then reduced to puree.
Place boiling water and sugar in a saucepan until it reaches the point, then add the egg yolks and the bean puree, stirring until the desired consistency is obtained.
In the preparation of puff pastry, knead the flour with salt and water, spread with the rolling pin on the tabletop and cover with margarine, fold over the dough itself, it will go second and third times to the rolling pin to stretch, always recovering with margarine and folding.
Stretch one last time until you get a thin layer. Using a cutter, cut out the dough and line the molds, fill with the filling, and go to the oven in trays.
- Bake for thirty minutes at a temperature of 180º or 200º. The pastries are unmolded, sprinkled with powdered sugar and placed in paper molds, they are ready to serve or pack in a suitable box.
Know-how: All the traditional methods that characterize the unmistakable Pastel de Feijão de Viseu have been preserved, both in the quality of the ingredients and in the form of the demanding production stages, from the method of preparation of the puff pastry, the techniques of production of the distinctive filling, as well as the exact time they are in the oven. A whole know-how that results in the much appreciated Pastel de Feijão de Viseu, distinct on the table of traditional sweets from Viseu.
Forms of Commercialization: Cafes and Pastry Shops.
Product availability throughout the year: Consumed throughout the year.
Product history: The presence of a large amount of egg yolks and its high sugar content, brings the Pastel de Feijão de Viseu closer to the old convent recipes, but of such provenance, so far no record has been found.
The known history takes us back to the middle of the twentieth cen-tury, by the master pastry chefs of the iconic, extinct "Pastelaria Santos" located in the busy Rua Formosa in Viseu, where noble clientele and tourists came to taste the delicious pastries, taking boxes with half a dozen of these pastries, a record of a tradition of the city, which was offered to friends and family.
It was by the hands of a former employee of the house, Mr. João, who inherited as a memory, the resistant metal forms, as well as all the techniques, all the know-how of the bean pastry, that this recipe was not lost. He created a family business, where he continued the quality and prestige production of this traditional production.
Once production was guaranteed, it was expanded, guaranteeing all quality criteria, in other production units in Viseu.
Representativeness in local food: The Pastel de Feijão de Viseu has a place of honor on the table of sweets in Viseu. It is highly appreciated by the community, a mandatory presence in any festivity. In a box as a Christmas, Easter, birthday gift... irresistible to accompany a tea, a coffee, as well as an excellent option with a glass of Dão-colheita tardia or a special sparkling wine.
Other documentary elements (written, photographic, video-graphic, etc.):
Collection "Viseu Sabe Bem" - 3 Pasteis de Feijão-Doce sabor de Viseu, por Alberto Correia, Edição, Município de Viseu, 2020
Carta Gastronômica de Viseu, por textos Alberto Correia [et al,], edição Câmara Municipal de Viseu, 2022, p.293
Source of the record: Municipality of Viseu | José Alfredo
