Chef Margarida
Azeitonas Temperadas
The marinated olives that sit on every tasca table in Portugal, swimming in garlic, herbs, and enough azeite to make you reach for bread before you've even ordered. This is how we begin.
Culinary Explorer
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Pastéis de Massa Tenra
Created by
An 18th-century treasure from noble Portuguese kitchens: delicate unbreaded pastries with lemon-bright meat filling, the elegant ancestor of the rissol that nearly vanished from memory.
Appetizers & Snacks
Portuguese
Special Occasion
Make Ahead
1 hr 30 min
Active Time
30 min cook•2 hr total
Yield24 pastries
These are the pastries your great-great-grandmother might have made for a festa, if she worked in a noble house or if she was lucky enough to learn from someone who did. Pastéis de massa tenra belong to old Portugal, to a time when cooks transformed leftover roasted meats into something worthy of a silver tray.
I found this recipe in a handwritten notebook from Évora, dated 1847, passed down through a family who gave me permission to copy it before the pages crumbled further. The woman who wrote it, a cook named Josefa, noted that she learned it from her mother, who learned it from a cook at the Paço Ducal. That puts this dish in aristocratic kitchens of the 1700s. How many recipes carry that kind of lineage?
Massa tenra means tender dough. That's the soul of these pastéis. No breadcrumb coating like the rissóis that came later. Just thin, buttery pastry that shatters when you bite through to the filling. And that filling: meat brightened with so much lemon it wakes you up. Nutmeg. Good presunto. A richness bound with egg yolk. This is not humble food. This is celebration food that somehow got lost along the way.
At Mesa da Avó, I served these once for a dinner celebrating forgotten recipes. People who had never heard of massa tenra ate them in two bites and asked for more. That's when I knew this recipe deserved to live again. The grandmothers who made these are gone, but the notebooks remain. Someone has to keep cooking from them.
Pastéis de massa tenra appear in Portuguese culinary manuscripts from the 18th century, predating the breaded rissol by at least a hundred years. They were a fixture of aristocratic kitchens, a refined way to repurpose roasted meats, and appeared at celebrations and religious feasts. The distinctive lemon brightness reflects the Portuguese love affair with citrus, introduced through maritime trade routes.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
all-purpose flour
Quantity
300g
plus more for dusting
cold unsalted butter
Quantity
100g
cubed
cold lard
Quantity
50g
egg yolk
Quantity
1 large
dry white wine
Quantity
1/4 cup
chilled
fine salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
cooked chicken or veal
Quantity
300g
finely shredded
onion
Quantity
1 medium
minced
garlic
Quantity
2 cloves
minced
presunto or smoked ham
Quantity
50g
finely diced
butter
Quantity
2 tablespoons
dry white wine
Quantity
1/4 cup
lemon
Quantity
1
zested and juiced
fresh parsley
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely chopped
nutmeg
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
freshly grated
salt and white pepper
Quantity
to taste
egg yolks
Quantity
2 large
beaten
vegetable oil
Quantity
for frying
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| all-purpose flourplus more for dusting | 300g |
| cold unsalted buttercubed | 100g |
| cold lard | 50g |
| egg yolk | 1 large |
| dry white winechilled | 1/4 cup |
| fine salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| cooked chicken or vealfinely shredded | 300g |
| onionminced | 1 medium |
| garlicminced | 2 cloves |
| presunto or smoked hamfinely diced | 50g |
| butter | 2 tablespoons |
| dry white wine | 1/4 cup |
| lemonzested and juiced | 1 |
| fresh parsleyfinely chopped | 2 tablespoons |
| nutmegfreshly grated | 1/4 teaspoon |
| salt and white pepper | to taste |
| egg yolksbeaten | 2 large |
| vegetable oil | for frying |
Equipment Needed
- •Large mixing bowl
- •10cm round cutter or drinking glass
- •Rolling pin
- •Deep heavy pot or Dutch oven for frying
- •Kitchen thermometer
Instructions
- 1
Make the tender dough
In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add the cold butter and lard, working it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs with some pea-sized pieces remaining. This takes patience. The fat must stay cold. Make a well in the center and add the egg yolk and chilled wine. Stir with a fork, then bring together with your hands into a shaggy dough. Turn onto a floured surface and knead briefly, just until it comes together. No more than a minute. Overworking makes it tough.
The wine keeps the dough tender. Some old recipes call for vinho verde, which adds a slight acidity. Water works, but wine is traditional. - 2
Rest the dough
Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap in cloth or plastic, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. The dough needs this rest. Cold fat and relaxed gluten make for tender pastry. You can make this the day before.
- 3
Build the filling
Melt the butter in a wide pan over medium-low heat. Add the minced onion and cook slowly until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. Don't rush this. Add the garlic and presunto, cook another minute until fragrant. Pour in the wine and let it bubble until nearly evaporated.
The presunto adds a smoky depth that plain ham can't match. If you can't find presunto, serrano works. Never use sweet ham. - 4
Finish the filling
Add the shredded meat to the pan and toss to coat. Season with nutmeg, salt, and white pepper. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and parsley. The lemon should sing. Taste and adjust. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes, then stir in the beaten egg yolks. They bind the filling and make it luxurious. The mixture should be moist but not wet. Refrigerate until completely cool.
- 5
Roll and cut the dough
On a floured surface, roll the chilled dough to about 3mm thick. Thin but not transparent. Cut circles using a 10cm cutter or the rim of a glass. Gather the scraps, press together gently, chill briefly, and roll again. You should get about 24 circles.
- 6
Shape the pastéis
Place a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle. Don't overfill or they'll burst when frying. Brush the edges with water, fold in half to form a half-moon, and press the edges firmly to seal. Use the tines of a fork to crimp the edges. This seal must hold. Place the shaped pastéis on a parchment-lined tray and refrigerate for 15 minutes before frying.
If the dough becomes too soft while working, return it to the refrigerator. Warm dough tears and absorbs oil. - 7
Fry until golden
Heat oil in a deep pan or pot to 170°C (340°F). Not too hot. These pastries want gentle heat to cook through without burning. Fry in batches of 4 or 5, turning once, until golden on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes total. The color should be even, pale gold with darker spots at the crimped edges. Drain on paper and serve warm.
Chef Tips
- •The dough must stay cold throughout. If your kitchen is warm, work in batches and keep the rest refrigerated. Warm dough absorbs oil and turns greasy instead of crisp.
- •Shred the meat by hand, not in a processor. You want texture, not paste. The filling should have substance when you bite into it.
- •Leftover roast chicken or Sunday's vitela assada works perfectly. This was always a dish of transformation, making something elegant from what remained.
- •These can be shaped ahead and frozen on a tray, then transferred to a bag. Fry directly from frozen, adding a minute to the cooking time.
- •White pepper is traditional here. Black pepper leaves visible specks that aristocratic cooks considered unsightly. I use white pepper because Josefa's notebook specified it, and I don't argue with 200-year-old instructions.
Advance Preparation
- •The dough can be made up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated, wrapped well.
- •The filling can be made a day ahead and refrigerated. The flavors improve overnight.
- •Shaped pastéis can be frozen for up to 1 month. Fry directly from frozen.
- •Once fried, these are best eaten within an hour. They can be kept warm in a low oven but will lose some crispness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 38g)
Calories
180 calories
Total Fat
12 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
8 g
Cholesterol
50 mg
Sodium
110 mg
Total Carbohydrates
10 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
0 g
Protein
6 g
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