It comes on a small plate. It has the shape of a disc. On top, the skin is smooth and thin, yellow from the egg, with dark shapes drawn by the oven. Below, it is porous, covered with small spongy holes. Inside, it’s like a pudding, moist, solid, but ready to fall apart. If we don’t use a little fork, if we bite into the “tigelada”, the teeth easily tear the top skin with just a touch, sinking into the soft but still consistent mass. On the bottom lip, we can feel the texture of the base.
This surface of little holes and the very name of the sweet (“tigelada” derives from “tigela”, the Portuguese word for “bowl”) have their origin in unglazed clay bowls in which the “tigeladas” are baked. Eggs, sugar, flour, milk, lemon zest, cinnamon, salt. Like many Portuguese sweet recipes, the origin of “tigeladas” is conventual. Depending on who tells the story, there was a specific priest who brought the recipe with him and spread it. There are variations because this is a popular story, directly passed on from one person to another, each claiming that their version is the right one. In this way, several points in the municipality of Abrantes claim the origin of “tigeladas”. This is a local dispute among places with history, places with traditions that extend into the past. This controversy was a recent discovery for me. Abrantes is the largest city in its district (in the center of Portugal) and, from a distance, it is the place always associated with “tigeladas” often referred to as “tigeladas” from Abrantes.
I was born a few dozen kilometers away from the aroma of freshly baked “tigeladas”. As a child in the eighties, I used to travel to Abrantes to visit the dentist, as well as to buy clothes or other products that were not available in my village. On those days, a visit to a pastry shop in the city center was a must. In any part of Portugal, pastry shops are like small worlds, to be explored with the curiosity of someone entering a museum, with the added advantage that we can savor the displayed treats. In Abrantes, this richness is even more undeniable. Accompanied by my parents and sisters, among the many traditional sweets of the region, we always ended up choosing “tigeladas”.
In food, both in sugar and salt, I believe that associated memories are decisive and even influence the palate itself. This case is no exception. I would find it very difficult to separate “tigeladas” from the remembrance of that idyllic time, guided by the hand of my parents, happy with my older sisters. For those who do not have this experience, I believe it is still possible to create new memories today, to create moments that will endure and carry with them a flavor: a memory of today that will last into the future. Portuguese pastry is very diverse, and yet, it seems to me that this option from the center of the country is the perfect choice. Spend some time savoring it, analyzing it. Enjoy the nuances of “tigeladas”, a sweet that is simultaneously exuberant and discreet, complex and unequivocal. If you haven’t tried it, go ahead and try it. If you already know it, I don’t need to say anything else; you know exactly what I’m talking about.
