Serradura

When we are asked about exquisite desserts, we inadvertently guess a glamorous list of ingredients and a tediously long and meticulous process of baking. But the Portuguese repository of globe-trotting delicacies houses a unique dessert that employs minimal ingredients to create a masterpiece that takes no time to prepare. The Serradura is a layered pudding from Portugal that hosts alternating flavours of whipped cream, condensed milk, and crumbled Marie biscuits. The dish is equally revered in the Macanese cuisine, owing to its former colonial identity, as it is in Goa, where the Serradura is a cultural obligation in conventional house parties.

The dish derives its name from the Portuguese word Serradura, which means sawdust, referring to the texture created by adding the finely crumbled Marie biscuits to the pudding. The dessert involves simply spreading the contrasting layers of cream and biscuit and then refrigerating. Depending on how long the mixture is cooled, the dish can be served in two ways—either in a firmer cake type consistency or by cooling it relatively less to maintain the smooth creamy texture of a pudding.

It is hard to assign the origin of this quick dessert to any person in history but can rightly be considered a result of multiple historical events and cultural adaptations. For instance, the Marie biscuit was created by London bakery Peek Freans in 1874 to commemorate the marriage of Grand Duchess Mari of Russia and the Duke of Edinburgh, and soon became a sensation throughout Europe.

The use of and dependence on Marie biscuits is believed to have started in Portugal following the Spanish Civil War, when the biscuit was made in large quantities from surplus wheat of the war and became a symbol of the country’s economic revival. The Portuguese made it a point to incorporate the item in many preparations and the Serradura must have originated that way. It is true though that the dish, as it is popular today, was perfected in Macau from where it must have travelled to other Portuguese colonies, including India.

Traditionally made with vanilla infused into whipped cream, the Serradura today is found in a wide range of flavours like coffee beans, nuts, green tea, chocolate and so on. In fact, many recent experiments have replaced Marie biscuits with the newer Oreo biscuits. It is wonderful to see that the delightful Portuguese delicacy is witnessing a slow revival in India as well as the rest of the world.