An industrial, grey factory in Qormi might not be the most glamorous of settings to whet your appetite, but it’s where a huge proportion of the thousands of pastizzi we eat in Malta every day are made.

So, we rolled up our sleeves (metaphorically) to see how the experts at Sphinx roll up their sleeves (literally) to try and learn the secret behind this Maltese obsession.

It’s all in the technique

The factory we visited is owned by brothers Elvin and Aaron Muscat. After working in the factory as children, they took over the running of the family business from their father two years ago.

The company started in 1995 with just one shop in Fgura. Now it supplies more than forty outlets, after buying out its rival Champ. So, we feel like we are in just the right place to learn what goes into making these super snacks.

“Even though they are made in a factory I would describe our recipe as home-cooked,” says Elvin as we walk between rows and rows of raw dough.

“The recipe for us is about keeping it exactly like you would make it traditionally at home. Even the cheddar and ricotta that goes inside the pastry is made locally.”

He introduces me to 69-year-old Richard Vassallo who’s been making pastizzi since he was ten. Standing at his station in the factory he can hand-make two-thousand pastizzi a day during an eight-hour shift. He says: “You have to understand how to open the dough. Then after you open it, you must be very quick to make a lot of pastzzi in a day. The hardest type to make is the anchovy.” he says before promptly getting back to work.

Consistency is key

Afterwards we travelled to Rabat to meet Trevor Ciangura, co-owner of Is-Serkin Crystal Palace Bar. We wanted to hear what he had to say, given that his pastizzi are voted the best on the island time and time again. And it seems true, as even on a chilly morning in February, there was a queue out the door. And, this is a door that’s been open since 1946.

“I think the secret is the ingredients." Trevor says. "We use an old recipe that was handed down to us from the previous owner, which we’ve kept exactly the same. He got it from his father and when he sold the shop to me and my brother, he passed it down to us.”

However, when I ask him for the recipe, I might as well be asking the bosses at Coca-Cola for their secrets.

But he does tell me that consistency helps.

“As well as the recipe, we’ve kept the inside of the pastizzeria exactly the same as we found it. I also know all my customers really well. You must know what kind of tea they like, so that when they come in you don’t even have to ask them how they take it. You have to know whether they like milk or lemon or one or two sugars.”

So, what have we learnt?

Not enough to actually make pastizzi. But we now know you need to knead A LOT of dough to learn how to get that flaky, crunchy texture tasting just right. We’ve also learned that local ingredients are key, as well as knowing when NOT to tamper with years of perfection.

Delicious!