Not only of ‘ensaimada’ Mallorca lives

Thousands of visitors each year end their holidays on the island of Mallorca with the typical box of ‘ensaimada’ under the arm ready to embark back home. It has become an almost obligatory ritual for anyone who spends their holidays in Mallorca. It’s true that it’s a very good sweet, but the gastronomic richness of the island goes far beyond this famous Mallorcan dessert.

The cultural richness of the island in which Romans, Muslims and Catalans have lived has given rise to an exquisite gastronomy based, above all, on garden vegetables, game and seafood. Among the most famous dishes of the island are the “Frit Mallorqui”, the “Tumbet”, the Mallorcan sobrasada, the “arròs brut” or the delicious “coca de Trampó”.

Frit Mallorqui

The oldest and most representative recipe is Frit Mallorqui, dating from the 14th century and traditionally made with lean pork or lamb, although it can also be made with fish, livers, potatoes, red peppers, onions, peas, garlic , salt and olive oil. Everything is cut into small pieces and the ingredients are fried in batches in the same pan and with the same oil until it is mellow, but not oily.

Tumbet

It’s a dish made only with vegetables from the orchard, suitable for vegetarians and perfect as accompaniment or first course. It’s prepared by frying the eggplants with a little flour. The potatoes are fried in slices with garlic and red pepper cut into strips. On the other hand, several tomatoes are peeled, chopped and simmered until they blend into a sauce.

Finally the eggplants, potatoes and peppers are placed in a clay serving platter and it is served with the simmered tomato sauce.

Arròs Brut

Another of the traditional dishes of the island is the “arròs Brut” which means dirty rice because of the color that the broth acquires due to its elaboration. It’s a recipe that comes from the countryside at the time in which everything that was harvested and hunted got to be used.

It’s a hot rice that is prepared in a crockpot with meat (chicken, rabbit, ribs of pork), sausage like sobrasada or “botifarrones”, seasonal vegetables, spices (pepper, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon) and mushrooms.

Coca de Trampó

The “coca de Trampó” is a typical dish of Mallorca and also of the rest of the islands, it’s usually eaten in celebrations as an appetizer. The key to this dish are the garden vegetables, green and red peppers, onion, ripe tomatoes and garlic on a forceful baked dough that is made from water, oil, salt and a little beer. The dough is made, stretched and preheated to the oven to 200 degrees when it is half cooked it is covered with salt-peppered vegetables cut in pieces. It’s then baked in the oven between 30 and 45 minutes.