Calderas and not Calderetas

They say that lobster is the queen of Menorcan seafood cuisine, and it is in summer when it is omnipresent on restaurant tables as a stew or, as has become fashionable in recent years, eaten fried and accompanied by potatoes, also fried, and fried eggs. Perhaps that is why today we will talk a little about lobster in our kitchen, mentioning one of its essential and obligatory reading books, De Re Cibaria, by Pere Ballester.

If we focus on the most international dish that we have contributed to tourist gastronomy, lobster stew, we can point out that it is a relatively new dish in the history of Menorcan gastronomy, because it uses, to make its sofrito, ingredients from the new world, such as tomatoes and peppers, which are a main part along with lobster, onion and garlic, in addition to oil, salt, and quality water. Afterwards, each cook will put his or her hand in with his or her secrets, ranging from the mince with Maria biscuits, others with an ounce of dark chocolate, others with chamomile, absinthe, cognac, etc.

The first recipe book to mention the lobster stew, but without giving the recipe or talking about it in greater detail, is “De Re Cibaria” by Pere Ballester, published in 1923 and which has been reissued more than ten times, although the first recipes cooked with lobster in Menorca can be found in “Art de la Cuina” by Fra Roger, which we will talk about in a future article, written in the 18th century and which does not mention the stew or any similar preparation with lobster.

Ballester speaks of the Menorcan fish stew, which he says is “not the boulle-baisse of Marseille, as many imagine, nor the romesco of Tarragona, nor the caldereta of Gijón”, and he assures that dishes similar to our stew are only known “except in some villages on the coast of Algiers and in some remote country”, surely referring to North Africa. In fact, it has been said that the roots of our cuisine, if we really want to find them, are in the kitchens of Algiers, Tunisia and Morocco where we must go to look for them.

It is after this description of the Menorcan fish stew, where the secret is the variety of the fish, when Ballester tells us “the seasoning is always the same, whether it is a lobster stew from Fornells (nowadays a luxury item) or the “deceived stew” of potatoes and other things in the absence of fish”, and then he gives the recipe:

“A clay pot or a cauldron with unsalted water, good oil, pieces of onion and tomato, garlic cloves, parsley and paprika, all cold and raw, is put on a live fire with branches (ramaje) if possible, and adding at the same time the ingredient or ingredients from which the stew is to be made. The liquid, without being excessive, must cover the solid, which in Menorca is known as carear, and with the force of stoking the fire, the cooking must be done quickly, as indicated. Each stew must be served in the same pot, carefully taking out the broth with the ladle to scald each person's bread soups, without letting the fish fall apart."

Here we have the first written record of the lobster stew, which Ballester does not seem to give too much importance to, but he does give it to the fish stew, and also to the moray eel stew, which for him is the number 1 of the stews, as he also leaves written record of the sea date stew, the clam stew and the potato stew.

He ends the section on the stews by describing the "deceived stew" that was made in the huts next to the sea when fishing had not been good and they were looking for ingredients such as limpets, bread crumbs (a type of clam that has practically disappeared today), periwinkles, canaillas, crabs, pusterols and the few rock fish that had been caught.

The author of De Re Cibaria tells us little about lobster, he only mentions it a couple of times, one of them being rice with rabbit and lobster, which according to him is the best rice dish made in Menorca, and then he offers us two treasures of ancient cuisine: Lobster ab crema and Lobster grassera, two recipes possibly from medieval cuisine and prior to the 18th century.

Ballester, from the sought-after cookbook written in Ciutadella that Ramon Cavaller left to Lluís Ripoll to make his old cookbooks, gives us the recipe for lobster with cream as follows: “It is cooked with water; once cooked and cooled, it is cut in half lengthwise; the meat is removed and cut into small pieces. It is placed in a saucepan with oil, finely chopped onion and ham are sautéed and fried. Immediately add a good amount of flour and fry again, then add the necessary milk, so that it becomes thick. Finally, add a little parsley, garlic, two or three egg yolks, and mix everything together. The resulting mixture is used to fill the lobster shells, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and drizzle with a little oil. Bake with a little water and cinnamon.

This recipe for lobster in cream sauce can also be found in cookbooks from stately kitchens such as those of the Squella family from Ciutadella, and those of the Saura family.

For several decades now, lobster has become a luxury item, a once-a-year meal, if possible, and perhaps overly valued for what it is, because if I have to be honest, I prefer a good pot of large red prawns, and this same red prawn from Ciutadella grilled or roasted and just seasoned with a picada made from organic extra virgin olive oil from Menorca, garlic and parsley, than a pot of lobster that has not rested for its time and has been prepared, too often, in a rush for commercial purposes.

Therefore, if we want to eat and enjoy a good lobster stew, what we should do is choose trusted restaurants, reserve at least one day in advance, and above all ask that they bring to the table the distinctive or label that each Menorcan lobster, caught on the island, will have on its antennae, and placed at the time of capture or arrival at the market or guild by the fisherman.