Christmas gastronomy in Menorca

Bep Al·lès/Ciutadella - One of the traditions that still exists in the traditional bars of Menorca, especially in Ciutadella, is to go and drink calent early on Christmas Saturday, with the morning coffee. Calent is a spirit similar to Catalan cremats or Galician queimadas. The remains (the bottoms) of what is left in the bottles opened at that time are placed in a pot, to which orange and lemon peel, cinnamon sticks and sugar are also added. It is put on the fire and served, as its name suggests, hot. It is a Christmas gift to everyday customers that could well be a tradition inherited from Catalan cremats, as well as it could be a custom adopted from the British dominations, where Dutch and German sailors formed part of the squadrons, who were consumers of the “Glück wine or Glühwein” that we can find today in European Christmas markets.

As in Mallorca and in places where Catalan is spoken and cultured, Christmas Eve dinner was not celebrated in Menorca, a custom that is celebrated in the rest of the State. In Menorca, people went to Midnight Mass, and after its celebration, once they got home, they ate the stuffed bread rolls, a custom that has been completely lost. Perhaps the foreign influence and also the evolution of traditions has made many families celebrate Christmas dinner, just as there are many who take advantage of this day to go out with their friends for tapas, wine and cava.

Roast turkey

The Christmas lunch was first the Christmas broth, with galets pastry (not stuffed in Menorca, however, galets are stuffed in Mallorca and Catalonia). Second the stew and third the capon or roast turkey, stuffed with couscous or meatballs, or a stuffing of chopped almonds with dried apricots, raisins, dried plums and pine nuts. For dessert the almond cake, the nougat of the Queen, pastry rolls, glazed marshmallows, bittersweets, coconut balls, dates stuffed with egg yolk jam, pastries stuffed with preserves and cuscussó.

Roast suckling pig

Nowadays, the Christmas broth is still preserved, but the roast has been Mallorcanised, and more and more people are opting for roast suckling pig instead of capon or roast turkey, just as they are abandoning the gastronomic tradition of these days and opting for (frozen) lobster stews, crayfish stews, or grilled seafood or zarzuelas. It's all a matter of taste and fashion.

Queen's soup

For the second Christmas party, or St. Stephen's Day, the first thing they eat is the Queen's soup, which is made with the Christmas broth, where they add pieces of the meat from the stew, small meatballs the size of a chickpea, hard-boiled egg cut into very small pieces, sweet ham, noodles... and there are also those who add semolina and savoury flan.

It is said that the origin of the recipe is Spanish, from the library of the Monastery of Alcántara, but that it was stolen during the War of Independence in 1807, and recreated by the cook of King Louis XV for Queen Maria Leszcynska, with the name of consommé a la Reine. There are also those who point out that it is not in honour of Queen Maria, but of Margaret of Valois, wife of Henry IV, who popularised it in France as poule au pot, which she consumed every Thursday for breakfast and lunch.

As we have said in Menorca, this recipe is very popular, especially in the towns of Ciutadella, Ferreries and Es Mercadal, which is where the first course of the second feast is still served.

Cannelloni

The second dish is meat cannelloni, which used to be made with the remains of the roast, although now there are those who prepare a good roast chicken or capon, where they will use the roast bones to make the broth for the queen's soup, and the meats, well deboned, to make the filling of the cannelloni, which are served at the table covered with béchamel, which may or may not have a little tomato sauce to give it its characteristic colour or truffle béchamel. Nowadays, cannelloni have been modernised and there are those who accompany them with a sauce of autumn-winter mushrooms such as chanterelles, which give them a seductive flavour.

Cuscussó

For dessert we will continue with the strong and weak nougats, the pastry, the rolls, the egg yolks, the cake, the pastries, the wafers, the couscoussó and those sweets that each house has or makes to celebrate these holidays, where cava will not be missing, not even at the Christmas meal, which is increasingly present at all the festive feasts. Before we reserved it for dessert, as it is also a good day to consume the wines of the land of Menorca, which are increasingly present and of better quality. In this way we also support the winemakers of the island and we will consume local products, reaffirming our commitment to small producers. From farmers to fishermen, through wineries, pastry chefs...

Glaçat

Merry Christmas and good food with local products