Gastronomic differences between the West and East of Menorca (II) 

Bep Al·lès / Ciutadella – What in Ciutadella is a cheese empanada, in the rest of the island is a flaón, and a few decades ago they were still different not only in name, but in shape, because the flaones were more triangular, like the tricorn hats of the Civil Guard, and the cheese empanadas were rounder.

Also in Easter pastries, in Ciutadella they make cottage cheese empanadas, and in the rest of the island they make crespells, which have nothing to do with the Mallorcan crespells. In the eastern part, together with Ferreries, Mercadal and Migjorn, which belong to the west, crespells are made with sobrasada, suquet, jam, pumpkin, quince, almond and sweet potato, while in Ciutadella they are made less and less and perhaps the only ones that are still made at home for Easter with the leftover dough from the empanadas are the crespells with sobrasada.

In Ciutadella they do not make sobrasada sticks but they do make Vienna rolls with sobrasada, as it should also be noted that the shape of the meat empanadas in Ciutadella is different from those in the rest of the island.

Only 16 kilometres separate Ciutadella from Ferreries, and for example what in Ciutadella is called a cóc (small roll), in Ferreries is a panet, and what in Ciutadella is a llonguet in Ferreries, also in Mercadal, is a cóc.

One of the pastry products that is in serious danger of disappearing is what in Ciutadella we call xuclador, and which in the rest of the island is called panecillo con crema or even in Alaior I have found a recipe that calls it xucla-crem. It is a milk roll or sweet bun filled with pastry cream and sugared on top and which was part of the snacks of the little ones until almost the mid-80s of the last century, the 20th century.

We also find small differences in the presentation of the queen of Menorcan pastries. In Ciutadella, the almond cake (tortada) is decorated with egg yolk jam and meringue rosettes, while in other towns it is decorated only with egg jam, or only with powdered sugar or floretti.

The same goes for Christmas sweet couscous. The one from Ciutadella is more consistent, it is cut with a knife, because it has more pork fat, whereas the typical one from the Levante part was more crumbly and was eaten or is eaten, because it is slowly recovering, with a spoon.

Finally, although there are many other differences in the world of sweets, it should be noted that the sugar cubes (dolses), formerly known as sucre esponjat (sponge sugar), in Ciutadella are white and pink, while in the Levante part we have been able to see yellow, green and even blue.

In the coming weeks we will talk about the differences in the world of vegetables, sausages, fish and seafood, among others.