Cuisine of Menorca

Menorcan cuisinerefers to the typical food and drink ofMenorca.
Menorca is a rocky island in theBalearicarchipelago inSpain, consisting of eightmunicipalities. Featuring aMediterranean climate, the weather is milder in the south while in the north there are strong winds all year round. Marine salt, carried by the wind to the pastures where cows graze, is what gives the cheese its typical flavour. Seafood is a major element of the island's cuisine, but additionally, there are horses, pigs (used for cold cuts) and cows (the skin of which is used to produce leather, and the milk to produce cheese).Agricultureis small-scale and varied, consisting of typical Mediterranean products. Within this typicalMediterranean cuisinethere are also the influences of various invading people, particularly the English, who broughtplum cake,puddings, andpunch. The rural and marine cuisine is mostly based on greens and vegetables from one's own garden, locally produced meat, and fish and seafood caught in the same day.Olive oil, although not produced on the island, is also a fundamental ingredient in local dishes.
Menorcan cuisine is generally simple and seasonal. It is based on fishing, particularlylongline fishing, and onseafood, especiallycrustaceans,clamsandsquid. Fruits and vegetables are cultivated in as much variety as possible, and on a small scale, only for local consumption.
Until the second half of the twentieth century, goats were in such abundance that they were only eaten when there was a famine, caused by spoiled crops or insufficient fishing. Today, they are a luxury. Rabbit is another common element of the cuisine. In the seventeenth century, the English unsuccessfully attempted to introduce deer and hares. Few are left nowadays, but rabbits and various fowl are still hunted or bred.
In Menorca, some of the first written mentions of its cuisine are found in 1891, in notes belonging toArchduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria, who references some typical cooking but without any recipes. In 1923, Pedro Ballester publishedDe re cibariawhich collected a substantial part of popular wisdom and offered detailed anonymous recipes
Mediterranean crops had a strong influence, encouraging the use of olive oil,wine,legumesand foods pickled in salt. The substratum ofArab cultureis also important, as well as additions from French and English cuisine, owing to their respective periods of control over the island in the eighteenth century.
Even today, when most products can be obtained all year round, Menorca has a seasonal cuisine, which varies ingredients and recipes according to the cycles of the seasons and recognized holidays.
Mayonnaise supposedly originates in the Menorcan city ofMahón.According to this theory, this sauce — an emulsion of eggs and olive oil — was brought toFrancefollowing a brief French occupation of the island. According to a different theory, it was invented in a French town called Maiona, or perhaps Baiona. In any case, mayonnaise, with or without garlic, is a product of frequent use in the traditional cuisine of the island since ancient times, on its own or as an ingredient in dishes.
A local cheese is produced in Menorca:Mahón cheese. The cheese is classified as holdingdenominación de origenstatus in Spain, marking it as a unique product of the region. The cheese is pressed and has a characteristic orange colour, and rounded corners. In 1985, the protected name of the cheese was set asqueso Mahón,and later, in 1998, the wordMenorcawas added, making the full nameMahón-Menorca. There are four main varieties, according to maturation time: mild, semi-mature, mature and aged. Ricotta or fresh cottage cheese is also made in dairy shops in Menorca.
With the exception ofsobrassada, pork cold cuts made in Menorca are an evolution of the Roman legacy. The slaughter of the pigs, usually undertaken in winter, is calledporquejadesorporquetjades. Blood is added as an ingredient to some of these products, which gives them a black colour.
Similar toCatalan cuisine, only a fewspicesare used, but give each product a distinct flavor. Typical spices includeblack pepper,white pepper,paprika(insobrassada),anise,cinnamonandsalt. Some also add other typical Mediterranean spices such asthyme,rosemaryandoregano.
• Whitebotifarrahas a grayish, clear brown color, since it doesn’t contain blood, and has the form of the ball that is used forescudella. It is made of meat and other parts of the pig and it is surrounded by a fine membrane. It is generally eaten cooked, usually fried.
• Blackbotifarrahas the same ingredients and species as the white, but also contains pig blood. Its shape is like a finebotifarra. It is often eaten fried withsobrassadaand it is sometimes eaten raw.
•Camallot[ca], is a cooked, black, and very greasy sausage, basically the same as Mallorcancamaiotbut with less pellets. It usually contains minced pork, pig’s blood, black pepper, a pinch of paprika and anise. Its appearance is very different from the others, since it is inserted within a pig leg, where the name comes from. It is eaten raw, cut in very fine slices, or cooked.
• Menorcansobrassadais thinner and less spicy than that ofMallorca.
Menorcan cuisine is veryMediterranean,  rich in vegetables of all types. The island has been very self-sufficient providing these type of fresh products, thus they have never gone missing, thanks to thefarmingactivity as part of theeconomyeven to this day, time in which the crops represent approximately half of the Menorcan territory.The salad, hanging, bouquettomatoes, etc. ,and other green vegetables to preparesaladsandstir frystand out—onions, Italian green peppers, red pepper, garlic—, Roman lettuce to prepare salads, Mediterranean green vegetables that are fried, stuffed or oven baked, likeeggplant, that in Menorca is small and very white in its interior, a variety of the summer season that cannot be cultivated in a greenhouse,zucchini,  that is prepared in a similar way, or theartichoke, that is also from a local variety, small, long, and purple-colored, that is eaten mainly as a side dish, battered and fried, oven-baked or in stews.
Fruits are also abundant, especially figs, that are also eaten in savoury dishes, like for example theoliaigua.
Local green vegetables are prepared a "thousand ways",some of the most common are theguixons, thehabas, thelentils, and the chickpeas.
Mushrooms are very much appreciated, oven-baked, fried, with or without sauce to accompany meats, and the wild asparagus, very appreciated in the oliaigua (local soup) or simply with a tortilla.
Olive oilis the grease that is used to cook these dishes and is also common inpastry, whileolivesthemselves are appreciated in this cooking,just like localcapers.Until a few decades ago there were hundreds of olive trees in Menorca but nowadays these are not cultivated.
Some Menorcan dishes that contain these ingredients are:
A lot of salty products are made withwheat flour, many of which the bread dough often encircles the land's produce, like for example, therubiols, the Minorcanflaons- salty pasta filled with cheese-, to the agujas or croissants – made with bread dough and shaped like a half moon – filled withsobrassada.Theformatjadesstand out, common inEastertime.The saltycocasare usually rectangular, open or closed, and can be traditionally filled with a stir-fry, vegetables or pepper, even though some have meat or fish.OnChristmas Eve, it is common to eat, before theMidnight Mass, bread rolls filled with diced meat and soaked in milk and oven-cooked.
Sea products, for their insular condition, are widely consumed. Traditionally,Whitefishis used just the same- like for example,Goosefishor theHake- like theOily fish- like theAtlantic mackerelor thesardine, for example-, very fresh, bought the same day it is fished. TheScorpaenaor  scrofa, among them,is a highly appreciated and abundant fish. Another appreciated fish is theRajiformesthat can be oven-baked, grilled or in a paella.
A number of seafood, shells and mollusks are also used. These products, just like the earth products, change according to the season. They are cooked in pots or boilers, rice, and sometimes also in salty pies or puddings, oven-baked, grilled or in the oven.In Menorca there is a great tradition of eating varied fish, and even octopus or squid, in the form of meatballs.The codab burrida,that is prepared mixingcodsauce with garlic and oil dressing, is a dish that has the resemblance with others cooked inCatalonia,Provence,  and other nearby areas.
Some Menorcan dishes with fish and seafood are:
Pig farming is common locally, because pigs are easy to raise and traditional sausages are very popular. There is also cattle farming, which is the traditional source of milk -to make cheese among other things, meat and hides; the latter being used as a raw material for the local traditional leather craftsmen. A very old recipe is, for example, theFeixetsorChaplain’s Partridges, thinly sliced veal rolls filled with boiled egg, bacon andsobrasada.
Lamb,chickenandrabbitare also consumed. There are local varieties of chicken and lamb.
Game meats, which are currently very limited, are mainly rabbits and birds.Rabbits are hunted with the help of dogs, including an indigenous breed, theRabbit’s Dog, and shotguns, while for the haunting of birds, typical techniques are the use of decoy and thefencing in the neck.
Snailsare also part of this gastronomy, both in simple preparations, withalioli, for example, and in many more sophisticated ones, such as snails withsea crab.
Some Menorcan dishes with meats or sausages are:
The Menorcan bakery, pastry, and dessert making incorporates ideas, techniques and products from cultures as diverse as Jewish, Arabic and English. The brief stay of the French in the island served to create the "Gató", according to the technique of the French housewives of the moment, but incorporatingalmondsin the recipe. From the British the islanders took a taste forpuddings, they useCatalan creamabundantly; and they also usemeringuein the Italian way, to take advantage of the egg whites to decorate desserts and cakes. This taste for very sweet recipes is shared in common with other neighbours in the southern Mediterranean.
CuinaArt Menorca is a gastronomic fair that is celebrated every April since 2007 as a showcase for Menorcan products. It consists of exhibitors, debates, tastings, conferences, etc. It is aimed at all types of public.