Characteristic products and terroirs
Balearic cuisine is as much about local produce as it is about seafood. While there are typical local specialties on each island, certain products can be found throughout the archipelago. Such is the case of sobrassada, a pork sausage emblematic of the Balearic Islands. Red in color, it is flavored with paprika - sweet or hot - and aromatic herbs (thyme, oregano, etc.). Another embotit - the Catalan term for charcuterie - is camot or cuixot (also known as camaiot, camallot or varia negra in the rest of the Balearic Islands), made from pork meat more or less coarsely minced with blood, spices (black pepper, paprika, aniseed) and salt. This stuffing is placed inside the skin of the pig's thigh, then sewn, cooked and finally dried. Botifarres are different types of sausage typical of the Catalan world. Botifarra blanca de Menorca is a finely spiced mixture of pork meat, giblets and fat. Carnixulla is a typical Menorcan sausage.
These sausages were often prepared in winter during the mantaça, a major event in the life of the islanders when the pig was slaughtered. The whole animal was used, and this ritual traditionally brought families and neighbors together to prepare the various cuts of pork. Certain offal, such as the fragile liver, was cooked immediately with onions and a few winter vegetables. This charcuterie is regularly presented in the form of fiambres - meaning "English plate" - with cheese, such as queso Mahón or Maó in Catalan, named in honor of the town of the same name. The PDO Queso Mahón-Menorca label designates a variety of cheeses, some of which have a thin orange rind - colored with paprika - when young. When older, they turn brown and have a naturally stronger taste. Menorca is famous for its milk production, and there are written records dating back over 1,500 years of cheese-making in the region.
Rich in vegetables of all kinds, the island's cuisine makes generous use of tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, artichokes, squash and zucchinis, not forgetting various leafy vegetables and other legumes such as lentils, broad beans, chickpeas and beans. Not surprisingly, the olive is a providential tree - as in the rest of the Mediterranean - whose oil is widely used. In fact, this oil forms the basis of one of Menorca's most famous dishes. In fact, even if its paternity is hotly disputed, mayonnaise is thought to have originated on the island, and more specifically in the town of Maó, from which it takes its name. It was under French occupation, between 1756 and 1763, that mayonnaise was taken to France. Although stories differ, the importance of this oil-and-yolk-based sauce in the region's cuisine is well worth noting.
Classics of Menorcan cuisine
A flagship product of local cuisine, sobrassada goes particularly well with the sweetness ofensaimada, but can also accompany stewed snails to make the famous tapas cargols amb sobrassada. Another renowned sausage, carn i xua, made with lean pork and bacon, is considered the oldest sausage made in Menorca. While pork is widely consumed on the island (lard as well as cold meats), beef is not neglected. Two breeds, Friesian and autochthonous, are reared on Menorca's lands, offering fine cuts of meat as well as typical island dairy products. Minorcan lamb, rabbit and woodcock are also highly prized. Cega amb coc, a woodcock sandwich soaked in milk and baked in the oven, is a Menorcan classic. Influenced by the English, another common dish on the island is macarrons amb grevi, a recipe for pasta - usually penne or macaroni - cooked in gravy, a thick meat sauce from England. Perol menorquí is a gratin consisting of layers of potato and tomato strips, topped with slices of bread or breadcrumbs and flavored with garlic and parsley. Despite its name, arròs de la terra does not contain rice, but broken wheat, garnished with sausages, pork chop, tomatoes and onions with a touch of saffron.
On the seaside, many dishes are cooked with mollusks such as cockles (escopinyes), crustaceans such as the famous red lobster, or a wide variety of white, oily or rock fish. Don't forget to try the island's most typical dish, caldereta de llagosta, a kind of bouillabaisse cooked in a small pot with lobster. Also worth mentioning is borrida de ratjada, poached skate served with sofregit (a tomato sauce with peppers and garlic) and topped with picada, a preparation of crushed almonds with parsley and chili pepper. Guisat de fesols amb sèpia is a cuttlefish stew with peas. Cod in sauce, or burrida, is another popular dish.
Menorca also offers a range of savoury pastries, the most common of which are coques, a type of local brioche pizza. After being brushed with garlicky olive oil, they can be topped with peppers(amb pebres), a tomato-onion-pepper mixture(amb trempó), spinach-garlic-grapes(d'espinacs), spicy sausage(amb sobrassada) or sardines(amb pinxes).
Since the island's cuisine is based on subsistence, Menorcans have always known how to make the most of the resources at hand, while still enjoying themselves. Woodland mushrooms, asparagus, blackberries, aromatic herbs and capers, picked or gathered along the way, are all part of Menorcan gastronomy, accompanying meats (rabbit terrine with sauce and vegetables, roast leg of lamb with olives) or forming starters (oven-stuffed zucchinis, tomato soup - or oliaigua - with fig sorbet).
Desserts and drinks
The Balearic Islands' best-known pastry is probably theensaïmada, a spiral-shaped sweet pastry eaten at breakfast time, dipped in thick hot chocolate. Initially filled with butter, it was replaced by lard after the Reconquesta, to gauge the fervor of Jewish and Muslim converts to Christianity. Greixonera de brossat is a pudding made withensaimada, flavored with lemon and cinnamon. Coca bamba is a soft, potato-based brioche, while rubiol is a shortbread turnover filled with chocolate, fromage frais or marmalade.
Many local pastries are dedicated to religious festivals. Tots Sants' bunyols are small doughnuts made for All Saints' Day, while crespells, shortbread flavored with orange and lemon and filled with jam or fromage frais, are prepared for Holy Week. Unavoidable in Menorca, carquinyols are crunchy, square-shaped almond cookies. Finally, orelletes, thin, very crispy doughnuts, are devoured during Carnival.
All these sweet treats are usually accompanied by thick, Spanish-style hot chocolate(xocolata calenta). Coffee is normally black. With the addition of hot milk, it's called Amb llet. Café tallat is espresso cut with cold milk. It can be either sobre (powdered) or de màquina (espresso). Cigaló is a coffee with a dash of rum, cognac or other local liqueur.
The Balearic archipelago may not be Spain's most famous wine-growing region, but it does boast a notable production that deserves to be better known. There are two denominations of controlled origin(denominació d'origen) in the archipelago, both located on Mallorca - Binissalem in red and Pla i Llevant in white - while Menorca boasts a large number of vineyards - such as Vinyes Binitord, Finca Sa Marjaleta, Hort de Sant Patrici, Torralbenc, Bodegas Menorquinas and many others.
When it comes to beer, the island is home to the Catalan Estrella brand. Similar to our "panaché", clara is a blend of beer and lemon Schweppes. Menorca also boasts Cervesa Illa, the island's oldest craft beer. Finally, there's Grahame Pearce. Produced in Sant Climent, near Maó, by Roger Vila, Grahame Pearce won the prize for Spain's best craft beer in 2022. For the more curious, it is possible to witness the production process, with the factory organizing guided tours.
The English didn't stay in Menorca for more than 90 years in total, but when they left they left behind a sure taste for gin and its intense juniper berry aroma. Here, it's made from grapes, making it fruitier and less bitter than its British cereal counterpart. Enjoy the Innat and Glop gins made by the Quintana family at Licors Biniarbolla, and Xoriguer gin, which boasts the oldest gin produced in the Mediterranean. Drizzled with lemon juice, the gin is then called pomada. The inevitable xupito is the name of the small glass of liqueur often offered by the house after dinner. It is also served on the feast days of the patron saints of each Menorcan municipality.
Herbal liqueurs are very popular, and each island produces its own. Often prepared by hand, their alcohol content varies from around 20 to 30°. In the region, you'll find calent andestomagale from Menorca.
