Gastronomy

Another typical dish is “Sopas mallorquinas”, made with fried vegetables and Mallorcan bread (a firm and round brown bread used in all meals) cooked in a clay casserole. The bread is cut in thin slices. It is served optionally with meat. “Tumbet” is perfect for the most demanding palates. Potatoes are sliced and fried with aubergines and red peppers and cooked in tomato sauce. This simple recipe will satisfy everyone.

Meat is the main ingredient of many Mallorcan dishes, including “porcella rostida” (roasted suckling pig), “escaldums” (chicken or turkey stew with ground almonds), the famous Mallorcan “frito” (a lesson of how to use the entire pig without wasting a single bit) and rabbit with onion (the most popular rabbit dish that attracts both visitors and locals).

Fish is equally important in Mallorcan gastronomy. There is a large variety of fish dishes, from fish rice and stew to roasted fish and fish in pickling brine, which is also a very exquisite dish.

All these delicious recipes are cooked both at Mallorcan homes, since Mallorcan people love good food, and in restaurants all over the island. The most typical and pleasant restaurants, mainly because of their long history, are called “cellers”. You can find them all over the island, even though they are more abundant in the towns of Sineu, Inca and Petra.

Gastronomy often goes hand in hand with tradition, be it connected with a certain date or period of the year, like the Holy Week, or with a specific ritual. Mallorcan people, and Balearic people in general, meet once or twice a year to slaughter a pig. The event is a combination of work, gastronomy and family celebration. It ends with a delicious meal and participants spend the day making sausages that they can keep in their pantries all year long. Sausages such as “sobrassada”, “botifarró” or “camaiot” and brown bread are an excellent gastronomic experience. These sausages are not only a pleasure for the palate that all visitors should try, but they are also, together with ensaimada, the most requested gift for visitors to take back home or to give to their loved ones.

Mallorcan desserts are also renowned in the gastronomic culture. The most popular desserts are ensaimada, a very fine pastry made with sugar, eggs and lard (“saïm” in Catalan, from which the name “ensaimada” is derived); "robiols”, “crespells” or “bunyols”, among others. There are many other local specialities, like the “coques de patata de Valldemossa”, “sospirs de Manacor” or the famous “galletas de Inca”.

Mallorca is also a land of wine. When these delicious dishes are washed down with a good wine with designation of origin, those sitting at the table think they are almost in heaven.