Mallorcan soup (also spelled Majorcan; Catalan: sopes mallorquines; Spanish: sopas mallorquinas) or Mallorcan dry soup is a typical dish in the gastronomy of the island of Mallorca.[1][2] It is a rustic dish, often closer in texture to a casserole or very thick stew.[3][4] It typically is eaten with a fork rather than a spoon.[5]
This dish appears in the Middle Ages.[6][7][better source needed] Its origin is peasant,[8] probably from the villages of the Majorcan mountains (Serra de Tramuntana).[9][10] Reflecting the harshness of rural life, it traditionally was made with whatever produce was available in the vegetable garden, primarily cabbage, spring onions, leeks and garlic, to which stale bread and vegetable stock were added. In rare cases, meat or wild mushrooms might be included.[11] According to one source, it was prepared without pork by the Chuetas, those descendants of Jews forcibly converted during the Inquisition, who had lived on the island for centuries, and then spread among the rest of the Majorcan population.[6][better source needed]
The dish is eaten mainly in winter and is quite commonly found in village restaurants offering the island cuisine.[citation needed]
Mallorcan sope is prepared and presented in a traditional terracotta dish, locally referred to as a greixonera.[12] It is a thick soup, in appearance similar to a vegetable stew.[13][14][15]
Ingredients and preparation
editThe base of the Majorcan soup is the bread: thin, stale slices of a Majorcan brown bread made with buckwheat flour, pa moreno.[13][4] Bags of the thinly sliced stale bread are often sold by bakers for convenient sopes making.[12]
Vegetables can include cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, onions, garlic, parsley. Other seasonal vegetables may be included. Meats may include pork or a local sausage, such as the spicy boutifarre or the camaiot.[citation needed] Spices include sweet paprika.[16]
Typically ingredients are layered in a greixonera and are baked and served in the same vessel.[12]
Influence
editLlorenç Villalonga i Pons described the dish in 1960 in his book Majorca:
Is there a typical Majorcan cuisine and pastry? Great cuisine, like haute couture, is universal in its French-style embellishments, but popular dishes have their own character. The first of these is Majorcan soup. It is a fun and primitive dish, in the preparation of which intuition plays an important role. There are no fixed recipes. The broth is prepared only with vegetables that vary according to the season. As a result, some species do not go well with others. Which ones? It is said in Mallorca that the best cooks do not know. The women of the countryside, on the other hand, do. In short, Majorcan soups are either delicious or not, depending on the hand that prepares them. It is not a dish to ask for in a good restaurant, but rather in an old mountain inn or in a bistro on the coast.
Similar dishes
editMany Mediterranean cuisines include soups that feature day-old bread.[3][4] There are also bread soups in other cuisines, such as Ollebrod in Danish cuisine, Tyurya in Russian cuisine, Wodzianka in Polish cuisine (Silesia and Central Poland), and Paomo in Chinese cuisine.
References
edit- ^ "Mallorcan soup". +Mallorca, the magazine of Mallorca. 2010-06-04. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ "Majorcan-Style Vegetable and Bread Stew". Bon Appetit. May 2002. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ a b Shulman, Martha Rose (2011-04-18). "A Bowlful of Our Daily Bread". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ a b c "Majorcan Bread and Vegetable Soup Recipe". NYT Cooking. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ "Sopes mallorquines". www.tasteatlas.com. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
- ^ a b Thorbois, Jean-Marc (2020-01-25). "Les "Chuetas" de Majorque ou les Juifs malgré eux" [The "Chuetas" of Majorca or the Jews in spite of themselves]. Mon Majorque (in French). Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ Miquel (2013-04-14). "Miquelcinema: Breu història de les sopes mallorquines". Miquelcinema. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ "Las sopas mallorquinas" [The soups of Mallorca]. Iberia. Archived from the original on 2019-07-09.
- ^ "VilaWeb - Lletres". www.vilaweb.cat. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ Fàbrega, Jaume (1999). La Cuina de Mallorca (in Catalan). Edicions de la Magrana. ISBN 978-84-8264-223-9.
- ^ Consell de Mallorca. Cultural Landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana: Proposal for inscription in the World Heritage List (UNESCO) — Island of Mallorca — Spain (PDF). Vol. I. Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Consell de Mallorca. p. 158. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
- ^ a b c Barrenechea, Teresa (2009). The cuisines of Spain: Exploring regional home cooking. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-58008-835-0. OCLC 524400977 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b "Soupe majorquine par Alain Ducasse". L'Académie du Goût (in French). Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ "Mallorcan winter soups". Productes de Mallorca. 2020-01-19. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ "Season recipe: Mallorcan soup — Santa Catalina Market — Palma de Mallorca". Mercat de Santa Catalina. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ^ Griffon, Laurence (2021-02-04). "Sopas mallorquinas, un plat champêtre et réconfortant" [Sopas mallorquinas, a rustic and comforting dish]. La Piaf (in French). Retrieved 2022-10-17.