Restless palates with a Mallorcan taste

Mallorca Caprice puts on its apron to delve into the culinary tastes of Mallorcans who excel in the world of gastronomy, nutrition, design, business, communication and music. A tribute to local flavours, tradition and the dishes that have accompanied us since childhood, cooked with the best seasoning: that of life’s memories, which very often leave a good mouthfeel.

Santi Taura

Foto: Tarek Serraj

Michelin-starred chef

– Is your mouth watering with…?
– Mallorcan soups made by my mother.

– A family dish that you remember with nostalgia? Where does it take you?
– A bollit with chickpeas seasoned with salt, vinegar and oil. I love chickpeas and it was what my grandmother used to make me whenever I stayed at her house because she knew I enjoyed it.

-Which Mallorcan ingredients prevail in your dishes?
-Basically sobrassada, the Mallorcan “umami”.

-A recipe of yours that triumphs?
-The rockfish empanada, a unique recipe that we serve at Dins all year round and which I make the way my mother taught me to make empanadas: without lard and with very thin walls.

-The most exotic thing you’ve ever tried?
– Oh, I’m a classic. I’ve tried a lot of things but none of them particularly strange… Kangaroo, jellyfish, raw octopus… Now that I remember, in Bari I tried taratuffo. Unforgettable….

-A Mallorcan dessert that is a temptation for you?
-Cremadillos.

Penélope Picornell

Brand ambassador of Cappuccino Group

– Is your mouth watering with…?
– Mallorcan trempó. At this time of year, fresh, healthy and very appetising!

– A family dish that you remember with nostalgia? Where does it take you?
– Arròs brut. Sundays at my childhood home, the image of my mother cooking and that unmistakable Sunday smell…

-Which Mallorcan ingredients prevail in your dishes?
-Sobrassada and red peppers.

-A recipe of yours that triumphs?
-Artichokes with sobrassada: 4 artichokes, 2 spoonfuls of sobrassada, 4 small balls of butter, 1 small piece of ham, parsley, bay leaf, 1 clove of garlic, oil, salt and pepper.

-The most exotic thing you’ve ever tried?
– Prawns with sobrassada sauce and dates.

-A Mallorcan dessert that is a temptation for you?
-Apricot coca!

Andreu Palou

Professor of Biochemistry. NUBE Research Group (UIB-CIBEROBN)

– Is your mouth watering with…?
– Sobrassada ensaïmada from Mallorca.

– A familiar dish that you remember with nostalgia? Where does it take you?
– The paella or arròs sec of the family’s multitudinous Sunday lunches and throughout the many years of my life, until a few years ago.

-Which Mallorcan ingredients prevail in your dishes?
-Almost all of them, starting with Mallorcan Sobrassada, virgin olive oil, olives and Mallorcan wholemeal bread (i.e. without added salt), which is difficult to find and to distinguish among all the existing gibberish. Among the vegetables, I would highlight tomatoes, aubergines, green peppers, courgettes, potatoes, cauliflower and other cabbages, artichokes, broad beans, green beans, peas, onions and garlic. Among the meats I prefer free-range and pork; I also like fish, and whenever I can, I always add snails previously cooked with whatever herbs I have on hand.

-A recipe of yours that triumphs?
-Arròs brut. The rice has to be good, it has to capture the flavours well and keep for a long time, it has to be bomba rice or ‘bombeta’ from Sa Pobla.

– What’s the most exotic thing you’ve tried?
– Combinations of insect caviar or larvae of the guijera ant, in Mexico; frogs’ legs, in Huesca; and camel stews, in Saudi Arabia… I wasn’t very enthusiastic…

-A Mallorcan dessert that is a temptation for you?
-Sobrassada ensaïmada from Mallorca with almond ice cream with no added sugar.

Terremoto de Alcorcón

Foto: Torres Ibarzo.

Singer, actress and comedian

– Is your mouth watering with…?
– My mother-in-law Joana’s Mallorcan soups.

– A family dish that you remember with nostalgia? Where does it take you?
– I’m an outsider and now a Mallorcan cultural attaché, but the roots… Roots are roots. Artichokes stuffed with ham from the Huelva mountains, a stew made by my grandmother Nico, who cooked it with amontillado. It takes me back to Huelva, to Jerez, to its bodegas, to the smell of home when your elders cooked.

-Which Mallorcan ingredients prevail in your dishes?
– Sobrassada, without a doubt, soup bread used in different ways, Tap de Cortí, a good tomàtiga de ramallet and oli! How delicious Mallorcan olive oil and olives.

-A recipe of yours that triumphs?
-The smoked aubergine Russian salad! It’s a guaranteed success! You can try it at Flexas!

-The most exotic thing you’ve tried?
-I guess eating bugs in Asia or chapulines from Mexico.

-A Mallorcan dessert that is a temptation for you?
-The cardinal de Lloseta. If you research its origins, you’ll be in for a big surprise. I was taught it by Christian Escribà, the Catalan pastry chef with whom I co-presented “Niquelao!” for Netflix… You’ll be amazed.

Jose María Calonge

Head of the Cooking Department at the Balearic Islands School of Hotel Management

– Is your mouth watering with…?
– Many things, but I would highlight red prawns, apricots or Mahon cheese.

– A family dish that you remember with nostalgia? Where does it take you?
– I am not Mallorcan by birth but I have lived for several years in the centre of the island, in Sineu, and I have fond memories of the mid-morning variats.

-Which Mallorcan ingredients prevail in your dishes?
-Vegetables and fish of all kinds.

-One recipe of yours that triumphs?
-Prawn carpaccio with apricot trempó, for example.

-The most exotic thing you’ve tried?
-Stewed snails, cockerel crests, stewed lamprey, thrushes with cabbage and sea dates, etc. Products and preparations from our country that for some people are rare. From outside Spain, the Elephant’s ear fish from the Mekong Delta caught my attention.

-A Mallorcan dessert that is a temptation for you?
-I find it hard to resist a good ensaimada filled with burnt cream.

Pablo Erroz

Foto: Javier Fernández.

Designer

– Is your mouth watering with…?
– The negret of my friend Lluís Pérez.

– A family dish that you remember with nostalgia? Where does it take you?
– Pa amb oli on summer nights. Full of good times and anecdotes together.

-Which Mallorcan ingredients prevail in your dishes?
-I have a predilection for the oils made here. Or prawns from Sóller. I’m not much of a cook, but I am a great lover of local Mallorcan produce in general.

-A recipe of yours that triumphs?
-You’ve got me there, I’ve got to get on with it, right now!

-What’s the most exotic thing you’ve tried?
– It was in China, on a work trip. And it was so exotic and weird, I don’t even know the name of it. But it was a different experience.

-A Mallorcan dessert that is a temptation for you?
-Well, even though I’m not much of a dessert person, I’d definitely go for the almond gató.

Martina Benvenutto

Creative Director

– Is your mouth watering with…?
-I like rice with trempó or trempó with apricots as a summer dish. I remember the summers in the Colonia, where we all ate with love and affection.

– A family dish that you remember with nostalgia? Where does it take you?
-My grandmother’s milanesas with potatoes from the summer cottage. I miss very much being with the family and recreating all that feeling of happiness and love as I can’t conceive a life without affection and family.

-Which Mallorcan ingredients prevail in your dishes?
-Onion and garlic. They are always my allies and never disappoint. If it’s Mallorcan, the ramallet tomato gets me out of any situation.

-A recipe of yours that triumphs?
-Lentils. I love making that dish and enjoying the process; from buying the products at the Olivar market to tasting them with a glass of wine.

-The most exotic thing you’ve tried?
-On one of my trips to Asia the best thing was being at sea and eating butterfish.

-A Mallorcan dessert that is a temptation for you?
-The cardinal of Lloseta.

Joan Muntaner

Vocalist of the band Xanguito

Foto: Josep Calafat (@calafii-196)

– Is your mouth watering with…?
– Pa amb oli with goat’s cheese, spicy sobrassada and a good wine. I’m about to die.

– A family dish that you remember with nostalgia? Where does it take you?
– My mother’s cream of mushroom soup. It takes me home, back to my childhood and good times with the family. It is my all-time favourite dish.

– Which Mallorcan ingredients prevail in your dishes?
– Sausages, aioli and almonds. I prefer not to complicate it too much.

– One recipe of yours that triumphs?
– Sushi. I learned to make it when it became fashionable and I make it on special occasions. I’m almost as big fan of soy and wasabi as I am of aioli. Mediterranean sauce wins by a very small margin.

– The most exotic thing you’ve tried?
– I tried snails once. I never did it again ha,ha,ha. Its texture is very strange to my palate.

– A Mallorcan dessert that is a temptation for you?
– Almond slush. Not even a cool beer in the middle of summer can beat it.

Mercè Marrero Fuster

Esment Communications Manager

– Is your mouth watering with…?
– Stuffed aubergines.

– A family dish that you remember with nostalgia? Where does it take you?
– An omelette with parsley and a trempó. It’s a very simple dish that reminds me of summer nights with my grandparents, looking at the sea and listening to the engine of the llaüts. Another special family dish is the rice with fish, which my grandmother used to cook with what my grandfather had just caught.

-Which Mallorcan ingredients prevail in your dishes?
-Ramallet tomato, which I use to make the sauce for tumbet, pa amb olis and even in some salads. Of course, it has to be the real one.

-A recipe of yours that triumphs?
-My tastes (and my skills) are simple. I’d like to be able to say that I have a sophisticated recipe that causes a stir, but that’s not the case. I do think I’m particularly good with lentils.

-What’s the most exotic thing you’ve tried?
-Mmmm… would some small cubes of onioned blood be good? I admit I didn’t like them at all.

-A Mallorcan dessert that is a temptation for you?
-A robiol filled with apricot jam from Porreres.

Ramón Servalls

General Manager of Macià Batle

– Is your mouth watering with…?
– Now, in summer, a good trempó with chickpeas.

– A family dish that you remember with nostalgia? Where does it take you?
– At home we continue to cook Mallorcan cuisine, as always. Although it is true that we have incorporated new dishes, the basic cuisine is the same as always. But if I have to highlight one of them, stuffed aubergines is undoubtedly one of my favourite dish, which as a child we used to eat on Sundays when we came back from the beach.

-Which Mallorcan ingredients prevail in your dishes?
-Sofrit; it is the base of most dishes.

-A recipe of yours that triumphs?
-There’s no need to fool anyone: my wife cooks and I, at most, help her.

-What’s the most exotic thing you’ve tried?
– It’s easy now. Mallorca is full of Indian, Chinese, Thai, etc. restaurants with a totally different style of food and ingredients.

-A Mallorcan dessert that is a temptation for you?
-Gató with almond icecream.