Mallorca Techniques

Ensaymada is the Philippines' most beloved enriched bread — a soft, buttery, spiral-shaped roll made from a dough enriched with egg yolks, butter, and sugar, cooked in special molds, then frosted with a generous layer of creamed butter (not icing) and showered with grated queso de bola (Edam cheese). The savoury-sweet combination of buttered enriched bread with salty cheese and sweet frosting is distinctly Filipino — the Edam cheese was introduced during Spanish colonial rule and was adopted as a luxury ingredient that found its way into the culture's most treasured bread. Ensaymada is a Christmas and celebration food; the best versions are extraordinarily tender, with a crumb that tears into soft, silky strands.

The spreadable cured sausage of Mallorca — raw ground pork seasoned with pimentón (sweet and hot), salt, and black pepper, stuffed into natural casings and dried for 30-120 days depending on size. Unlike most Spanish cured meats, sobrasada is soft, almost paste-like, and is spread on bread, used in cooking, or melted over honey as the definitive Mallorcan breakfast. The pimentón content is extremely high — 35-40% of the total weight of spices — which acts as a preservative through the antioxidant properties of the paprika. The fat content is also high: sobrasada is rich, unctuous, and deeply coloured red-orange. The breed of pig traditionally used is the Porc Negre mallorquí — the Mallorcan black pig.

Mallorca's version of the layered vegetable preparation — aubergine, potato, red pepper, and courgette, each fried separately in olive oil and layered in a clay cazuela with a tomato sofrito between each layer, then baked in the oven. Tumbet is the Mallorcan answer to ratatouille and pisto — same ingredients, same logic, radically different technique. Each vegetable is fried separately (not all together) to achieve the correct texture before layering; the result is a cohesive, slightly caramelised terrine of vegetables with intense individual character in each layer. It is traditionally served as a first course or side dish alongside grilled fish or lamb, and is served at room temperature in Mallorca — never hot from the oven.