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Meats
Pig farming is common locally, because pigs are easy to raise and traditional sausages are very popular. There is also cattle farming, which is the traditional source of milk -to make cheese among other things, meat and hides; the latter being used as a raw material for the local traditional leather craftsmen 8. A very old recipe is, for example, the Feixets or Chaplain’s Partridges, thinly sliced ​​veal rolls filled with boiled egg, bacon and sobrasada.

Lamb, chicken and rabbit are also consumed. There are local varieties of chicken and lamb.

Game meats, which are currently very limited, are mainly rabbits and birds. Rabbits are hunted with the help of dogs, including an indigenous breed, the Rabbit’s Dog, and shotguns, while for the haunting of birds, typical techniques are the use of decoy and the fencing in the neck.

Snails are also part of this gastronomy, both in simple preparations, with alioli, for example, and in many more sophisticated ones, such as snails with sea crab.

Some Minorcan dishes with meats or sausages are:


 * Arroz de la Tierra, Rice of the Land; which is not made with rice but with wheat, crushed in a mortar, and baked with assorted sausages. It resembles the African couscous.


 * Fried lamb or fried pork, sometimes called Frit Menorquí by the islanders.


 * "Macarrones" with gravy, penne pasta and meat, cooked halfway between the typical Italian way - the pasta is cooked separately and then added to the rest of the ingredients - and the traditional Catalan way – the pasta is cooked at the end with the rest of ingredients, like the noodles’ casserole. It also has a British influence, where gravy is a kind of simple meat preparation serving as a bed for the pasta.

Typical desserts and pastries


The Minorcan bakery, pastry, and dessert making incorporates ideas, techniques and products from cultures as diverse as Jewish, Arabic and English. The brief stay of the French in the island served to create the "Gató", according to the technique of the French housewives of the moment, but incorporating almonds in the recipe. From the British the islanders took a taste for puddings, they use Catalan cream abundantly; and they also use meringue in the Italian way, to take advantage of the egg whites to decorate desserts and cakes. This taste for very sweet recipes is shared in common with other neighbours in the southern Mediterranean.


 * The "Amargos", or Bitters, are cookies made with egg whites and almonds, similar to Italian Amaretti with almonds, and to the French "Macarons".
 * The Buñuelos de Todos las Santos, Fritters of All Saints, are made with soft cheese from Mahon for All Saints' Day, when the "panellets" are also cooked.
 * The "Carquinyoli Menorquines", or "Carquinyols de Es Mercadal", which are square shaped unlike the continental "Carquinyoli"s. They are like chocolate tablets, and have a homogeneous texture, although they are also dry and hard. They are made with almonds, egg white, sugar and flour.
 * The "Coca de Tomate de Ciudadela", flatbread with slices of tomato, garlic, parsley, sugar and chopped cookie.
 * The "Coca Bamba", or "Coca de San Juan" in Ciudadela, thick and tall in the middle flatbread in the form of snail that contains boiled potato and is eaten for breakfast, as an afternoon snack or with hot chocolate during the local festivities. "Pudin" is made with the "Cocas" that get hard after a few days of non-consumption. With the same recipe for "Coca Bamba" are also made individual round small Cocas, or "Coquitas", covered with apricots, cherries or other seasonal fruit. With the same dough are also made the "Buñuelos de Pasta Bamba" fritters.
 * The Crespells of Minorca are flower-shaped cookies with about twelve petals, covered with fine sugar and stuffed either with jam or with a paste made of cottage cheese and lemon. They have a round hole in the middle to see what they are stuffed with. In the other Balearic islands "Crespells" are very different.
 * The Crespellets or "Crespellines" are dry, round, large and thin cookies with a toothed edge.
 * The "Cuscussó" has the appearance of loaf of bread covered with candied fruit and pine nuts, like a "Coca de San Juan". The dough is made with Catalan style rustic bread, which is soaked in water with sugar; almonds are added, cinnamon, lemon peel, etc. And then it is kneaded again.
 * The "Ensaimada" is made both in Majorca and in Minorca.
 * The "Formatjades de Requesón" are sweet "Formatjades" stuffed with a mixture containing cottage cheese and lemon peel.
 * "Alayor" cookies are a kind of round bun with a "closed hole" in the middle. The dough has a bit of anise in it. They are eaten mainly at breakfast and as an afternoon snack, dunked in milk. They can be opened in half and spread with jam or honey. They can be soft or hard inside, we can know depending on the appearance of the outer surface layer.
 * "Gató" is a kind of cake where the flour is replaced with chopped almonds.
 * The "Macarrones de la Ciudadela" are small white cookies made with egg white, lots of sugar and sometimes also bits of almonds. They have a six-pointed flower shape.
 * "Orelletes", which are pronounced “oran” in Minorca, are fried dough. They are thin, irregular and crisp, aromatised with muscat wine and served with warm honey.
 * Minorcan "Pastissets", in Minorca are five or six-petalled flower shaped cookies, covered with fine sugar and made with lard, flour, egg, sugar, lemon zest.
 * "Pudin de Requesón Menorquín", or Minorcan cottage cheese pudding; with Alayor cookies and traditionally garnished with raisins and pine nuts.
 * Pudding of Coca Bamba, sometimes made with Ensaimadas; like a custard dessert consistent enough to be cut into pieces.
 * Grapes and cheese, a simple dessert.
 * The "Rubiol" is a sweet empanada similar to the sweet "Pastisset" of Valencia, typical of Majorca and Minorca.
 * "Rissats", rectangular biscuits decorated with curled waves drawn on the surface with a fork. They are similar to the "Crespellines".
 * "Tatis" are like the Catalan "Carquinyolis" but with chocolate.
 * "Turrón Quemado'', from Mercadal. A peculiar kind of nougat.
 * "Tortada", a cake made of chopped almonds, is frequent in the Spanish gastronomy, which in Minorca has the particularity of being usually covered completely with burnt egg yolk and meringue, and sometimes also sugar. This decoration is very typical of the island, and is usually found in the "Monas de Pascua" - Easter cakes, birthday cakes, and "Brazos de Gitano" – Swiss rolls - which, if not filled with Catalan cream, are usually also stuffed inside with egg yolk.

Typical drinks

 * "Calent", an artisan drink that is infused with herbs, cinnamon, anise and saffron, and it can be drunk hot or ice-cold.
 * "Estomagale" is a soft herbs liquor, with a very particular flavor and texture.
 * "Frigola" is thyme in Minorca. In the islands, it is also a traditional digestive made with thyme flowers.
 * "Gin de Menorca" comes from the British presence on the island in the 18th century. The Xoriguer distillery, which produces the well-known Gin Xoriguer, is located in the port of Mahón.
 * "Licor de Rosas". Liquor of roses, is a liquor of Greek origin that was brought to the island by Greek workers and merchants in the eighteenth century and that in Minorca is served in the baptisms.
 * "Pellofa", gin with lemon skin and a little siphon.
 * "Pomada", gin with lemon juice.
 * The Minorcan "Ratafia" is made by soaking herbs from the island in Aguardiente for eight days, it has lemon bark, green walnut, carnation, nutmeg and cinnamon in it. Other liquors are also made with Mahón chamomile, orange or lemon flower, etc.
 * "Sengri", which is a kind of hot punch with aromatised wine, dating from the time of the British presence in the eighteenth century. In spite of the similarity of the word, it has nothing to do with the sangria.
 * Wine has been produced in Minorca since time immemorial. Currently, there are four wineries: Viña Sa Cudia, Viñas Binifadet, Ferrer de Muntpalau and the Bodega Vino de s'illa in Alayor, which have the distinctive name of "Wine of the Land of the Island of Minorca" and have obtained international distinctions.
 * The "Malvasía" began to be produced in Minorca when commerce started with ancient Greece, especially in Alayor and San Luis, but later it was lost. Since 2005, it has been cultivated again with vines from Corsica, which has similar geological and climatic features to Minorca’s.
 * Fruit liqueurs. They are made by macerating the fruits in brandy.

Gastronomic fairs
CuinaArt Menorca is a gastronomic fair that is celebrated every April since 2007 as a showcase for Minorcan products. It consists of exhibitors, debates, tastings, conferences, etc. It is aimed at all types of public.