Mills, springs, springs

PalmThere is no doubt that our gastronomy has been enriched by foreign influences. Recipe books from the 18th century, and especially from the 19th century, briefly incorporated some recipes of French and Italian origin that arrived thanks to the exchange of cooks between stately homes or the trips to Europe of wealthy families, among other reasons. Pastry, more traditional and faithful to ingredients such as flour, almonds, sugar, and eggs, was also permeable to these influences. A sweet that had almost disappeared but was widespread in recipe books from both centuries is huevos muelles (soft eggs), a recipe of Portuguese origin that we have evidence of in Mallorca as early as the 18th century, thanks to the recipe book of Friar Jaume Martí Oliver.

Wet or moist eggs egg teeth It is a traditional dessert from the Aveiro region, whose preparation dates back to the nuns of the various convents that existed in the area until the 19th century. According to popular tradition, the nuns used egg white to iron liturgical clothing. When the egg white is dried and applied with heat, it leaves the fabric firm and with a shiny texture, similar to the effects of starch. Since large quantities of egg yolks were left over, they were used to make sweets, which led to a great wealth of convent confectionery. This connection between the use of egg white for washing or ironing and the abundance of yolk-based sweets is, however, a legend denied by historians such as João Pedro Gomes of the University of Coimbra, who concludes that this idea is largely a constructed myth and that there are no documents to support it.

Stately and small kitchen

In Mallorca, wet eggs enjoyed a singular popularity, limited to a stately and not very widespread cuisine, since the recipes that have survived are almost copies of the same plaguetas. The greatest difference lies in the quantity of egg yolks added to a pound (400 g) of clarified sugar. It is a beaten mixture of egg yolks with a syrup that is cooked to obtain a thick cream. In the recipe book of Friar Jaume Martí we find two versions; one incorporates rice flour as a thickener, in the second, madrichos are placed on a plate, previously dipped in clarified sugar. Once the cream is finished, it is poured over the quemullares, thus obtaining a more complex dessert. These two recipes will be the ones that will appear in the Llabrés Recipe Book and in Mallorcan cuisine, by Pedro de Alcántara Peña, both from the 19th century. In some plaquetas they will be called 'soft eggs', 'soft eggs' (Llabrés Recipe Book) or as molar eggs (Majorcan kitchen of a gentleman's house (1927)), which brings us back to the origin of the recipe.

The molar eggs They will be typical of areas such as Andalusia and the Canary Islands. In Andalusia, they will be called what we know as snowy eggs and for which a cream is made with the red ones, while with the white ones a meringue is made and served by the spoonful accompanied by the cream. This would be the precedent of the soft eggs that Antoni Tugores would collect in Cabaneta to Memory of Mallorcan cuisine (Documenta, 2004). In this way, we would have accepted a recipe with the same name but a different origin and preparation.