We will cut the veal into nut-sized pieces and sauté it. When it has browned, we will add the finely diced onion. Once sautéed, we will pour in the grated tomato and one or two bay leaves. After a while, we will add the paprika, herbs, wines, and water. We will season with salt and pepper. We will let it simmer over low heat for about half an hour. When the meat is tender, we will add the chickpeas and leave them for 20 minutes. If they are not tender, we can use pre-cooked ones when we add the fruit.We will fry the potatoes cut on the bias and place them in the stew. We will also add the pitted fruits and let everything meld for another five minutes. Turn off the heat and serve warm. Like all stews, it is better the next day. If so, it will be better to add the potato at the last moment.
Summer Mallorcan hawk
Far from understanding sweet and salty as two separate worlds, cooks sought harmony between the different flavors
The combination of meat, sugar, and fruit was for centuries one of the most distinctive characteristics of medieval cuisine. Far from understanding sweet and savory as two separate worlds, cooks sought harmony between different flavors. Andalusian cuisine had developed a wide repertoire of dishes where meat was combined with fruits, nuts, and aromatic spices, an influence that left a deep mark on the territories of the Crown of Aragon. At the same time, the great Catalan medieval recipe books, such as the Llibre de Sent Soví (14th century) and the Llibre del Coch, by Robert de Nola (1520), collect numerous preparations in which the use of sugar and fruit is common, especially in dishes of game, poultry, and veal.
Fruits held a prominent place in medieval diet. Beyond their nutritional value, they were appreciated for their beauty and symbolized abundance and refinement. Fruit gardens were part of the landscape of palaces and monasteries, and the most prized specimens were exchanged as gifts between kings, nobles, and high dignitaries. They were also a common food during fasting periods. However, doctors and moralists warned against excessive consumption, which they associated with both health imbalances and the sin of gluttony. They recommended eating them in moderation and always at the optimal point of ripeness.
Fruit in meat dishes
In the kitchen, fruits offered many possibilities. They could be consumed fresh, but they were also cooked over embers, incorporated into stews, candied with honey or sugar, and their juice, both sweet and sour, was used to add depth and balance to sauces. A good example of the presence of fruit in meat dishes can be found in the Llibre del Coch, specifically in the stews of mutton and chicken, the latter prepared following the same procedure, but with poultry. It is a stew with pears or apples and quinces, candied with honey or previously cooked, in which the sauce is thickened with a mixture of almonds, breadcrumbs, vinegar, and kid, mutton, or chicken liver, depending on the meat used.
In Mallorca, this medieval heritage persisted well beyond the Middle Ages. Several traditional recipes maintain this way of understanding cuisine, although over time many have disappeared or have been simplified. Archduke Louis Salvador describes in Die Balearen a Mallorcan-style stew made with fried beef that is cooked with potatoes, spices, Malvasia wine, broth, and fruits such as pears, cherries, and apricots. Very similar is the borret, a stew prepared with veal, chickpeas, and summer fruits.
One of the first publications where this recipe appears is Cocina balear. Las cuatro estaciones, by Caty Juan del Corral, published by Sa Nostra in 1985. The formula it records will be repeated almost identically in subsequent publications dedicated to borret. The only exception I have been able to find is in Les millors receptes de la cuina mallorquina, by Frank Schauhoff and Tonina Oliver (La Foradada collection, José J. de Olañeta Editor, 1998), where veal is substituted for lamb.
Based on seasonal products, borret is one of the few examples of summer stews in Mallorcan cuisine. Almost disappeared and scarcely documented, it is the legacy of a way of cooking that for centuries united meat and fruit in the same dish and which today deserves to be recovered and reinterpreted to the rhythm of the seasons.
l 500 g of veal (flank or thigh, must be tender) l 1 onion l 1 tomato l 1 head of garlic l bay leaf, marjoram, thyme l 1 glass of sweet wine l 1 glass of rancid wine l 2 glasses of water l 1 tsp paprikal salt and black pepperl 2-3 potatoesl 100 g of tender chickpeas l 6-7 apricotsl 1 generous handful of cherries l 6-7 Sant Joan pears