IT IS TIME TO RUBIOLS AND CRESPELLS-MAJORCAN GASTRONOMY-EASTER SPECIALTIES- JEWISH HERITAGE
In the wide Balearic gastronomy, we find sweet recipes made for Easter. As the majorcan Rubiols.
Apparently the Rubiols has a Jewish origin, because of Jewish influence in Mallorca.
The Rubiol is one of the pastries made by many majorcan families at home for Easter.
A Rubiol is basically a sweet,crescent-shape pastry made with flour,melted lard,olive oil and eggs and usually Rubiols has a semicircular shape and it is filled with Ricotta (curd cheese or cottage cheese), cream or «cabello de angel» jam (pumpkin and sugar mermalade)
Origin of Majorcan Rubiols seems to be related to the Sephardic Boreka also called Ladino Boreka, adopted by the Ottoman Jewish communities.
When the Sephardic Jews fled the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century and settled in Ottoman Turkey, they discover the Ottoman borek; the pastry reminded them of their own Spanish dough filled with meat. It was not long before the Spanish Jews adapted the Ottoman Turkish Borek into their own cuisine and renamed it the Ladino Boreka.
Other Jewish communities in Greece and the Balkans adopted too this Borekas and this is the main reason because nowadays in these areas they have similar specialities.
And although the Sephardic Boreka has a different filling than Rubiols, the Borekas are usually filled with cheese, spinach, eggplant or potato and will vary from community to community; the shape is very similar to the majorcan Rubiols.
In Sephardic families such as tradition, are usually made for weddings, bar mitzvahs, meaning «son who is subject to the law» (this is a Jewish ritual celebrating Jewish boys at age 13, an age when they are considered to be adults in his religious life), the Sabbath and other holidays( because the require time to make this pies)
Back on the sixteenth century Borekas are part of the food served at the Sabbath in Iberian-Jewish communities (Sephardic Jews)
But our majorcan Rubiols also has an Italian cousin the ravioli, whose name comes from the Genovese word Raviolo (folded).
Now it is time to prepare our majorcan Rubiols, these are the ingredients:
-300 gr. powdered sugar
-300 gr. of melted lard
-1 cup of olive oil
-The juice of 2 oranges
-4 eggs yolks
-grated orangel peel
-Aprox 1 kg flour is needed
Mix the ingredients for the dough on the blender, except flour, then add the flour gradually until dough is smooth and homogenous.
To make the Rubiols, break off a ball and roll it out with a rolling pin until obtaining an oval-shaped sheet of dough that is not very thick.
Place a spoonful of the desired filling on it and fold and seal the dough well at both ends using a fork, so the filling does not leak out during baking.
The Rubiols has to have the shape of a half moon.
Bake it at 180ºC until golden brown, sprinkled with powder sugar and eat when cool.
With this same dough is made too in Mallorca another typical Easter sweet The Crespell ( a kind of cookie)
Which is also related to Jewish gastronomy and the most typical shape of the majorcan Crespells is the sixth point star or Star of David.
These sweets were consumed in the Jewish Passover.
Let us guide you through the exquisite majorcan cuisine and discover with Mallorca Private Tour Guides the ancestral origin of the recipes made in Mallorca for Easter.
From Mallorca Private Tour Guides hope you enjoy the article and we encourage you to try to prepare at home the majorcan Crespells and Rubiols and we are sure that will be delicious.
Good appetite or Bon Profit (as we say in Mallorca) and enjoy all the specialties made in Mallorca for Easter, our Rubiols and Crespells.
Oh … We almost forgot to wish you all from Mallorca Private Tour guides a SWEET AND HAPPY EASTER.
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Thank you very much to all again
The team of Mallorca Tour Guides
