COME TO SUPPER! THE RECIPES HAVE BEEN SELECTED FROM THE NATIONAL ARCHIVE

Clare-AllcardCOME TO SUPPER!
THE RECIPES HAVE BEEN SELECTED FROM THE NATIONAL ARCHIVE

What a clever idea! I was instantly hooked. What did the mountain dwellers of Andorra eat in the olden days? How was it prepared? Foreseeing possible language difficulties and knowing my friend, Maria Rosa Garrallà’s deep knowledge and interest in Andorran history, I decided to invite her and her daughter, Margalida Ruiz, to accompany me and explain all the bits I didn’t understand. It worked perfectly!

Each year, many members of the public visit the National Archives in search of family history but, in 2016, the National Archive decided it was time to also carry information about their work and assets out into society in an attractive and entertaining fashion.

This, their second venture, was aimed at bringing to public notice some of the many personal documents housed in the archives but which might pass unnoticed in the normal course of events. Amongst these are found hand-written recipes. They then got together with El Rebost del Padrí (The Godfather’s larder*) to produce the food. Some 28 of us filled the restaurant of Font Blanca near the 12th Century church of La Cortinada.

It was unseasonably cold outside – but not inside. Soon we were stripping off our outer layers. Tables had been pushed together to create long tables as in days of yore. I liked it. It encouraged strangers to chat to each other.

At each place setting was an attractive, A4 presentation pamphlet, 28 pages long and filled with explanations, facsimiles of 10 original hand-written recipes with an easy-to-read version printed on the opposite page and, of course, the menu.

As the TV cameras whirred an archivist introduced the event. She explained that the menu ranged from medieval to the 19th century and that the two main courses were taken from written archives while the soup and the dessert were so well known in the past that no one had bothered to write them down but had passed them on as part of Andorra’s rich oral heritage. Our guide pointed out that these recipes form part of the culture of the country and help us to understand the dietary customs, the produce used and the ways of preparing them by past Andorrans

We started with Sopa de farigola. On enquiring for the meaning of farigola the young man opposite me, a physicist, whipped out his smartphone, perhaps not quite in the spirit of the evening, but it was Margalida, a multilingual language teacher, who came up with the answer: thyme. Which instantly brought one of my favourite songs to mind, Simon and Garfunkle’s Scarborough Fair: …parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme! Just a little extra pleasure to add to the occasion.

The soup was delicious! A rich, hot, thyme-flavoured chicken broth in which three islands of local, toasted bread floated accompanied by a fourth ‘island’, a very neatly poached egg. (The pamphlet included a hand-written explanation on how to poach an egg.) The recipe called for the thyme to be either “fresh or dry but well-scented” while the oil should be Virgin olive oil. Called by the archivists “a soup of humble origin”, they yet pointed out that it was very healthy having digestive, antiseptic and diuretic qualities which had been passed down from generation to generation, though it was only the rich who could afford to serve it up using chicken broth rather than water.

The first main dish was Vacallà ab such (which today would be written ‘Bacallà amb suc’ and means salt cod with sauce or juice.) This was most attractively presented: a generous portion of cod steak (de-salted!) topped with dried apricots and raisins which had been soaked a little in hot water, plus sliced onion fried to a gentle transparency in a pan. According to the recipe the sauce’s other ingredients included garlic and oil. It tasted really good too.

But the question was, how did they find vacallà in Andorra in the first place? Maria Rosa explained that in the old days most things were brought up by mule from La Seu, the Spanish town just across the border where Andorra’s Co-Prince, the Bishop of Urgell, lives in his palace. Everything from salt, rice and sugar, salted cod and herrings arrived in sacks, along with cloth, thread, buttons et al.

Next came the meat dish, Fricandeu de Bedell (which interestingly, would today be written Vedell meaning veal). As I usually only eat soup and yogurt for supper, I was by now feeling pretty full, so I didn’t manage to finish my plate of finely sliced veal cooked with bacon fat, garlic, a cup of good dry red wine, seasoning and onion with a little cinnamon and clove for further flavour.

And finally we had the medieval dessert. This recipe was found in Llibre de Coch, a book written in 1529 just after the end of the Medieval period. Menjar Blanc de Caraba’s name was slightly confusing as there was nothing blanc (or white) about it. It was pure ‘pumpkin orange’ as one would expect from a sweet pumpkin pudding. This had included almond milk and rosewater in the making and, presented in individual ramekins, came sprinkled with demerara sugar. Oh yes and “Bon profit!”

* El Rebost del Padrí was formed by a group of Andorrans who, loving the land of their forefathers, wanted to conserve the traditional foods grown or created here. Their shop is to be found within the La Puça bookshop at 18, Carre de la Vall in the Cente Historic of Andorra la Vella. Here you can buy local preserves, jams, ready-cooked meals and a selection of local beers, Andorran and Catalan wines and liqueurs. What’s more, at a very reasonable price you can order one of the many cooked meals to be heated up and brought to you on the first floor of the bookshop, there to be eaten surrounded by a host of friendly books.

Culturally yours,

Clare

_____________

Look for about the author of the blog Clare Allcard

_____________

Look here for the whole blog “Cultural events in Andorra with Clare Allcard”

Read more: All Andorra news ...