If you happen to’ve been following Mama Ía weblog for a whilst you know (and have heard me say greater than as soon as) that the recipes I submit are fairly easy. Spanish delicacies just isn’t sophisticated and it doesn’t use a ton of substances, relying extra on wonderful ones cooked with out many adornments.
Alcoy at evening (photograph credit score: comunitatvalenciana.com)
At the moment’s recipe, Alcoy meat truffles, whereas not arduous to make, is a little more elaborate, so I’ve to warn you. It additionally requires the dough to take a seat within the fridge in a single day, so it’s a recipe that you simply want two days to make. Nevertheless, I can guarantee you that after you strive one, you’ll see that the method is all value it. Alcoy meat truffles are so scrumptious.
One would suppose that Alcoy meat truffles are a savory dish, as a result of as its title implies, it contains meat (pork). However right here comes the shock: Alcoy meat truffles are a candy, a dessert —sugar and cinnamon are predominant substances! Having mentioned that, If you wish to eat one or two as a lunch choice, that’s completely applicable – I say it as a result of I do it!
Sant Jordi Bridge, Alcoy
La Sierra de Mariola
La Font Roja (Picture credit score: Generalitat Valenciana)
Modernist structure in Alcoy (Alicante)
El Pou Clar in Onteniente, a part of Sierra de Mariola
Alcoy meat truffles are a heritage of the Arab delicacies, courting again extra that 11 centuries. Over time, Alcoy developed its personal variation of the recipe, which incorporates pork meat and lard in its elaboration.
I’ve wished to submit the recipe for Alcoy meat truffles for the reason that starting of this weblog. If I haven’t performed it earlier than it’s as a result of I didn’t have the recipe! As I’ve talked about, it’s a bit elaborate, so it’s not one thing that folks recurrently make at house, somewhat, they purchase the truffles already made on the bakery. However that is the opposite caveat: they’re made at solely two specialty bakeries within the metropolis of Alcoy, Alicante, Spain.
Alcoy is the town the place my dad‘s household comes from.
Three Kings Cavalcade in Alcoy (photograph credit score: Comunidad Valenciana)
Alcoy in the course of the Three Kings Cavalcade (photograph credit score: Valencia Information)
Meat truffles from El Campanar bakery
The colourful pageantry on the Moors and Christians Competition in Alcoy (photograph credit score: Information Festa)
The Moors and Christians Competition in Alcoy (photograph credit score: Alicante Press)
Christians on the Moors and Christians Festicval in Alcoy (photograph credit score: Alicante Press)
Concerning the metropolis of Alcoy
Alcoy (additionally seen spelled as Alcoi within the Valencian language) is an industrial and College metropolis within the province of Alicante, Spain. Town has a really previous historical past, with Neardenthal settlements vestiges courting again 60,000 years. The city was established in 1256 by king James I of Aragon, with the development of a citadel on a strategic place over the Serpis river, to safe the southern frontier of the Kingdom of Valencia in the course of the Reconquista.
Town is flanked by two nature reserves, la Serra de Mariola and la Font Roja, and it has an impressive medieval and Modernist heritage.
However Alcoy can also be recognized by its two main celebrations, the Three Kings Cavalcade and the Moors and Christians Competition.
You’re in all probability aware of three kings parades, celebrated in each metropolis and city in Spain on the eve of January 6, commemorating the go to of the Magi to child Jesus in Bethlehem. Nicely, all of it originated in Alcoy, which holds the oldest Three Kings Cavalcade in Spain (I wrote a narrative about it, which you’ll be able to learn right here).
The Moors and Christians Competition is well known in April, and it’s presumably a very powerful occasion of the 12 months in Alcoy. The week lengthy festivities are a symphony of music and coloration, with every day majestic parades involving many 1000’s of members wearing gear of the period and representing battles and victories.
The competition is devoted to San Jorge, Saint George, a determine shrouded in ancestral traditions. It has been celebrated for the reason that sixteenth century and commemorates a battle that occurred in 1276. At the moment, the town was on the border space with the territory dominated by the Muslims on the Iberian peninsula. There have been frequent skirmishes between the 2 factions till, on 23 April 1276, the Arab troops of Al-Azraq tried to storm the city. In keeping with legend, San Jorge appeared in the course of the battle and, due to his intervention, the Christian military gained the day, forcing the Muslims to retreat and to by no means return. In thanks, the residents of Alcoy made him their patron saint, promising to have a good time a competition in his honor annually.
My reminiscences of consuming Alcoy meat truffles come from my grandma, who would go to her hometown weekly and at all times got here house with a package deal of the delicacies. The truffles got here wrapped in lovely silk paper, and so they needed to be warmed up on a skillet or within the oven earlier than consuming them. I keep in mind having fun with half of 1, sharing the opposite half with certainly one of my sisters. This can be a taste I keep in mind from my youth that I hadn’t been in a position to take pleasure in since my grandma handed away. It’s not that I haven’t been to Alcoy since, however that was a deal with my grandma introduced, so the reminiscences of consuming it are linked to the reminiscences of my grandma.
After which, in the future not too long ago, I discovered a recipe. It was a fairly unfastened recipe, and an virtually industrial one (large portions of the substances for a lot of dozens of truffles!) so I’ve needed to alter it, and make it at house just a few instances to see what proportions, substances, and cooking instances and temperatures greatest replicated the truffles right here within the US. The recipe I’m sharing is my model of it, and whereas it doesn’t precisely replicate the unique, it brings me again to once I had them in my hometown, introduced from Alcoy by my grandma. I’m joyful to share the recipe with you.
ALCOY MEAT CAKE
Pastel de Carne de Alcoy
Servings: 22
For the puff pastry:
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/2 Lb lard + 3Tbs
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 4 cups flour
For the filling:
- 2 Lbs floor pork ideally, twice floor
- 1/3 Lb lard
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup pinenuts
- 1 1/2 Tbs floor cinnamon
For the truffles:
- 2 tsp floor cinnamon
- 2 Tbs granulated sugar
Make the puff pastry:
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Within the bowl of a rise up mixer, beat the sugar with 1/2 Lb lard. Add the egg yolks and beat at medium velocity.
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Subsequent, alternate including the water and the flour in batches, whereas persevering with to beat, till you receive an homogenous dough.
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On a floured floor, roll the dough right into a log. Divide the log into 10 equal parts.
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In a small bowl, soften 3 Tbs lard (I exploit the microwave, about 30 seconds).
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Flour the floor once more and type a ball with one of many parts. Flatten it with a rolling pin till it turns into very skinny and about 12 inches in diameter. Dip a brush within the melted lard and brush the entire floor of the dough disc. Beginning on one edge, roll the disk and put aside.
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Repeat the method with a second portion of dough. As soon as this second disk is brushed with melted lard, place the roll we had put aside on one fringe of the brand new disc and roll. Put aside.
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Proceed this course of with the remaining parts of dough. The ultimate log would be the dimension of a small baguette or loaf of bread. Place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, cowl with a kitchen towel and preserve within the fridge in a single day.
Make the filling:
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In a medium to giant skillet, disolve the sugar within the water over medium warmth. Add the bottom pork and the lard and prepare dinner for about half-hour, stirring typically. Stir within the pinenuts and the cinnamon and prepare dinner for one more 5 minutes. Take away from the warmth supply and let calm down.
Make the truffles:
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Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
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Flour the work floor. Slice the dough into 1/2 inch slices. Working over the floured floor, flatten one of many slices together with your fingers, then gently with a rolling pin to acquire a disk of about 5 inches.
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Place about 2 tablespoons of filling on one half of the disk, fold over the opposite half and shut, pinching together with your fingers. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and repeat the method with the remaining dough slices.
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Combine the sugar and the cinnamon and sprinkle the truffles, protecting the entire floor. Place the tray within the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or till golden (verify on the 15 minute mark)
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Take away from the oven and let the truffles calm down. Then wrap every cake in a sq. of tissue paper.
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To serve, reheat within the oven or in a skillet over low warmth.
- This recipe makes 20 to 24 truffles relying on the dimensions (mine are fairly irregular, as you’ll be able to see), so you will have at the very least 2 or 3 cookie sheets to bake them
- All ovens are completely different, so verify after quarter-hour of baking
- I reduce 10×10 in squares of tissue paper to wrap every cake
- The truffles could be frozen by putting them in a freezer bag or plastic container.
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