Rachel Laudan

For those coming late to this discussion, we’ve been kicking around possible origins for the Mallorcan and Menorcan ensaimada here, as well as the puzzles of its spread (why did it get to Argentina, Puerto Rica, and the Philippines but skip Mexico) here.
Adam Balic isn’t happy with a Moorish origin for ensaimadas
I think that to [...]

Here’s another comment, this time on ensaimadas, a topic that we have touched on here and here.  Thanks to Michael Raffael.
I probably missed earlier postings, but it seems likely that ensaimadas evolved on Mallorca during its Moorish occupation. The argument against this is that the Moors didn’t use lard (saim in Catalan), but the word [...]

Back to ensaimadas. I’m fainnly getting around to posting a translation of Pedro Ballester’s recipe for Minorcan ensaimadas. It was first published in 1923.  It is therefore probably one of the first published recipes.  Recipes for breads, always in the realm of professionals, are relatively scarce.  I’m translating it  because the book is not widely [...]