The gastronomic calendar of Mallorca is closely related to the liturgical calendar, the livestock cycle and the seasonality of its products from the orchard, the sea and the forest. Panades are an icon of Mallorca’s gastronomy and although now they can be tasted throughout the year, together with robiols, crespells and frito, they make up the most typical dishes of Majorcan Easter. Empanadas or "panades" in Majorcan, are savory pastries with cylindrical box shape filled with different seasonal ingredients.
Deeply rooted in the culture of the great Mediterranean gastronomic cultures, meat pies were widespread in Europe during the Middle Age, but few regions maintain them today in their cookbooks. Mallorca is one of the places that best preserves this ancient preparation and proof of this is the large number and variety of recipes that have been found in different local cookbooks. They have a functional origin of prolonging the preservation of some fresh foods, such as vegetables, fish or meats since they can last a week when cooked in the panade, although they are generally consumed before.
After the rigors of Lent and the last days of Easter Easter fasts, the Easter “panada” represents not only breaking abstinence and reintroducing meat into the diet, but it was also a social event that brought together families and friends around the table or in the pancaritats, in an environment of celebration and celebration. Panades in Mallorca mean celebration, they are an authentic gastronomic ritual.
As it is a dish so deeply rooted in the local popular culture, there are countless recipes. Each house and each oven has its own for making the dough, although its main ingredients are flour, saïm (lard), and olive oil. In Palma, they were even made with sugar, an ingredient only accessible to the upper classes, giving rise to “Panades dolçes'' that were stuffed with lamb. The filling can be made with different meats: pork, rabbit, chicken and fish in the coastal towns of the island, generally mussola, gató but also cuttlefish, or red mullet. There are also vegetarian options such as pea, broad bean, chives or artichoke panadas.
Easter Panada are typically made with lamb and peas. Traditionally lamb was bought on Friday, and panades were made on Saturday but not eaten until Easter Sunday. With the lamb not used for the panades, the well-known “Easter Frit” was made with broad beans, fennel, chives and peas, which was eaten for the “Easter breakfast”, Berenar de Pascua. Frit is a food institution in Mallorca and is eaten with devotion in the homes, bars and restaurants around the island.