Ensaimadas Again. More Moorish?
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 probably has an Arabic root, and in any case, the pastry skills of the moors were far more advanced than those of Medieval European cooks. Think baclavas and kadaifs. Think also croissants whose texture correlates with that of an ensaimada. The Moors turned a blind eye to wine making in the Balearics, so I think this pastry is another link in your Hispano-Arabic chain.
I am always happy to have more links in the Hispano-Arabic chain so I am happy with this theory. Any more objective folk out there who want to raise doubts?
