Coques Bambes, history and recipes
In a previous chapter, we discussed the combination of ingredients that make up the structure of cocas bambes and saw how they fit into the world of cakes. Here we will review their historical background and the recipes that have been collected in an extensive list of our local recipe books.
The first ones with that name
One of the first mentions of the name bambes dates to just after the mid-17th century. At that time, coques bambes were one of the quemuiars sweets that Gabriel de Berga gave to the people of Palma to celebrate the election of Rafael Cotoner as Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta in June 1660. Álvaro Campaner’s Cronicón Maioricense records this news, recounting that
the façade of Gabriel Berga’s house in the mentioned Plaza [de Cort] was covered with myrtle and poplar, forming grottos with two fountains of common wine and stale wine, with pastries (cocas bambas) being thrown from time to time to those around.
The continuity of its consumption on the island can be seen in the procedural statements made by Ana Cortés during her appearances before the Mallorcan Inquisition tribunal. She made these statements between 30 December 1677 and 8 March 1678, in which she recounted some ritual food customs among the island’s crypto-Jewish community. Among these was coca bamba, which was consumed on the very important holiday of Yom Hakkippurim or Yom Kippur. The document recording her confessions states:
On that day, great ostentation was to be made, and if they could make cocas bambas, they should do so, and even jam, but they did not make it with their own hands, as they kept the law of grace and therefore did not buy it. And this [the declarant] for said festival, if she could make some cakes or curious things, she did so…
They were also served as an accompaniment to an aigo de canyella (cinnamon) and another de llimona (lemon), both presumably gelades (frozen), at an aristocratic wedding held in Palma in November 1729.
They were one of the gifts that Margarida, a professed nun at the Sant Geroni convent in Palma, occasionally sent to her sweet-toothed doctor Lloatxim Fiol, a of both laws, during the Christmas season of 1782 (Cocas bambes… a gift from Margarida, nun). One type of these, apparently large and made from a dough type known as ferma (firm), was sent in August 1786 and December 1782 (Cocas bambes grosses de pasta ferma de les m. de St. Geroni), 1786 and 1788 (large cocas bambes of firm dough from the nuns of Saint Geroni.
They always came from different female religious orders in Ciutat, either sent by their sisters, both professed in separate convents of the same order, or from the communities of the Santa Catalina de Sena Convent (Cocas de pasta ferma… de la Priora de Sta. Catarina) or the mentioned monastery Sant Geroni monastery-.
How and when they are made
Their presence in the 17th century during the celebration of the appointment of Rafel Cotoner as Grand Master of Malta and the transcription containing Ana Cortés’ statement are two of the first documented references to them. However, their recipe can be found in our cookbooks from the earliest examples, appearing in the oldest of our printed culinary texts.
The different recipes that have forged its prestige appear in various Mallorcan treatises on cooking, confectionery and literature. One of the earliest can be found in the Llibre de gelats i quemullars, written between 1844 and 1845 by Mateu Jaume, then owner of the excellent and renowned Can Joan de s’Aigo ice cream parlour, which fortunately still exists today. It is one of the earliest documented mentions of its presence in a local recipe book, also appearing in the oldest of our printed culinary texts.
The first of these, the well-known compilation by Pere d’Alcàntara Penya i Nicolau (1803-1906), first printed in 1886, includes two recipes for this coca: the cocas bambas comunes and the coques bambes fines common and fine, espectively). Its widespread use in our traditional cuisine is also attested to by the existence of another recipe with this name in a couple of local cookbooks from the 19th century, dating from approximately 1866-1870 and 1899-1900. Instructions for its preparation appear in two other ancient treatises: Cuina popular de Mallorca and La cuinera práctique. One of the latter also provides the recipe for a coca made from this dough type, for which a topping of peppers is recommended. Other references to this type of pasta appear in the magazine entitled L’Ignorància, no. 79 (1880). The same is true of the collection of stories entitled Manyoc de fruita mallorquina by Joan Rosselló de Son Forteza (1854-1935), where they appear in a feast alongside bescuit and resolis.
Two of these old recipes have been recovered from the residual collective memory and incorporated into the collection codified by Antoni Tugores in 2005 in his Memòria de la Cuina Mallorquina. Receptes antigues de tots els pobles (Memories of Mallorcan Cuisine. Old Recipes from all the Villages). One is a recipe that is still alive both at a popular level and in professional circles in the town of Campos, retaining its name of “Coca bamba”. The second belongs to the category of convent pastries, having been preserved in the Palma Capuchin Poor Clares convent. Both share similarities with the so-called ‘coques de motlle’ and ‘coques de Nadal de Manacor’, whose recipes are included in the pages of the latter text.
In Menorca, there are also coques with the same name, but they usually take the form of a spiral, like Mallorcan ensaimadas, and are typical of the solemn and lively Sant Joan frstivity. The De Re Cibaria, a Menorcan cookbook by Pedro Ballester, includes the recipe with the following words:
They consist of small cakes, usually intended for street sale to children. They are made and baked in pannes, that is, joined together in a square and in the number that the size of the baking tray allows, usually a dozen. They are easily separated with the fingers after baking. They should be made in the same way and with the same ingredients and proportions as ensaimadas, but the cocabamberes would not find this worthwhile, due to the work involved and the high cost of eggs, fat and sugar, and they skimp on time and ingredients to the detriment of quality.
In Mallorca, they are currently one of the most characteristic Christmas treats, often accompanying other Christmas desserts such as turrón, chocolate, or llet d’ametla (almond milk) from Santa Maria del Camí.
They remain one of the main varieties of our pastries. They form part of the panoply of our coques dolces (sweet coques), mainly those made with flour dough, which is combined with eggs, sugar and oil or butter. The result is a sponge-like pastry, although notably light, with a fine texture, soft consistency and obvious elasticity, perfectly differentiated from other varieties of sponge cake. They continue to be one of the types of coca made for Christmas celebrations, but their attractive texture has proven their remarkable ability to be honourably and respectably present at other prominent local private and public festivities.
Antoni Contreras Mas is a researcher and promoter of Mallorcan gastronomy.