From New Year’s Eve to Epiphany: Traditional Meals in Menorca

New Year’s Eve

The last night of the year was traditionally celebrated with family, and the main dish was Menorcan-style baked squid. The squid were caught with jigs throughout December, and once freezers became common, the largest specimens were set aside for this festive dish.

Some people bake them on a bed of potatoes or monyacos (Menorcan sweet potatoes), others combine rows of sweet potato slices and potatoes. In the eastern part of the island, they are often baked with almond sauce or with their own picadillo sauce.

Stuffed squid in Menorca are known as calamars plens. Some fill them with their own tentacles and smaller squid, all minced once or twice. Others use the tentacles along with minced pork and beef, combined with a light sofrito rich in onion. In some households, the Mallorcan-style version is followed, adding raisins and pine nuts to the stuffing. This dish is almost always present at New Year’s Eve dinner or New Year’s Day lunch.

Nowadays, traditional New Year’s Eve dinners are becoming less common, with more people choosing to dine out, gather with friends at home, or order takeaway meals. In fact, there is a wide range of takeaway menus available.

January 1st – New Year’s Day

This is one of the most important celebrations in the Christian calendar on the island. Depending on the household, the main dishes were calamars plens (if they had not been eaten the night before), baked with potatoes or sweet potatoes, or served with almond sauce or picadillo. Cannelloni were also typical on this day, specially prepared by roasting chicken or capon in advance.

As for desserts, leftovers from the Christmas and New Year celebrations were eaten: nougat, amargos, pastarral rolls, glazed sweets, jams, cuscussó, candied fruit and other treats. In the 1960s and 1970s, it became fashionable to end meals with a tropical pineapple, a custom many still maintain.

January 6th – Epiphany

From Epiphany, what remains most strongly in Menorcan gastronomy are the coques dels reis or coques de confits, which tradition dictated should be left out on the night of January 5th for the Three Kings.

These coques de confits are made with ensaimada dough or coca bamba and are shaped like a half orange. They are usually topped with five colourful candied fruits and are traditionally eaten as an afternoon snack accompanied by hot chocolate.

Another sweet associated with this day, especially for children, is the carabó dolç, made using the same recipe as the sweets for Saint John’s Day, but coloured black.