Almadroc facts for kids
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Almadroc is a special garlic and cheese sauce from the Middle Ages. It comes from Catalan cuisine, which is the traditional food from a region in Spain called Catalonia. This sauce was first written about in an old cookbook called Llibre de Sent Soví.
Another old cookbook, Llibre del Coch by Rupert de Nola, describes a similar sauce called almadrote. This version was made with garlic, eggs, cheese, and broth. It was often served with partridge, a type of bird. Today, "almadroc" usually means a sauce with oil, garlic, and cheese. It is often served with eggplant casserole.
Some people think almadrote might have come from Sephardic Jewish cuisine. This is the food of Jewish people who lived in Spain and Portugal before the Inquisition. When served with eggplant, this sauce became very popular in modern Turkish cuisine.
The History of Almadroc
The idea for almodrote might be very old. Some recipes for a green sauce called moretum in an ancient Roman cookbook, the Apicius, could be its origin. The name "almodrote" might also come from an Arabic word, almaṭrúq, which means "to pound." This makes sense because you would pound the ingredients to make the sauce.
During the Inquisition in the late 1400s, there is a record of a friar named Gonçalo Bringuylla eating "eggplant with almadrote." This shows the sauce was known at that time.
Almadroc Today
In a cookbook from the 1500s, the sauce was sometimes called capirotada. However, not all versions of capirotada included garlic.
Today, many Sephardic cookbooks have recipes for vegetable casseroles with almodrot or almodrote. These recipes often use white cheese or feta. Sometimes, a firmer cheese like gruyere is added. Eggs are also often used to make the sauce thicker.
See also
In Spanish: Almodrote para niños
