Boroña and bolla de sardines

[Marta Elena Díaz García]

Hello everybody:
My grandmother used to cook a kind of corn bread that in Asturias is called BOROÑA. This is just made of corn flour and baked. She used to say that when she was a girl, the boroña was not baked in a oven. Instead, the dough was coated with cabbage leaves ("berzas") and then putted on embers and covered by them to allow it to cook slowly. A variation of the boroña that she called "bolla de sardines" was made by adding herring sardines to the dough before baking it.
Today, this type of bolla is not popular although some people, particularly in the villages (aldeas), made it to keep their memories alive.
Marta.
P.D. Sorry for my cooking english

[Art]

Marta, I've been reading your message every day for four days. Several od the details fascinate me. By the way, your English is completely understandable.

When I was a teenager, we used to bake bread on a stick over embers on camping trips. When it worked it was delicious. If we didn't wait for embers, it would burn badly and taste disgusting.

In the US sardines are usually considered "yucky" (unpleasant). After enjoying grilled sardines in northern Spain (Santander, I think), I've become a convert.

Eating a bread with sardines in it would be considered even stranger. I'd love to try it. I often eat sardines with whole grain bread. That's a great combination. (Well, my wife usually leaves the kitchen because the smell bothers her.)

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Marta, he estado leyendo tu mensaje diariamente ya hace cuatro días. Algunos de los detalles me fascinan. A propósito, tu uso de inglés es totalmente comprensible.

Cuando yo era joven, cocíamos pan en un palillo sobre las ascuas en viajes de camping. Cuando funcionó bien era delicioso. Si no esperamos hasta que había bastantes ascuas, se quemaría gravemente y sabría asqueroso.

En los EE.UU. generalmente se consideran las sardinas "yucky" (desagradable). Después de gozar de sardinas asadas a la parilla en el norte (Santander, creo), me convirtió.

Comer un pan con las sardinas dentro sería considerado todavía más extraño. Amaría probarlo. Yo como a menudo las sardinas con pan integral. Eso es una gran combinación. (Pues, mi esposa generalmente sale de la cocina porque el olor la incomoda.)

[Bob]

Marta, if you have your grandmother's recipe for boroña, please share it with us.

I have enjoyed sardines of all types (canned, fresh, pickled in vinegar) since I was a kid. My mom even made pizza with chunks of sardine on it. Not an Asturian dish or even an Italian one, but very good nonetheless.

[Marta Elena Díaz García]

Hi, Bob:
The bolla with herrings is a strong dish and here is a receip for it: Ingredients: 400 g corn flour (yellow), 100 g all-purposes flour, water, oil, 1 onion, 3 herrings.
Making the filling: Leave herrings in water overnight to remove most salt. Drain and press the herrings with your fingers to extract as much water as possible. Clean the herrings by flaking from the bone, Heat olive oil a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and remove thoroughly until it get a golden brown colour. Then, add the cleaned herrings and remove for several minutes.
Making the dough: Pour all of the flour into a big mound on a large counter-top or other surface sufficient for working (in my family home it was made in a piece of furniture called “masera”). Make a well in the top of the mound and slowly add warm water. Then, kneed the dough until it becomes smooth and homogeneous. Cover with a damp cloth and let sit in a warm spot.
The filling and the dough are mixed thoroughly, so that a uniform mixture is obtained. Roll into a loaf. In a pan, covered with cabbage (berzas) leaves, place the loaf and cover it with more cabbage leaves. Bake in the preheated (180ºC) oven for about 1h 30 min, checking it is cooked by inserting a needle (or a fork) and observing it is clean when removed. In my family home, the baking was performed in a wood oven (“forno de arroxar”).

Boroña is made in the same way, except that no herrings nor other fillings are added.
Here you can see how a "masera" is. It was used to keep inside all related with baking, (breads, ·"furmiento"(yeast), the flour, etc) and on the top the dough was made.
I hope you enjoy it.
Marta.

[Art]

Thanks for the recipe, Marta!

¡Gracias por la receta, Marta!

[Is]

Greetings from Sinop, in northern Turkey, where I just got a small loaf of boroña, which is called misr ekmek (cornbread) here. It was freshly baked on the main street bakery and according to my brother tastes just like what our grandmother used to give us as kids in Asturias. Yet another example of how small the world is...The fish here is also crazy good: bocartes (hamsı), bonito (palamut) and salmonetes.

[Below is a picture of the loaf.]

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Bonas dende Sinop, norte de Turquia. Tou acabante mercar una borona pequena (eiqui chaman misr ekmek). Inda taba calentina del fornu na cai principal de la ciuda. Tien esi mesmu sabor del que traia nuesa buolita a casa de rapacinos. El peixe en Sinop tamen me recuerda a Asturias: bocartes (hamsi), bonito (palamut) ya salmonetes (barbunya).

Eiqui vei una semeya...

[Art]

¡Yum, boroña! I think Paul could find a little piece of Asturias anywhere!

I'm looking forward to hearing about the trip and your investigation of the horreos, Paul.

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¡Hmm, boroña! ¡Creo que Paul podría encontrar un pedacito de Asturias en cualquier lugar!

Estoy esperando oír de el viaje y tu investigación de los horreos allí, Paul.