In Catalonia, carquinyolis are a small dessert made out of flour, sugar, and almonds, with a distinctive crunchy texture. They are often soaked in milk, coffee, or hot chocolate, or, even better, in moscatell, ratafia, vi ranci, or another sweet alcoholic beverage.
Carquinyolis date back to the nineteenth century and are eaten throughout Catalonia, though versions from the regions of l’Espluga del Francolí, Caldes de Montbui, Vic, and Cardedeu are especially famous.
In times past, bakers from the Caldes de Montbui region, a municipality known for its spas and hot springs, would soak raw almonds in the springs to make peeling easier, ultimately producing a particularly delicious carquinyoli.
SOBRETAULA
It’s that time spent in conversation, communal bonding time, after a meal, hanging out with family or friends, chatting and enjoying each other’s company. It can be applied to either lunch or dinner, and often includes family members, but also friends, and it can even include a business lunch. Certainly not rushing. Not reserved for weekends — though it can be longest on Sundays — even weekday and business meals have sobretaula.
For Catalans, how they eat is as important as what they eat. It’s also social time, and in that stretched-out, cozy, and flexible Mediterranean way of enjoying mealtimes. Vermut time, as compared to sobretaula, precedes the main meal rather than following it. It’s sometimes very difficult to distinguish one part from the next.
TRADITIONS
The sobretaula is one of our most deeply rooted Catalan traditions that involves spending time relaxing after a meal to drink coffee or sweet wine, small sweet treat (like carquinyoli), nuts, and to just continue hanging out chatting at the table after eating. The ritual is a consequence of the heavy midday dinner, often made up of a first course, second course, and desert. It’s a good time to take a break before the long hours that still lay ahead.
On a festive day or holiday, sobretaula can last hours. It would be thought rude to rush your meal, or to discourage postprandial chats. Mediterraneans never want a meal to be done, and have found ways to stretch it out on either end.
