Main content

The bikers are visiting two of the Balearic Islands, Minorca and Majorca, where they cook cuttlefish stew and squid salad with mayonnaise and roasted pork with tumbet.

Up until now, on this epic 3000-mile journey across the Mediterranean, the Hairy Bikers have met people deeply embedded in their cuisine and culture. This time, it is about the British influence in the Med from the 17th century until today. In this episode, the bikers are visiting two of the Balearic Islands - Minorca and Majorca.

They begin their journey in Mahon, Minorca. This is where one of the world's favourite condiments was invented. Yes, mayonnaise is actually Mahon-naise. Between 1708 and 1802, Minorca changed hands six times, with variously the Spanish, French and English in government. The French brought with them their traditional cuisine but there wasn't any cream here so an enterprising chef substituted olive oil in a classic French sauce. Mayonnaise was born and the rest is history. After a quick trip to the market to sample some tasty snacks, the bikers buy cuttlefish and squid for their first cook - cuttlefish stew and squid salad with mayonnaise.

Upon landing in Majorca, they cook up their next Balearic-inspired dish - roasted pork with tumbet (a sort of ratatouille with a potato topping). Majorca has been a top destination for the British holidaymaker for decades but it is also a place where Britons have settled. Si and Dave meet a group of women who have made Majorca their home. As the bikers find out first-hand what it is like to live here, they cook a coca mallorquina - a sort of pizza base with fresh vegetable topping. As this group of keen cooks extol the quality of Majorcan produce, they single out one in particular - the almond, available in huge quantities here.

Featured dishes are cuttlefish stew and marinated cuttlefish with mayonnaise, ensaimadas with almond filling and roasted pork with tumbet (Mallorquine ratatouille).

Available now

58 minutes

Last on

Wed 10 May 2023 19:00
±«Óãtv Two

More episodes

Previous

ProvenceSeries 1

Next

Mainland SpainSeries 1

See all episodes from Hairy Bikers' Mediterranean Adventure

Recipes

See all recipes from Balearics

Clips

See all clips from Balearics (2)

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:05

    Penguin Cafe Orchestra

    Music for a Found Harmonium

  • 00:07

    Afterlife

    The Alkemyst (feat. Dos Hombres)

  • 00:16

    Caribou

    Melody Day (Fout Tet Remix) (feat. Luke Lalonde, Adem and One Little Plane)

  • 00:17

    Chilly Gonzales

    Knight Moves

  • 00:18

    Enya

    Orinoco Flow

  • 00:19

    Enya

    Orinoco Flow

  • 00:23

    Metronomy

    Everything Goes My Way

  • 00:32

    Fanfare Ciocarlia

    Asphalt Tango

  • 00:54

    Rodrigo y Gabriela

    Diablo Rojo

Credits

Presenter Dave Myers
Presenter Si King
Executive Producer Gill Tierney
Series Producer Francois Gandolfi
Series Producer Dick Sharman
Producer Ben Freedman
Director Ben Freedman

Broadcasts