How to make the best torrijas for Easter

Torrijas are one of the most traditional Spanish sweets. And, although some make them all year round, it is at Easter when they are most easily found in most establishments and homes.

At Casa Mira we would like to explain the origin of torrijas and the best way to prepare them in the traditional style.

History of torrijas

Torrijas are one of the most traditional sweets in our country; if we want to know their origin we must go back to Roman times, since they elaborated recipes very similar to our current torrijas.

In the 1st century A.D. the gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius left his own recipe for torrijas, and it must have been a very popular recipe because some of the utensils used to make them are still preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Madrid.

Although its recipe has not changed much since then, it has been evolving and perfecting itself until reaching the current recipes. As with other traditional dishes, torrijas were a poor man’s dish, perfect for making the most of leftovers and an excellent opportunity to turn something as common as stale bread into a wonderful sweet.

Back in 1600, it is said that it was one of the foods given to laboring women in order to recover their energy soon after childbirth, since it is a food that provides enough calories to cheer up anyone. It is thought that, later, it was included in the Lenten season to compensate for the drop in energy that came from not eating meat, an idea that is put in doubt, since, at that time, meat was not a very abundant dish on the tables of the general population.

Be that as it may, the truth is that torrijas ended up becoming a typical Easter sweet, where the hard bread and sweet wine represented the body and blood of Christ.

The twentieth century broke the link between torrijas and religion, taking them out of the taverns and putting them on the bars accompanied by a good glass of wine.

Traditional recipe for torrijas

Each house has its own way of making torrijas, in the last century the abundance of raw material has made us invent and renew the most classic recipes, so now we can find torrijas of milk, wine, coffee, lemon, liquor … and anything we can think of in which you can soak a hard bread.

Here is the most traditional recipe for torrijas, although everyone can adapt it in their own way.

Ingredients

• 1 loaf of 2 or 3 days old stale bread or pan de torrijas (French toast)
• 1 ½ cups of milk
• 5 eggs
• Cinnamon stick, vanilla and lemon peel
• 1 glass of port wine
• 300 gr sugar
• Olive oil

Preparation

1. Heat the milk, without boiling, remove from the heat and add the cinnamon stick and the rind of half a lemon.
2. Let it stand for 5 minutes, and let it cool down little by little.
3. In a dish put the milk, already cold, add the glass of Oporto (optional) and mix.
4. Beat the eggs and add two spoonfuls of the milk, mix everything and pour it into a deep dish where we will dip the torrijas before frying them.
5. The slices should be cut thick, about one finger wide, so that they do not fall apart when dipped in the milk.
6. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Meanwhile, dip the bread slices in the milk on both sides, but be careful not to let them drip. Then, dip them in the egg and fry them in the very hot oil on both sides until golden brown, and remove them on absorbent paper.
7. In addition, put a wide bowl with sugar and cinnamon powder, mix and coat the torrijas. Let them sweat a little so that they become syrupy.

A trick is to leave them from one day to the next.

At Casa Mira we prepare them with the same care with which we elaborate our turrones. You just have to come and try them and see for yourself or discover our specialties in our online store.