Tocinillo de cielo

Tocinillo de cielo (Heaven's little pig) is one of the most surprising desserts of the Spanish gastronomy. We could compare it, in sweet version, with the potato tortilla.

From ingredients of common use (eggs, water, sugar) and using a technique of not at all particular elaboration, we get incredible results with little effort!

Created in the early years of the last century, when wineries from Jerez de la Frontera donated the leftover egg yolks of the clarification (the egg whites are used to clarify the wine) to the nuns. These, with divine success, mixed them with syrup and they treated to the bath Maria, thus was born tocinillo de cielo... God blesses them!

Ingredients

• 6 egg yolks
• 9 oz sugar
• 1 fl. oz water

For the caramel:

• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoons water

Preparation

Put the sugar in a saucepan with the water and heat until the syrup goes golden brown.

Cover a baking tin evenly and put to one side. Put the sugar and water in an earthenware dish and heat until the syrup goes stringy.

Beat the egg yolks and slowly add the syrup, stirring with sticks. Strain and pour into the caramelised tin.

Cook in bain-marie in the oven at 150º for around 20 minutes.

When the tocino has set, remove from the oven, leave to cool and take it out of the tin.

See Also...

View of Sevilla, capital of Andalusia

Andalusia recipes:  The Romans taught the Andalusians how to cultivate wheat and vines and used the fish from the seas to produce the best "garum" in the empire. The Arabs taught the Andalusians how to grow fruit and vegetables. They used irrigation systems and improved the cultivation of olive trees and the production of oil. Furthermore, the Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Visigoths left their mark on the art, science, culture and gastronomy of Andalusia.