Quesada Pasiega

Cut through the deeply browned surface, and a soft interior containing fine grains of milk curd appears. Quesada pasiega is a baked sweet made in the Pas region of Cantabria in northern Spain from curds, eggs, sugar, butter, wheat flour and other ingredients. No separate crust is laid down; the batter itself, spread low in the pan, is cut into portions. Because the milk is first set into cheese, which is then broken up and mixed into the batter, fine grains remain even after baking.

Dairy Farming in the Pas Region and Sweet-Making Passed Down in the Home

Life in the Pas region involves pastures, raising cattle and processing milk. Cheese and butter were food for the household as well as goods carried to and sold in other areas. Quesada and sobao are sweets born of this dairy way of life. In contrast to sobao, which rises with generous amounts of butter and eggs, quesada uses curds as its main ingredient.

María Elena, who contributed her recollections to a 2022 regional recipe collection, had maternal grandparents who both came from the Pas region. She recalls that as a child she bought rennet at the pharmacy, milked cows by hand, kneaded the batter with her grandmother and aunts, and baked it slowly in a shallow fish pan placed in a wood-fired cooking stove. From milking to cutting the warm quesada, it was one continuous series of household tasks.

A 1999 local study also records a method that uses honey rather than sugar and bakes the quesada in a wood-fired oven after the bread has been baked. Sweetening with honey and using the oven’s residual heat after baking bread were also ways of fitting the milk sweet into the household’s oven work.

Early Records of “Quesada” and the Name of the Pas Region

Quesada is a word formed from the Spanish queso, meaning cheese, and pasiega refers to the Pas region. In 1423, a food combining set cheese with flour was called “quesada.” The name quesada is old, but when the Pas region’s sweet came to be called “quesada pasiega” is not clear.

Curds Crumbled by Hand, and Small Grains Left Intact

The star ingredient is fresh cheese made by coagulating cow’s milk. It is made by adding rennet to milk to set it and then removing the whey. Some methods drain off the excess whey thoroughly, while some households leave a little in to make a softer batter. Either way, the milk is first set and crumbled, then combined with eggs and sugar and baked into a sweet.

When mixing by hand, the cheese is crumbled finely between the fingers. Some versions keep small grains of cheese even after the flour, eggs and sugar have blended in. This produces a fine curd texture, different from one set using only smoothly blended cream.

In another method, eggs are combined with sugar and melted butter, and separately crumbled cheese is mixed with lemon zest and cinnamon before the two are brought together. Finally, flour is added a little at a time and worked into the whole batter. The wheat flour is added to bind the batter made with milk and eggs, not to make it rise greatly like bread.

Browning in a Shallow Dish

The batter is spread in a shallow, buttered ovenproof dish. Some methods spread it about 2 to 3 centimeters thick, and versions that bake up even thinner are also seen. Rather than a tall cake, it is a form in which a single slice offers both the browned surface and the softness of milk remaining inside.

For baking, there are recipes (the ingredient proportions and method) that call for about 30 minutes at 200°C, and home recipes that take an hour and a half or more at a low temperature of around 140°C. It is cooked through according to the moisture of the batter, the dish and the thickness, with the surface baked golden to brown and the inside set without drying out too much. It can be eaten warm or after cooling.

It may also be served by bringing the baking dish straight to the table and dividing it into portions there. Because no separate crust is laid down, the same milk batter continues across the bottom and edges, and the texture changes gradually from the browned exterior to the soft center.

Cantabrian quesada baked in a shallow metal container, with a browned surface. Photo: Valdavia, 2011-04-22, Reinosa, Spain. Original image / CC BY-SA 3.0. Reduced-size version from the distributing source; no additional processing.

Methods Using Yogurt, and Batters Made with Smooth Cheese

In contrast to quesada that keeps the grains of curd, some modern recipes replace the fresh cheese with yogurt and add milk, or replace the wheat flour with cornstarch, among other variations. Some omit cinnamon, and the combinations of dairy products and flavorings vary.

In a method for a smoother finish, soft cheese is combined with fresh cream and eggs, cornstarch and a leavening agent are added, and the mixture is strained and baked in a round pan at a relatively low temperature. Some versions are served with raspberry jam. Compared with the thin quesada that keeps grains of curd, it bakes into a more uniform, softer crumb. Differences in ingredients and mixing methods also show in the texture.

Glossary