Iberia · Volume 05, The Rías, the Feira and the Road to Santiago
Filloas
Both coast and interior
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 1 hour
- Researched
- No outside sources linked
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Thin, crêpe-like cakes cooked on a hot griddle, filloeira, historically stone, now more often a simple pan. A specific version, filloas de sangue, folds fresh pig's blood into the batter during the matanza itself, and this remains a genuine, still-practised rural tradition rather than a historical curiosity. A widely repeated claim that filloas descend from a Roman legionary preparation called phyllon does not survive checking and does not appear in this recipe's history for that reason.
As tradition built it
About 30 minutes, plus 30 minutes' batter rest.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 500ml milk
- 100g plain flour
- a pinch a pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp melted lard or butter
Method
- Whisk the eggs with the milk, flour, salt and melted lard or butter until completely smooth, and rest the batter for 30 minutes.
- Heat a well-seasoned pan or filloeira over a medium-high flame, grease lightly, and pour in a thin layer of batter, swirling to coat the pan evenly.
- Cook until the edges lift and the underside is speckled golden, about a minute, then flip and cook a further 30 seconds.
- Stack and serve either savoury, wrapped around ham and cheese, or sweet, with a little sugar or honey.
What a modern chef changes
An overnight rested batter and a temperature-controlled griddle
Method
- Rest the batter overnight in the fridge rather than for 30 minutes, letting the flour fully hydrate for a more even, tender crêpe.
- Cook on a precisely temperature-controlled electric griddle rather than a domestic hob flame, which tends to run hot at the centre and cool at the edges.
- For a savoury version, fill with a light Tetilla cheese fondue, the cheese melted gently with a splash of cream in a bain-marie rather than direct heat, which scorches its delicate, mild character.