Olla, cassola and perol (cooking pots)

What is

The cooking vessels of Majorcan cuisine:

• Pot: tall, belly-shaped clay vessel, with two or four handles, for boiling (scaldums, arròs brut, soups, the meat and vegetable pot). Central piece of the Pòrtol olleries.
• Cassola: in Mallorca the clay container is almost always called greixonera (DCVB). Cassola names the stew above all: cassola de carn, cassola de peix (DCVB, Mall.).
• Perol: copper or other metal cauldron, almost hemispherical, for boiling over a fire. In Pòrtol, perol is also a size of pot and greixonera (DCVB).

Correction to the order: the file separates cassola (word) from greixonera (object) to avoid duplication.

How is

• Pòrtol pot: glazed on the inside, with a lid or cover (concave glazed saucer with central handle) (Coll Conesa 2020).
• Sizes, according to Coll Conesa (2020): de setze (10 l), catorze (7 l), perol (5 l), mitja mà (4 l), malaguenya (2 l), treset (1 l), cassolí or biel (0.5 l).
• According to the DCVB, from least to greatest: biel, malaguenya, borda, de mitja mà, perol; and the pots have 7 liters. The sources do not agree on the liter capacity of the basin (per verify with an oller).
• Shapes: cafè (flat base), coll alçat (high and closed neck, old model for hanging), lletera (with spout), flat (low and cylindrical), colera or castanyera (holed in the base to strain or roast chestnuts; in medieval times, cuscusera).
• Olla colera (DCVB, Mall.): large glass like an alfàbia, with a wide mouth and four handles, for the milk to make cheese.
• Metallic bowl: copper with iron handles (inventories).

How is fa

• Pot: red refractory clay from Ses Coves de Can Guidet (Pòrtol), turned, glazed and fired in a wood oven (see torn-de-gerrer ).
• Perol: work of copper tinkers (trade in Mallorca to be verified).

Com s'usa

• Pot on the fire, hanging or on the stove (see foganya-i-estris-del-foc ).
• Pot for scalding, making preserves or boiling in the slaughter (general uses, please check in Mallorca).
• Broken holes, olles and greixoneres were repaired with strips or cordat (wire mesh).

Vocabulary

• olla: clay cooking vessel; also the meat and vegetable stew.
• cobertora / tapadora: pot lid.
• biel, malaguenya, borda, mitja mà, perol, treset, setze, catorze: pot carvings in Pòrtol.
• olla colera: large pot for cheese milk (Mall.).
• castanyera: pot with holes for roasting chestnuts.
• cassola: in Mallorca, especially the stew; The container is the greixonera.
• perol: copper cauldron; pot and greixonera carving in Pòrtol.
• fer perols: talk about things without substance (Mall.).
• olla de molts, no bull: saying: what belongs to everyone is not taken care of (Mall.).
• olla vetlada, mai bull: saying: what is eagerly awaited is late (Mall.).

History

• 1307: "unum perol" in an inventory cited by the DCVB.
• 1388: "duas rutas coleras", document published in the BSAL (DCVB).
• 1429: «a wave and a cassola and two topins, all of terra» (DCVB).
• 19th century: the Archduke draws Mallorcan olles, covers and coleres.
• Around 1900: about 20 factories in Pòrtol; Today there are around a dozen workshops left (according to tourist sources).

On veure'n

• Pòrtol Olleries: Can Bernadí , Can Vent , Cas Canonge .
• Fang Museum (Sa Cabaneta) · Fang Fair .
• Museum of Mallorca, Etnològica Section (Wall) : recreated kitchen.

Why is it design

• Named size system: the seller sets the price and the customer orders without measuring.
• Shape depending on the stew: high for liquids, low for oven, perforated for chestnuts.
• Local refractory material: Pòrtol clay withstands the flame.
• Repairable: cordat and lañas, the old pot is not thrown away.

For the project

• Piece: set of stackable pots in traditional sizes (biel a setze) with a Pòrtol pot.
• Atlas: visual table of sizes and names, verified with ollers.
• Trade: ceramics-i-gerreria . Files: greixonera , escudelles-i-plats-de-portol , morter .

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=olla
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=cassola
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=perol
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=greixonera
• contents.idi.es/images/documents/Catalogo_XII_Jornadas_Baleares_20.pdf
• seemallorca.com/portol

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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