Aletria
{{short description|Portuguese dessert}}
File:I luuuurve Aletria (5840383874).jpg
Aletria is a custardy Portuguese dessert based on vermicelli (aletria). In the Beiras region, aletria has a compact consistency, and is able to be cut in slices, whereas in Minho its consistency is more creamy.{{cite web |title=Aletria - Um doce com história |url=https://tertuliadesabores.blogs.sapo.pt/61352.html |publisher=Tertúlia de Sabores |access-date=28 December 2020}}
Origin
Llibre de Sent Soví, a set of two 14th-century manuscripts, in Catalan, contains a compilation of 200 recipes, of which there are two with alatria (170: Qui parla con se cou alatria or "how to cook vermicelli" and 171 : Qui parla con se cou carn ab alatria or "how to cook meat with vermicelli").{{cite web |title=Contents of the 14th c. Catalan Libre De Sent Sovi |url=http://home.comcast.net/~bhodghead/Culinary/SStitles.htm |access-date=28 December 2020}}{{cite web |title=Livres de cuisine médiévale écrits en catalan |url=http://www.oldcook.com/medieval-livres_cuisine_catalan |publisher=oldcook.com |access-date=28 December 2020}} However, what they called vermicelli should have a very different shape from the current thin strands of dough.{{cite web |title=Pâtes en catalogne |date=9 July 2013 |url=https://histoiredepates.net/2013/07/09/pates-en-catalogne/ |publisher=histoiredepates.net |access-date=28 December 2020}}
Vermicelli was probably brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors in the 8th or 9th century.{{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Colman |title=Catalan Cuisine, Revised Edition: Vivid Flavors From Spain's Mediterranean Coast |date=3 December 2005 |publisher=Harvard Common Press |isbn=978-1-55832-329-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-K_ekX6BVXsC&pg=PA196 |access-date=28 December 2020 |language=en}} It remained in Portugal and incorporated into Portuguese cuisine, and began to designate the mass of very fine yarns, with which a typical Christmas candy, present in almost all regions of the country, is prepared. The name aletria itself has disappeared in Spain, remaining only in the region of the ancient Kingdom of Murcia.{{cite web |title=Canelons i Pasta El PAVO |url=http://ferransalacasasampere.blogspot.com/2013/05/canelons-i-pasta-el-pavo.html |access-date=28 December 2020}} It is however noteworthy that Catalan cuisine has enriched itself a lot with products promoted by the Arabs, including vermicelli.{{cite web |first1=Natalia Silva |last1=Prada |title=El Sent Soví y la alatria |url=http://www.eltiempo.com/blogs/love_cooking_love_history/2012/10/el-sent-sovi-y-la-alatria.php |publisher= Gastronomía Histórica |access-date=28 December 2020}}