The famous 'vasuco' of milk with homemade cake, from Casa Quevedo.Rosa Rivas CarreroA vasuco of milk and a cake for a few coins and to enjoy in a monumental setting. The home initiative of an enterprising woman, a product of the need to support the family in the harsh post-war Spanish period, led to an effective promotional operation for Cantabrian products in Santillana del Mar. Since the fifties, Casa Quevedo has been one of the attractions of the famous medieval Cantabrian town near the Altamira caves. In front of the collegiate church of Santa Juliana, and at the portal of a palatial stone house from the 17th century, presided over by a large shield, people of all ages parade daily to drink a glass of fresh milk accompanied by a piece of cake. More informationCasa Quevedo is already a third-generation family business. The initiator, María Luisa Gómez, had the idea of publicizing the matter: “Whoever doesn't drink milk, doesn't get married,” she said to those who showed squeamishness. A trick that has worked for decades. “Next year we turn 75,” say María Luisa's grandchildren, Alfredo and José Antonio Iguanzo, who move quickly between the workshop and the store. “Every day at full capacity. No hours on weekends,” they say. A non-stop! They estimate that they ship 200 glasses or more daily. In spring and summer there are queues, especially on weekends, but also in winter, even if it rains or it is a Monday, the parade of customers is constant. They pay 2.50 euros for a glass of milk and a cake, something that started out costing three and then five of the old pesetas.
Facade of Casa Quevedo, in Santillana del Mar. Rosa Rivas CarreroThis is shown in the old photos of the walls of Casa Quevedo, where María Luisa is seen smiling with her white apron, the wooden table with the milk jug covered with a cloth with a crochet edge, the glasses and on them the piece of cake. The woman stood protected from the wind, in a corner in front of the collegiate church. Now the jug on the wooden counter of the store continues as a tradition. And on the shelves, biscuits, quesadas and sobaos pasiegos.
José Antonio Iguanzo dispenses glasses of milk and biscuits. Rosa Rivas Carrero María Luisa Gómez's business idea was a matter of good milk, of the nutritious fresh milk from her cows, which her husband took care of. Now what Casa Quevedo offers is not their own milk, but rather what they buy from farmers in the area. “Our milk is natural, boiled and fresh cow's milk,” warns a sign on the door of Casa Quevedo. It is a milk with an intense, bovine flavor that may shock urban palates accustomed to insipid brick milk. “It is an opportunity to get to know the taste of cow's milk as it is,” says a customer from Madrid who went directly to Casa Quevedo based on the recommendation of a Cantabrian friend. A young couple from Burgos leave the store loaded with typical desserts after drinking the typical vasuco de leche. “We had come a couple of times before with the family and we came again,” he says. Next to them, a Portuguese guide eagerly drinks a glass: “I always come here and drink the milk,” he says enthusiastically, licking a white milky mustache. She also takes her tourists, who take the opportunity to buy sobaos and quesadas. “Now they see more Portuguese, but the Italians and the French are the ones who consume the most. The English tourist is more reluctant to try it,” says José Antonio Iguanzo.
A young woman dips the cake in the glass of milk, at the door of the establishment. Rosa Rivas Carrero “It's natural, natural, delicious. Milk is boiled in a pot, as always. And then it is served very cold. It is pasteurized at 75 degrees and boiled at 100 degrees. When it boils it doesn't stop moving, so all the flavor is mixed, and it cools quickly to three degrees, we don't let the milk sit and make cream. This is how all the flavor is mixed. This milk has more fat. “People like it because it is sweeter,” explains Iguanzo, with the vehemence inherited from his grandmother. And the mother also boasts. “It is pure milk that stains the glass,” says Leonor Fernández, who at 85 years old has already left the hustle and bustle of selling to the public. “I was 12 years old when my mother started, in 1950, there were many of us to support. “She sold the vasuco de leche and the cake on holidays,” she remembers. “She thought that the tourists who passed through Santillana after visiting the nearby Altamira caves (which at that time were open to the public) would really like it.” And of course they liked her. “In addition, she was very nice and she knew how to sell, she made a virtue of necessity,” her grandchildren highlight. “Grandma, she had a lot of grace, a lot of talk. Like her, everything was rich, well, until today,” they say proudly. The current cake, “so spongy that it sucks milk like a vampire,” according to her mother, maintains the recipe that a young María Luisa learned in a community oven in Santillana from a woman who cooked very well. Eggs, flour, sugar and a pinch of yeast. “The secret is in the shake,” says Alfredo about the snack that has made them popular. “We add butter and lemon zest to the sobaos. The quesada, which does not contain cheese, uses curdled milk.”Casa Quevedo is one of the oldest businesses in Santillana del Mar and has become a gastronomic attraction in the town. The formula is simple: local raw materials and enthusiasm. Following in the footsteps of that Cantabrian grandmother with a commercial spirit who used proverbs and puns by Francisco de Quevedo (the writer, not the rich owner of the mansion) such as “those who love each other from the heart, only speak to each other with their hearts.” And this is how the pastry grandchildren express themselves with their sweets. You can follow EL PAÍS Gastro on Instagram and x.