The gourmet's guide to Europe

lunch of the peasant, who for a change eats in the vintage season a bunch of grapes and "some bread. The better classes drink it iced, and it makes its appearance at dinner with the salad. It is a compound of many things — bread crumbs, bonito fish, pepper, salt, tomatoes, oil, vinegar, garlic, cucumbers, all soaked well with water.Paul Bosanquet writes of it: "Preparez le bien, servez le bien froid, et jetez le par la fenetre."” Other writers, however, speak more kindly of it, and the English in Spain say that in the very hot weather it is a very refreshing mixture instead of afternoon tea. Gazpacho de Almendras is the aristocratic form of the above. Bacalao , or dried cod, is one of the staple dishes of the poor in the north, and the English in Spain also often eat it. There are two methods of eating it — one with rice, a la Valenciana , and the other known as Soldados de Pavia , because the soldiers of Pavia were supposed to be able to eat anything. The cod-fish in this case are fried in oil, after being well soaked in water and then dipped in flour. Arroz a la Valenciana is an excellent mixture of rice and tomatoes, peppers, green peas, ham, small birds, and chicken. It is my humble opinion it is the best of the Spanish dishes. Ropa Vieja is a stew of all kinds of material. Its name means “ old rags.” A tale is told of a favourite actor who ordered this dish at a restaurant. When it was brought to him he noticed that there was no meat in it, and he called for the manager. This cannot be what I ordered, he said, for one can always see the flesh through old rags. Some Spanish dishes to be welcomed when seen on a menu are Bocarones, a fry of tiny fish, Trevélez ham, chestnut fed and snow cured, Montanchez ham, acorn fed and sugar cured, Langostina , prawns of great size and fine flavour, Salmonete frito , a dry fry of red mullet, Guiso de Perdiz , a ragout of partridge and bay 2j6 The Gourmet's Guide to Europe leaves, Asadias fritus , tiny fried soles, and Sisón Asado , the lesser bustard roast. The dishes of Andalusia, which has a cuisine of its own, I write of under the heading of Seville, and some dishes of other provinces will be found mentioned later in this article. The red wines of the Marquis de Riscal are much esteemed all over Spain. Valdepenas, a burgundy, one of the wines most drunk in the country, is very strong, and really requires eight or ten years in bottle to mature. A Rioja claret, which is a good wine when four years in bottle, and of course sherry in the south, of which all the leading brands are obtainable, are other wines always to be found in the restaurants. In the north I have found Diamante a pleasant wine to drink, and the Sauternes of the Marquis de Teran are really excellent. The Spanish brandy is, if a good brand is chosen, a fine chasse. The sweet wines of Spain are the Pedro Jimenez of Jerez, Malaga, Moscatel and Tarragona Port. A very cheap wine, but an excellent tonic, only obtainable in taverns, is Vino Duro.