Chocolate takes the lead of coffee, and it is as thick as custard because it is mixed with cornstarch. Usually this is accompanied by a sugar-coated lady finger. The chocolate has to be eaten with a spoon, for it doesn't run fast enough to drink. Ferdinand Cortez brought the first chocolate beans from Mexico, so Spain drank it before any other European country, although she doesn't yet know how to make it. Rolls, plain or topped with sugar, all of them delicious, are preferred to the lady fingers at break- fast. The Spanish, like all other people except Orientals and Americans, are master bread makers. Their loaves are the whitest and finest knit of any in the world, and also the most fancifully twisted and braided. The matter of butter is optional in Spain. Most of it is imported in tins from Scandinavia, and since little ice is used, breakfast butter is often more liquid' than the chocolate itself. 98 SPANISH 99 As in Italy and France, this light morning refreshment is partaken of unceremoniously at home or in the cafes, often stand- ing instead of sitting at a table. Its simplest Spanish form is chocolate, with a chalice of anise and a strong cigarette, for tobacco is a government monopoly, as in Italy and France, so the smokes are pretty poor. Here again Spain got first chance at tobacco, when Columbus himself, and not Sir Walter Raleigh, brought it back from America; but the original tobacco has slipped as sadly as the chocolate. Almuerzo, Luncheon: This comes in countless courses and is a slow, dragging affair with plenty of time between for drink, discussion and digestion. Since Spain, from Cadiz to Barcelona, is a country devoted to chicken and eggs, they are written all over the Lista de Platos (bill of fare), though usually chicken is served only with the dinner at night. One set rule of the Almuerzo is that the first dish served consists of eggs, either plain — al plato; poached — estrellados; boiled — passado por agua; cooked with peas or hash; served sailor style; or the classic Spanish omelet, which is varied by tortilla con esparragos (as- paragus omelet) ; tongue omelet, tortilla of brains, spinach omelet, artichoke, mushroom, omelet of anything and every- thing. There are more egg dishes in the Spanish cuisine than in all the others put together. When a Spaniard is parted from his eggs his whole spirit sags, so on a trip abroad he will first learn the foreign word for eggy and in an emergency, whether in Paris or Berlin, he will draw a painstaking picture of the hen- fruit to explain to the waiter exactly what he wants, for this is his esperanto of lunching. The second course is fish, cod being most in favor, as it is in Portugal. Eels are also esteemed, and so are squid, cooked in their own ink. But in Sevilla the large gold fish, dorado, which is a kind of carp and can be seen glinting in the Guadaliquivir River, reflecting Columbus' Tower of Gold, appears on the table ioo THE EUROPEAN COOKBOOK at noon, often with Diamante, a white wine not unlike Sauterne. The delicious dorado is served smothered in the famous Andalu- sian shrimpy fish sauce.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Chocolate takes the lead of coffee, and it is as thick as custard because it is mixed with cornstarch. Usually this is accompanied by a sugar-coated lady finger. The chocolate has to be eaten with a spoon, for it doesn't run fast enough to drink. Ferdinand Cortez brought the first chocolate beans from Mexico, so Spain drank it before any other European country, although she doesn't yet know how to make it. Rolls, plain or topped with sugar, all of them delicious, are preferred to the lady fingers at breakfast. The Spanish, like all other people except Orientals and Americans, are master bread makers. Their loaves are the whitest and finest knit of any in the world, and also the most fancifully twisted and braided. The matter of butter is optional in Spain. Most of it is imported in tins from Scandinavia, and since little ice is used, breakfast butter is often more liquid' than the chocolate itself. As in Italy and France, this light morning refreshment is partaken of unceremoniously at home or in the cafes, often standing instead of sitting at a table. Its simplest Spanish form is chocolate, with a chalice of anise and a strong cigarette, for tobacco is a government monopoly, as in Italy and France, so the smokes are pretty poor. Here again Spain got first chance at tobacco, when Columbus himself, and not Sir Walter Raleigh, brought it back from America; but the original tobacco has slipped as sadly as the chocolate. Almuerzo, Luncheon: This comes in countless courses and is a slow, dragging affair with plenty of time between for drink, discussion and digestion. Since Spain, from Cadiz to Barcelona, is a country devoted to chicken and eggs, they are written all over the Lista de Platos (bill of fare), though usually chicken is served only with the dinner at night. One set rule of the Almuerzo is that the first dish served consists of eggs, either plain — al plato; poached — estrellados; boiled — passado por agua; cooked with peas or hash; served sailor style; or the classic Spanish omelet, which is varied by tortilla con esparragos (asparagus omelet) ; tongue omelet, tortilla of brains, spinach omelet, artichoke, mushroom, omelet of anything and everything. There are more egg dishes in the Spanish cuisine than in all the others put together. When a Spaniard is parted from his eggs his whole spirit sags, so on a trip abroad he will first learn the foreign word for eggy and in an emergency, whether in Paris or Berlin, he will draw a painstaking picture of the henfruit to explain to the waiter exactly what he wants, for this is his esperanto of lunching. The second course is fish, cod being most in favor, as it is in Portugal. Eels are also esteemed, and so are squid, cooked in their own ink. But in Sevilla the large gold fish, dorado, which is a kind of carp and can be seen glinting in the Guadaliquivir River, reflecting Columbus' Tower of Gold, appears on the table at noon, often with Diamante, a white wine not unlike Sauterne. The delicious dorado is served smothered in the famous Andalusian shrimpy fish sauce.

The European cookbook for American homes (from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France)