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

quite good, with anise always in the ascendant. Anise to the Spaniard is much the same as kummel to the German or absinthe to the French. All three of these ardent infusions bear a resemblance in taste. Soup is never served at luncheon, except when it comprises the whole meal, as does olla podrida, the national cocida, called either soup or stew, but in any case a full meal (see recipe). Though nearly everything goes into this olla, the chick peas or garbonzas are its characteristic feature. The dish is sometimes called just garbonzas, as we say "beans" for food. Next to chicken and eggs, Spain is distinguished for its chick peas and rice appetite, and this Spanish influence has left its impress on conquered Spanish American countries, where many national dishes consist of either chick peas or chicken. Between lunch and dinner, about the time a Londoner takes his tea (which often as not consists of whiskey and soda) the Sevillano drinks his manzanilla. This young sherry is known to us only as the pickle in which the olives of Seville are bottled. There is a natural affinity between olives and manzanilla, for both are acquired tastes and share a similar tang. After the bull fight all of masculine Seville pours into the bodegas. In the expensive ones the white sherry is served in a nickeled tray with compartments holding six tiny glasses for one drinker. Another boxed tray is served with it, loaded with appetizers, each in its separate compartment and sometimes there are twelve of these; an anchovy curled around a caper or a pickled nasturtium seed, a tiny pickled oyster, a dab of white bait, ingenious pickles, boiled shrimp, a shaving of raw ham, empanadillas, little meat pies, and special olives unknown outside Andalusia. Elaborate, intricate taste-teasers, no two alike. Those who can't afford this Sevillian luxury fill the humbler wine shops, where a tumbler of tinto or Rioja wine costs just two cents. But mostly, after a bull fight, more fiery drinks are r called for — Matta Rattas, for example, a mighty concoction of anise from which Hemingway could just as well have got his title "Death in the Afternoon," although the name loosely translates "kills rats." Dinner is at nine o'clock, and is just an amplification of lunch, with thick soup first, made of oysters, birds or almonds, though sometimes merely panada, boiled bread. Then fish or omelet; next pheasant, squab, hare, or at least chicken, maybe all four. There are sure to be artichokes or asparagus, but neither salad nor butter. The dessert is an elaborate ice, grapes, or galletas, sweet biscuits that go well with a final glass or two of dessert wine. In this male country the men usually take after-dinner coffee and liqueurs at a cafe, with a game of dominoes and a chalice of Pedro Domencq brandy, while the women remain patiently at home. SOUPS AND STEWS (Sopas y Cocidos) ROYAL SOUP (Sopa Real) 4 hard-boiled eggs i quart clear vegetable soup l/2 lemon Mash the egg yolks and mince the whites. Add the soup. Bring to a boil, drop in small bits of lemon and serve.