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

Basque sausages are well peppered and seasoned with garlic. The celebrated spicy Loukenkas is hotter even than Spanish Chorizos. This sausage is grilled and served with raw oysters, and what could be tastier than that? Other specialties are mushroom fritters, smoked ox tongues, raw hams, potted pork, and dishes distinguished by goose drippings and a wrapping of cabbage leaves. BAKED EGGPLANT SALAD i large eggplant % cup wine vinegar i tablespoon sharp mustard Salt and pepper % cup olive oil Head of lettuce Cut eggplant in half lengthwise and bake in a moderate oven (350°F.) for 30 minutes or until tender. Peel and dice. Marinate in a mixture of the sharp mustard, oil, vinegar and seasonings. Place in a refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Serve in lettuce cups. This makes 6 to 8 servings. PORK BISCAYENNE A 4-pound loin of pork 3 cups milk 3 tablespoons fat Salt and pepper Brown the loin of pork in the fat, then cover with milk and simmer slowly, covered, for 2 to 3 hours. Sprinkle with seasonings when half cooked. Saddle of lamb and veal are nicely roasted on the spit before the most unique grate fire in the world. Since these picturesque highlanders are pretty well snowed in most of the winter, their kitchens are much cozier than those in the rest of Spain. As in the Italian countryside, the kitchen here is the most popular and comfortable room in the house, with its blazing straw fire, three-legged iron cooking pots and hand-hammered tongs, bulging casks of wine, jars of pickles and confits, sound cheeses, hams, sausages, and strings of handy herbs. One entire wall of the stone kitchen is given over to the fire; it is a fireplace rather than a wall. Straw is packed neatly into the space stretching from one room-corner to another and reaching all the way from floor to ceiling. The fire-surface of the packed straw is cut off neatly, and sometimes it covers a hundred square feet. A match is applied to the bottom straw and the whole side of the kitchen leaps up in a blaze. The fire, however, is steady and easily controlled, for the straw is so closely and cleverly packed that it burns slowly and evenly, the hot ashes sifting down gradually to form a perfect bed of coals in which the gypsy-legged pots stand simmering on their stilts well above the cinders. No lamp is needed in such a well lighted room, where one feels as though he were on the inside of an oven, getting slowly baked through with the golden glow from the fire and a handy flagon of wine. As in all hard-drinking countries, few sweets are in demand, and those of the Basques are invariably flavored with almonds. Their macaroons and almond pastes are beyond compare and, too, the tiny almond biscuits called Croquignolles de Navarra. They also make a soft and creamy nougat and juicy candied fruits.