Of cheeses there are but three, one a soft milk cheese like
Port-Salut, called Urt; the second a ewe cheese, and the third
one made with cream. White wines to go with them are of three
kinds: Irouleguy, first class; Churi Seratis, second; and several
of the ordinary type, Bidarray, Osses, Itxassou and Louhassos,
both white and red. There are aguardientes, ardent spirits, or
fire-water, aplenty, similar to Hendaye Liqueur on the French
border, all flavored with salubrious herbs gathered in the high
Pyrenees. There is apple brandy, too, for flavoring squid,
omelets, meats and an occasional festive almond pudding.
n
Boo\ Three
PORTUGUESE
Coma-lhe Bern, a Beba-lhe Melhorl
(Eat well and drink better!)
A Portuguese Salutation.
O JANTAR ESTA NA MESA
{The dinner is on the table — the formal announcement in
Portugal for "Dinner is served.")
Because Portugal is such a steep narrow strip of land along
the Atlantic it has to cling to its rocky coast like a crab and
wrest its living likewise from the sea itself. Besides the fishing
industry this country, still known by its ancient name Lusitania,
lives by making wines, chiefly port, and by marketing the vinous
specialties of its colonies, the islands of Madeira and the Azores.
In consequence of these two national activities, the Portuguese
knows his fish and wine even better than the Britisher knows his
fish and chips. The Lisboner can have oysters before every meal
if he likes and wash them down with dry golden Madeira,
besides. Having been once a part of Spain, the cuisine of
Portugal is somewhat influenced by its past, and as with Spain
itself, there are oriental overtones to many dishes. Hordes of
Moors long ago deserted North Africa to settle among the Latins
on this rocky strip of seacoast, and they brought along the ancient
cooking arts of Arabia, their conquerors as well as Spain's and
Portugal's. So we find stuffed cucumbers, melons, almonds even
in the soup, and oriental rice. But Portugal long ago left her
imprint on Eastern cooking, in exchange, as the result of early
voyages to India and the Orient, where she introduced bread,
which is still known there as pao, or pan. Another of her con-
tributions abroad was the cooking of shrimps tempura style,
which is the favorite mode of Japan down to this day. Portu-
guese colonies in the East, Angola and Macao, continue this
connection between occidental and oriental dishes. The Portu-
217
218 THE EUROPEAN COOKBOOK
guese, in fact, are almost as fond of rice as the Chinese them-
selves.
The cooking of Lusitania is also influenced by France, where
the nobility of Lisbon and Oporto have always sojourned; and
by Italy, whose language is indeed closer to Portuguese than
Spanish itself. But more than any other influence, the Brazilians
have added their fruits and eating fashions to the mother country
that governed Brazil through the Emperors Dom Pedro I and
II down until 1889. Just as Cortes took chocolate to Spain from
Mexico and it became the national eye-opener, so early Portu-
guese travellers returned to Lisbon in ships laden with rich
Brazilian coffee, mellow sugar and rum. Soon the two shores
of the Atlantic were so close that the Portuguese and Brazilian
cuisines were scarcely distinguishable.
Page 89
Presented as published in 1936. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Of cheeses there are but three, one a soft milk cheese like Port-Salut, called Urt; the second a ewe cheese, and the third one made with cream. White wines to go with them are of three kinds: Irouleguy, first class; Churi Seratis, second; and several of the ordinary type, Bidarray, Osses, Itxassou and Louhassos, both white and red. There are aguardientes, ardent spirits, or fire-water, aplenty, similar to Hendaye Liqueur on the French border, all flavored with salubrious herbs gathered in the high Pyrenees. There is apple brandy, too, for flavoring squid, omelets, meats and an occasional festive almond pudding.
n
Boo\ Three
Coma-lhe Bern, a Beba-lhe Melhorl (Eat well and drink better!)
A Portuguese Salutation.
O JANTAR ESTA NA MESA
{The dinner is on the table — the formal announcement in Portugal for "Dinner is served.")
Because Portugal is such a steep narrow strip of land along the Atlantic it has to cling to its rocky coast like a crab and wrest its living likewise from the sea itself. Besides the fishing industry this country, still known by its ancient name Lusitania, lives by making wines, chiefly port, and by marketing the vinous specialties of its colonies, the islands of Madeira and the Azores. In consequence of these two national activities, the Portuguese knows his fish and wine even better than the Britisher knows his fish and chips. The Lisboner can have oysters before every meal if he likes and wash them down with dry golden Madeira, besides. Having been once a part of Spain, the cuisine of Portugal is somewhat influenced by its past, and as with Spain itself, there are oriental overtones to many dishes. Hordes of Moors long ago deserted North Africa to settle among the Latins on this rocky strip of seacoast, and they brought along the ancient cooking arts of Arabia, their conquerors as well as Spain's and Portugal's. So we find stuffed cucumbers, melons, almonds even in the soup, and oriental rice. But Portugal long ago left her imprint on Eastern cooking, in exchange, as the result of early voyages to India and the Orient, where she introduced bread, which is still known there as pao, or pan. Another of her contributions abroad was the cooking of shrimps tempura style, which is the favorite mode of Japan down to this day. Portuguese colonies in the East, Angola and Macao, continue this connection between occidental and oriental dishes. The Portu-
guese, in fact, are almost as fond of rice as the Chinese themselves.
The cooking of Lusitania is also influenced by France, where the nobility of Lisbon and Oporto have always sojourned; and by Italy, whose language is indeed closer to Portuguese than Spanish itself. But more than any other influence, the Brazilians have added their fruits and eating fashions to the mother country that governed Brazil through the Emperors Dom Pedro I and II down until 1889. Just as Cortes took chocolate to Spain from Mexico and it became the national eye-opener, so early Portuguese travellers returned to Lisbon in ships laden with rich Brazilian coffee, mellow sugar and rum. Soon the two shores of the Atlantic were so close that the Portuguese and Brazilian cuisines were scarcely distinguishable.