d its fruit are
its particular delicacies. Marsala, Moscato di Siracusa, and Amarena di
Siracusa are the wines of the island. If you want to try Sicilian
cookery, go either to the Lincoln by the Plazza Marina or the Rebecchina
in the Via Vittoria Emanuele.

N.N.-D.

CHAPTER X

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

Food and wines of the country--Barcelona--San
Sebastian--Bilbao--Madrid--Seville--Bobadilla--Grenada--Jerez--
Algeciras--Lisbon--Estoril.

A candid Frenchman, who had lived long in Spain, asked as to the cookery
of Spain compared with that of other nations, replied, "It is worse even
than that of the English, which is the next worst." That Frenchman was,
however, rather ungrateful, for the Spaniards taught the French how to
stuff turkeys with chestnuts. The Spanish cooks also first understood
that an orange salad is the proper accompaniment to a wild duck, and the
Spanish hams are excellent. The lower orders in Spain have too great a
partiality for _ajo_ and _aceite_ for oil and garlic. Their oil, which
they use greatly even with fish, is not the refined oil of Genoa or the
south of France, but is a coarse liquid, the ill taste of which remains
all day in one's mouth. Garlic is an excellent seasoning in its proper
place and quantity, and the upper classes of the Spaniards have their
meat lightly rubbed with it before being cooked, but the lower classes
use it in the cooking to an intolerable extent. Capsicum is much eaten
in Spain, being sometimes stuffed, but in any quantity it is very
indigestible.

In the south of Spain the heat is tropical in the summer, and the only
meat then available in any small town is generally goat. As in India,
the chicken which you order for your lunch is running about the yard of
the inn when the order is given. The principal dish of Spain is
_Puchero_, which consists of beef, very savoury sausages, bacon, fowl,
and plenty of the white haricot beans known as _garbanzos_, some leeks,
and a small onion, all put together into a pot to boil. The liquid is
carefully skimmed before it actually boils, and as the scum stops
forming hot water is added. The broth, _Caldo_, is used as soup; the
remainder, which has had most of the sustaining quality boiled out of
it, is the daily dish of the middle and upper classes, who call it
_Cocido_. _Gazpaco_ is a kind of cold soup much used in the southern and
hotter parts of Spain. It is made of bread crumbs, bonito fish, onions,
oil,