“But one day Pepa, disheartened by her repeated failures, begged to be allowed to serve us a Spanish dinner, after tasting which, she affirmed, we should never desire to eat any other; and having received the permission of her mistress, she set to work, and at the usual hour triumphantly placed the national dish of “puchero” upon the table. We gathered round it rather doubtfully, but after the first timid trial pronounced it, “not so bad, though rather rich.” It seemed to contain a little of everything--beef, lard, garlic, garbanzos (or small, hard beans), lettuce, pepper, potatoes, and I know not what besides; and the mixture had been kept simmering in an earthenware pot for hours. The next dish served by Pepa was “gaspacho,” or a Spanish salad, which is mixed quite differently from an English one, and to most tastes not so palatable. And then she placed before us a large dish of rice, profusely sprinkled with cinnamon, and various small cakes fried in oil; and Pepa’s Spanish dinner (which, by the way, was only a sample, I suppose, of the most ordinary national fare), was concluded.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
Well-boiled haricot beans, cold, are made into an excellent salad, as follows:--Put the haricot beans into a bowl, season with chopped parsley, green onions, salad oil, vinegar, pepper and salt, and slices of beet-root. Mix thoroughly.
Sources: The passage is from Florence Marryat, The ghost of Charlotte Cray, and other stories, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Francatelli, A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes of 1852, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — teal cloth, lamp stamp.