Spanish Ham, and a recipe for Meat Omelet (1851):
http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2015/07/spanish-ham-and-recipe-for-meat-omelet.htmlExcerpted from the article:
"
Therefore all writing is a sham,
Where there is wanting Spanish ham."
"…So much space has been filled with these meritorious bacons and hams, that we must be brief with our remaining bill of fare. For a
pisto or meat omelette take eggs, which are to be got almost everywhere; see that they are fresh by being pellucid; beat these
huevos trasparentes well up; chop up onions and whatever savoury herbs you have with you; add small slices of any meat out of your hamper, cold turkey, ham, &c.; beat it all up together and fry it quickly. Most Spaniards have a peculiar knack in making these
tortillas,
revueltas de huevos, which to fastidious stomachs are, as in most parts of the Continent, a sure resource to fall back upon. The
Guisado, or stew, like the olla, can only be really done in a Spanish pipkin, and of those which we import, the Andalucian ones draw flavour out the best. This dish is always well done by every cook in every venta, barring that they are apt to put in bad oil, and too much garlic, pepper, and saffron. Superintend it, therefore, yourself, and take hare, partridge, rabbit, chicken, or whatever you may have foraged on the road; it is capital also with pheasant, as we proved only yesterday; cut it up, save the blood, the liver, and the giblets; do not wash the pieces, but dry them in a cloth; fry them with onions in a teacup of oil till browned; take an olla, put in these bits with the oil, equal portions of wine and water, but stock is better than water; claret answers well,
Valdepeñas better; add a bit of bacon, onions, garlic, salt, pepper,
pimientos, a bunch of thyme or herbs; let it simmer, carefully skimming it; half an hour before serving add the giblets; when done, which can be tested by feeling with a fork, serve hot. The stew should be constantly stirred with a
wooden spoon, and grease, the ruin of all cookery, carefully skimmed off as it rises to the surface. When made with proper care and with a good salad, it forms a supper for a cardinal, or for Santiago himself."