[Sca-cooks] "cows eyes"

[Suey]

Sharon Palmer wrote:
>> The 13th C Anon. Al-Andulus cookery has a recipe for making couscous
> >from white breadcrumbs:
>> At the end of the recipe we are told it can be cooked with fat
>> chicken, turnips and cows eyes. Huici and Perry concur with "cows
>> eyes." What are cows eyes?
>>
> I'm not sure about Spanish, but in German Ochssenaugen or ox eyes
> mean sunny side up fried eggs.
>
> Ranvaig
I have sent this suggestion on to academics in Madrid but it makes me 
laugh. Grahame Harrison in his book "Midnight Train to Granada" relates 
that he was invited to the director of the language school there where 
he taught in the 1950's when Spain was till suffering from hunger as a 
result of the Civil War and World War II as no countries in Europe could 
help Spain.
One night the director of the language school where Harrison was 
teaching at the time invited him and a colleague to dinner. The 
director's wife was most attentive and brought out what food she could. 
The second course for dinner consisted of fried eggs swimming green 
olive oil. - Not only is it most disgusting, it smells awful. The other 
guest at the dinner turned them down. The husband shouted to his wife in 
the kitchen, directly translated, "Maria, take away Jose's balls." - due 
to the double meaning my friend cringed behind the tablecloth and ate 
his "balls. . "
So I do not think Professor Harrison found any "eyes" in Spanish eggs!
Many thanks anyway,
Suey