Kartoffeln, Cartufolas, Patate. 810 ricette in viaggio tra Praga, Vienna, Gorizia e… ricordi di famiglia

A recipe book printed in 1894 in Prague, in German and obscure Gothic characters, has been handed down through the female line – from grandmother to granddaughter – in a Central European family with roots equally divided between Trieste and Friuli. It was 2014 when this 19th century family heirloom arrived in the hands of Carlotta, fresh out of humanities studies and passionate about art and history. A mix of passion, a desire to delve into family roots, and curiosity triggered by the title that stands out on the hard cover, worn by time: ‘810 Kartoffelspeisen’. (Superb synthesis in the language of Goethe, which in Italian becomes ‘810 potato dishes’). This is the spring that drives her to embark on a long, tiring but at times fun work of translation and in-depth historical research, also made up of family memories. Or rather, of two families: that of Carlotta and that of Hanna Dumek, a writer who, in the time of Franz Joseph, enjoyed well-deserved fame for her treatises on the culinary arts. Prominent among the ‘family’ characters is the imposing figure of a nobleman ‘by railway merit’: Claudius von Klaudy. He became a ‘Ritter’ knight for his honourable role as train conductor of the imperial convoy and ended his career in the ‘buen ritiro’ in Gorizia. In addition to Hanna’s recipes, in which potatoes are de rigueur (from potato-based soups and sauces to meat and fish dishes and pastries), readers will also be able to enjoy the aromas and flavours of a piece of our history.