Between the bunch of old things, furniture, photos and other personal belongings he found 2 handwritten old books – Cuisine recipes. The books were there for decades, waiting for their new finder. At first he made just a quick glance and left them aside. Many years passed, Božo’s “Bota”, named after old Dubrovnik expression for arch became famous but those 2 notebooks were still intact and left aside.
And then it happened! A few years ago, some time before her death, Ankica Bandur asked Božo Škara, who paid her visits frequently, if he had found a handwritten cookbook, belonging to her family and written through the generations. Božo remembered his discovery and after a few days of looking for he found the recipes again and brought them to Ankica who was very happy about that.
She kept reading the cookbook and told Božo: “Many of those recipes could help you.” In a few days she passed away. After that Božo and his wife Tanja started studying the cookbooks and introducing them into their menus. This autumn, when I stopped by in Mali Ston I discovered some unusual dishes. From that moment I started writing the book about old Dubrovnik cuisine from Mali Ston.
Fish milk. One kilo of fish milk and 2 litres of water. Water needs to be salted and boiled with parsley, Selenium, oil and vinegar. Pour the milk into the boiling water. Put the prawns with some breadcrumbs, oil, pepper, garlic and parsley. (Decorate with fresh arugula).
Dentex in water. Boil water with parsley, salt and pepper. Pour the dentex with the soup, just to cover it and add one bay-leaf and a glass of olive oil. It is cooked covered like in steaming.
Dubrovnik goose liver pâté. Leave 3 huge goose livers in milk for 24 hours then clean them with a tissue. Two left peaces are filled with grasses and clove. Mix and mince the third piece of liver with smoked bacon,onion, add salt and pepper, majoram, a glass of Madeira liquer, and a glass of rum.
After that put the slices of bacon and the mixture in the pot and cook it in a chafing dish. Serve cold and put out with the hot fork.
Green pastry. Put the ham bone in water and cook it the next day with a little of baby beef. Cabbage, borecole, sprout and potatoes are to be cooked and poured with the ham soup. At the end add boneless meat and smoked ham with a slice of a tomato, a glass of oil and some pepper.
Dubrovnik duck like a rabbit a la Dalmatian. Roast the duck in an oven with oil, vinegar, pepper and salt. When it is almost roasted cover it than stew it and add a glass of oil, prosecco, lemon juice, and one coffee spoon of garlic. Put some cream and a dozen of olives and stew them. Decorate the duck with scurvy grass.
It is always hard to discover the date of writing when you want to analyse the family cookbooks.The oldest part of the cookbook is divided into first courses, soups, fricassees, fish, roasted dishes, greens, poultry, salads and desserts. It is believed that the dishes are cooked from the very end of Dubrovnik Republic, around 1806 through the Napoleon period and Austrian rule. The new rule brought new trends in Dubrovnik cuisine. So it was not unusual to find typical Dubrovnik, French and Austrian dishes on the same page.
Mixed cuisine is nothing unusual in new trends of 19 century. It brought many innovations as well as little bit sad ending of the extraordinary Dubrovnik history and heritage.
These recipes show how tradition in gastronomy can be adapted when exposed to new historical winds. Even though there was a very strong resistance.
The middle of the cookbook from the second half of 19 century also has typical Dubrovnik dishes with French and Austrian influence but with Croatian expressions. That was a process of returning to the sources after the clashes with invaders.
The last part of the book from the end of 19 and beginning of 20 century was quickly written and not as neat as before.
As if the clock started ticking quicker and as if there was not so much patience for the calligraphy the handwriting became much less neat. But there was enough time for enjoying food. The last part is again full of traditional Dubrovnik dishes.
It would taker too long to list all 200 recipes. We can see how the cuisine was getting modernized through decades and again returned to its traditional values.
It is not unexpected that this cookbook was found in the Bandur house in the old salt warehouse in Mali Ston, pride of Dubrovnik Republic.
Mali Ston bay has always been famous for its fish and mussels. During the Republic period only the most powerful families got the right to raise mussels there. The bay under water land registry is unique in the world and is part of Dubrovnik and world cultural heritage.
The Bandur family was agricultural, but they also raised mussels and first modernized rising in baskets, renting all bigger parts of underwater parcels. All those experiences and naturally produced groceries were transformed into cuisine skills in Bandur family. That is how the Bandur cookbooks were more and more detailed; helping people survive in harsh times they had been through.
/KUHARSKI KANCONIJER - Veljko Barbieri/