The children and grandchildren of exiles and those who remained preserve a wealth of treasures: the recipes handed down by grandmothers and great-grandmothers that unite and bring them together, managing to pass on to posterity part of the city's history. 

 

A cultural baggage

 

Franz Joseph's Austria was a melting pot of races, customs and traditions, and its cuisine was the result of these fusions. The city of Fiume, thanks above all to its geographical location, had always been open to many different cultures, welcomed foreigners who settled there from every part of the Empire, and from the newcomers it took on customs and traditions, with particular attention to food, which is why it still boasts an immense variety of dishes.

Poor and rich, simple and elaborate recipes ended up on the properly laid table, covered, on holidays, by impeccably white and starched linen tablecloths.

On the occasion of baptisms, confirmations, weddings, less wealthy families used to empty the largest room of their home to be able to set up tables capable of hosting a myriad of family members and guests. Once the beds, sofas, cupboards and sideboards were temporarily moved, those rooms were transformed into dining rooms. And the chairs were borrowed from neighbors.

 

The desserts were prepared seven days in advance. Dobos cakes, strudel, rigojanči, buchtel… a huge list of delicacies that was difficult to manage, but very easy to enjoy.

 

Dobos, Sissi's favourite

 

Made up of six layers of sponge cake, spread with a chocolate and butter cream, the Dobos cake is covered with a thin layer of caramel which helps prevent drying out.

Its edge is covered with ground hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts or almonds.

Princess Elisabeth, better known as Sissi, was a legendary fan of Dobos. It seems that Sissi was so fond of the Hungarian dessert that she often secretly left the Royal Palace in Buda to visit the Ruszwurm Café, the oldest Hungarian pastry shop.

Dobos cake was first presented at the General National Exhibition in Budapest in 1885. The first to try the new sweet treat were Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth. The cake quickly became famous throughout Europe, also thanks to the promotion done by József Carl Dobos himself who traveled extensively organizing presentations. The recipe remained a secret until 1924 when Dobos retired and donated it to the Budapest Chamber of Confectioners where it is still kept today.

 

The countless leavenings of the buhtel

 

Buhtel are a cross between a sweet roll and a krapfen: they are puffs of dough filled with apricot or plum jam; according to Francesco Gottardi in his book “Come mangiavamo”, they are also called buchteln. Every respectable handwritten recipe book from the “vecie nones de Fiume” contains the recipe for this delicacy that stands out for its complex preparation divided into several leavenings.

 

Although originally from Bohemia, buhtels have a prominent place in Austrian cuisine, Hungarian cuisine (in Hungarian bukta) and even Ladin cuisine. In Trieste, traditional buchtels are filled with plum powidl (fruit jam prepared without adding sugar) or covered with vanilla sauce. The most famous Austrian buchtels are served at Café Hawelka in Vienna, where they are presented as a house specialty and are prepared according to an ancient and secret family recipe.

 

Rigojanči, on the notes of a violin

 

The peculiar story behind the rigojanči dates back to 1896, when Clara Ward, wife of the Belgian prince Chimay, fell in love with Jancsi Rigó, who played the violin in a Parisian club. Surprisingly, Clara Ward left her husband for Jancsi Rigó, causing much scandal.

It is said that the violinist himself, “inspired” by love, created this dessert in collaboration with a pastry chef friend.

Rigojanči was born to crown this love story which, however, did not have a happy ending as the two separated and Rigó died in New York in 1927 in total poverty.

But what does Fiume have to do with it? It has to do with the fact that this very sought-after dessert was prepared for years in the pastry shop of the Continental hotel in the capital of Kvarner, designed in 1963, today transformed into a pub.

 

Strudel, the Byzantine dessert

 

Apple strudel has very ancient origins that can be traced back to the Middle East, more precisely to ancient Byzantium, now Istanbul. Following the various conquests of the Turkish people, the recipe for this delicacy first reached the Balkan Peninsula in 1547 and, later, it reached Hungary where it was given the name it is still known for today. Strudel became very famous throughout the Habsburg Empire and, following the Congress of Vienna in 1815, its typical recipe became part of the gastronomic tradition of the Three Venices and obviously, of Fiume, where expert cooks, in the month of June, around San Vito, used to replace the apples with cherries or sour cherries.

 

Cherry Strudel 

 

According to what was reported in the pages of our newspaper years ago by our collaborator Alfredo Fucci, to obtain the perfect strudel, you need to “use 50 grams of flour, a spoonful of oil, a teaspoon of vinegar, a little salt dissolved in warm water and knead. Cover for a quarter of an hour before rolling out the pastry”. “And when my mother finished kneading and it got to the point where she had to roll out the dough, I – Fucci continues – had to give it my hand, careful not to make holes with my fingers, sugaring it very slowly until it covered the entire table, as if with a sheet. And then came the time to put in the grateful apples, the zisibe, the noze, the cinnamon. And everything ended up in the oven to be occasionally sprinkled with egg white before reaching the table”.

 

Tiziana Dabovic – 11/09/2021
Source: The Voice of the People