Attila d'Hun's STORYBOOK/COOKBOOK

Legend says that there were two sisters who were loving individuals, but since, their youth, they competed fiercely. Even their marriages to very capable individuals elevated the rivalry between them to a more intense level. The older sister was always more moderate and frank about life and pursued more realistic goals. She married into a family with similar circumstances, and her life was rock steady and rewarded with deep-seated happiness. The younger sister crossed over social lines and married into a family where title and status played an important role. She felt that her accomplishments were superior to those of her sister’s, and that gave her happiness on the surface. The younger sister’s husband was a successful hunter, and thus, he provided plenty of wild game for the household. They partied extensively and had a seemingly affluent circle of friends that included fun-loving politicians, business people, and bohemian intellectuals. She became an accomplished cook and a popular hostess as these parties went on for many years. For these gatherings, she prepared a large variety of dishes of wild game with exotic sauces and equally impressive side dishes. The older sister felt inadequate to compete with her in this area of life. The younger sister became increasingly sinister in trying to challenge the older one into this competition. She manipulated her friends to exert pressure on the older sister to host a dinner party in her house. Although the older sister was an excellent cook and was not afraid of culinary experimentations and innovations, she felt intimidated and apprehensive about this upcoming event. She asked her husband to go on a hunting trip with the younger sister’s husband and his buddies. However, not being an experienced hunter, this resulted in a disaster for them. He could not even shoot a single rabbit, let alone larger game, and they needed to provide food for about thirty people for the arranged party. As the time drew nearer, the older sister was frantically searching for alternatives since this feast was primarily expected to provide dishes of wild game, which was highly fashionable at that time period in the culture. She refused the offers of providing the game shot by friends from the hunt because of the humiliation. They were highly respected for the success of having a large herd of cattle and being a supplier of the highest quality beef of that region. She knew in her heart that simply providing a good dinner of superbly prepared beef dishes just would not meet her guests’ expectations. She now resorted to her expertise in the kitchen and practiced cooking several versions of beef dishes in a style that could be mistaken for wild game. She chose the best cuts that were not the tenderest, but had texture and retained full body even after lengthy but slow cooking. She cooked the beef with a variety of selected vegetables and a bouquet of herbs and spices. After the meat was cooked, she worked the vegetables into a sauce that enhanced and changed the character of the beef beyond recognition. She then experimented in creating a unique side dish to complement the game-style beef in a combination that was unknown to the culinary culture. She settled on bread dumplings that consisted of a dough with a consistency of egg dumplings, incorporating toasted bread cubes dumped in boiling water and cooked to a tender but somewhat firm texture.

As the guests were arriving and the dinner party was slowly unfolding, with trepidation she made the last seasoning adjustments to the dish. She knew that her creation was among the best dishes that she ever put on the table, but the reaction had yet to be experienced with eager anticipation. The dinner was a great success. People jumped to their feet and praised the cook and the mystery dish, which according to them, was a perfect dish of wild game—except they could not tell exactly what game it was. The hostess was very happy and decided not to reveal her secrets. Before the evening was over, the guests made her promise to repeat that dinner shortly. Soon there was another dinner party at her house, and another one, and so on. She had to cook the same dish over and over by popular demand. In hosting these dinner parties, the younger sister was losing some of her popularity while the older was gaining, and their achievements evened out. The older sister kept her secret for a while, but gave in to the inquisitive pressure and revealed her secret recipe at once.