Portrait of the composer Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904), 1884-1885. Private Collection (Getty Images)
The composer's favourite Czech dishes were plum dumplings, beef with saffron sauce, and veal steak. Dvořák relished the chance to have Czech food even in America. In the first year of their stay, the family often took meals at a boarding house, which offered local cuisine, as Dvořák wrote to his friend Josef Hlávka: "soup, different sorts of meat each day, turkeys, poultry, pastries, sometimes even dumplings and pancakes (but a bit different), compote, cheese, coffee, wine, and beer."
Ingredients
500 g white potatoes (1 pound)
1 cup plain flour
1 egg
10 fresh plums (ripe)
1 cup breadcrumbs
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoon cinnamon
30 g butter ( 1 oz)
Instructions
Cut the plums lengthwise, but not all the way through, just enough to remove the pits.
Add 2 tablespoons of sugar to them together with one teaspoon of cinnamon, toss well, and set aside.
In a pan set over a low heat, melt the butter, add the breadcrumbs, and stir well then add the remaining sugar and cinnamon, and stir again for a further 2-3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and set aside.
Peel, cook and mash the potatoes
Leave to cool, then add the eggs and flour, and knead into a smooth, but very sticky dough.
Take one large tablespoon of dough, flatten it up, then place a plum in the middle and wrap the dough around it.
Repeat with the remaining plums.
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil, drop the dumplings in, working in batches if necessary, and boil until the dumplings float to the surface.
Remove them from the pot, and toss well into the breadcrumbs while they are still hot.
Leave to cool before serving