Valentine's Day Edition

The Valentine's Day Edition of Heirloom Feast collects 48 recipes from 16 European countries, set out as one evening menu per country: a starter, a main course, and a dessert or a ceremonial specialty. Starters and mains are written for two; desserts come in full batches. A few of the dishes carry real love and wedding customs. Hochzeitssuppe is the soup a German bride, groom and their guests traditionally eat after the ceremony, korovai is the decorated bread of a Ukrainian wedding, Czech svatební koláčky are baked by everyone except the bride, and in northern Croatia a red licitarsko srce was a token of love from a boy to a girl. Most of the book is simpler: well-known dishes chosen because they make a good dinner for two, such as carpaccio di manzo and pastéis de nata. Each recipe comes with a short story that says plainly which kind of dish it is and where it comes from.