Food Folk Tales of Culinary Comfort Told Through Histories, Stories, & Recipes
Welcome to The Dalmatian Daughter, where you can uncover a storied realm of old-world recipes, along with their personal and collective histories, techniques, and creative modern variations.
Here, you can find recipes, view and subscribe to cooking videos, order The Hungry Hand cookbook, follow DD on social media, discover the stories behind the recipes, and shop in the DD store.
The Dalmatian Daughter is a celebration of flavors that transport you, ingredients that enlighten you, and beautiful words and images that inspire you to live every moment through all things delicious!
“A hungry hand will pull even bread from the fire. (Gladna ruka i iz vatre kruh vadi.) - Croatian proverb
The Hungry Hand: Old-World & Modern Recipes For Sweet & Savory Bakes is available to buy directly on Amazon. Begin by discovering everything you’ve ever wanted to know about essential dough recipes, including hand-stretched filo, shortcrust pastry, and pizza doughs. The Hungry Hand’s warm, welcoming approach to working with dough is fully adaptable to every reader’s personal skillset and needs. Dough recipes provide clear, step-by-step instructions, tips and tricks, and process photos to make your journey into crafting dough simple and enjoyable.
The book includes over 50 oven-baked recipes, from sweet and savory tarts, gallettes, and breads to old-world favorites inspired by my own Croatian heritage, my husband’s Turkish roots, and our NYC origins. Recipes include Chestnut Streudel, Black & Blueberry Spelt Pie, and Cherry Biscotti Tiramisu, along with comfort food creations like Tuscan Shepherd’s Pie and Moroccan Meatloaf Wellington. Plus, you’ll find a few extras, including Lavender Honey Lemon Yoghurt. Hibiscus Ginger Lemonade, and Turkish Orange Hot Chocolate.
Order The Hungry Hand today to share in a collection of expertly crafted dough-centric recipes made from scratch with love and care that are ready to find their way home into your kitchen recipe collection!
Maryana Lucia Vestic
Creator of The Dalmatian Daughter
Author of The Hungry Hand: Old-World & Modern Recipes for Sweet & Savory Bakes
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Dive into a collection of videos that highlight process, baking techniques, and cooking rituals for a variety of recipes by The Dalmatian Daughter as featured @thedalmatiandaughter on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. Find many of the recipes featured in videos in my cookbook, The Hungry Hand: Old-World & Modern Recipes for Sweet & Savory Bakes (purchase on Amazon).
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About The Dalmatian Daughter
Born and raised in the Hudson Valley north of NYC, I am a first-generation Croatian American. My culinary heritage was made up of my father’s stories of the Dalmatian coast and my mother’s obsessive nighttime baking rituals. I write, cook, bake, and create rustic, old-world food stories and scenery.
Our Dalmatian Croatian history inspires me, as does my husband’s Turkish heritage, which seems to be at the root of almost every meal I crave. My love for the origin stories behind food also includes recipes from my youth in New York, my travels to Ireland and Europe, and the flavor timeline that obsesses me still about all things savory and sweet. There is nothing like exploring the treasure troves of secret recipes, their histories, and variations – where there is food, there are people. Where there are people, there are stories.
You can dive into The Dalmatian Daughter in any way that you wish to. A lot of my recipes come with food writing memoirs, histories, and memories, but if you’re just here for the recipe, that’s ok too. I make, test, and sample every recipe, including the 50+ oven-inspired ones included in my cookbook, The Hungry Hand: Old-World and Modern Recipes for Sweet & Savory Bakes, available on Amazon.
Most of all, when it comes to the Croatian Turkish family recipes that I’ve simplified and reworked, I hope to enlighten all who visit to try these recipes themselves. I want Croatian tortes and Turkish breakfasts to be as approachable and fun as making tacos and pizza.
The Dalmatian Daughter is a mutable and living thing. It is a celebration of the best feelings that life has to offer, one recipe at a time.
To reach me, please email maryanalvestic[at]gmail.com
With love from my kitchen,
Maryana Lucia Vestic