Königsberger Klopse and a Living Recipe

A living recipe.

We talk about “old family recipes” like they’re carved in stone, don’t we?
 
As if our Urururgroßmutter (great-great-great-grandmother) scribbled something down once, and everyone after her followed it exactly, forever… no questions asked.
 
But I’ve been thinking that passing down a recipe is a little like the telephone game. One person whispers it, the next repeats it, and somehow by the end… it’s still the same story (mostly), but the details have all wandered off.