Chufi

spekkoek indeed... the thread about the mysterious origins of spekkoek is here

so the fish is simply coated with cornmeal, no egg or anything? and what's the sauce - pecans fried in butter? anything else? please elaborate.. this sounds and looks so good I must make it soon...

I completely agree about Tampopo. I have mixed feelings about it too. Mostly I prefer other shops where stuff is cheaper, but sometimes it's hard to resist because it's glossy and shiny and no dust on the shelves and you don't feel compelled to check the use by date on every jar like I do in some of the more 'authentic' toko´s btw what´s the Dutch word for catfish?

ofcourse! I'm sure she did. Nice to see you spaghettti...

Hey Sharon, I think that's pretty correct, or at least that's my understanding of it. Maybe Chufi can confirm or deny. ← I can confirm this.

I vote for catfish with pecans. If you go back to sleep, I can get back to work, without checking your blog for updates every 10 minutes

KitchenQueen and JTravel, thank you so much for your kind words. You're making me blush and smile (see?) Believe me, I'm thinking of turning this into a book. I need just a little bit more time, and maybe a publisher who believes in me would help too if it ever gets to that point you all will be the first to know. Mirandar, I am so glad your dinner went well! What a great idea to serve the fries and bitterballen as a starter. I am puzzled about the cookie though. Spekkoek (Indonesian layer cake) is not a crunchy cookie, so I'm really curious what you made!

btw, mark I would appreciate the names of the shops where you get your 'exotic' groceries.. pictures would be even better ofcourse...

I haven't eaten there myself but I know Kees's cooking from his Het Pomphuis (The Pump house) in Ede, which was sublime. ← John, I finally went there this weekend, together with eGulleter markemorse and our spouses. You can read the report (here in markemorses current eG foodblog.

Dorie, that makes complete sense. Thank you so much for checking in and answering our questions!

Good morning and welcome to the world of blogging! I have been happily anticipating this blog for a LONG time This is really an undiscovered world for me and I am hoping to learn a lot this week. Stilton at 9, then Tomme de savoie, Tomme de Chevre, one I don´t remember, Epoisses, and another chevre. Blog on!

snowangel, thank you, again! I always seem to forget about this book and then there's one of your posts to remind me. I made the Orchid's noodles today and they were lovely. Did not have spring onions so I used some very thinly sliced leeks, soaked in hot water to soften them a bit, instead.

snowangel, that corn looks so good. I wish I could get good corn here 2 recent dinners: hotdogs with really good sausages, on homemade buns, with mustardmayo, suaerkraut, fried onions and pickles we need more bite shots yesterday I made pasta with chickpeas, lots of rosemary and garlic

Ptipois, I´m curious.. what do you mean that Gouda and Edam are cooked cheeses?

I did not half this one, but I think it would have been easy to half. All the other recipe have been very half-able I took this one to my new job.. to make friends.. it worked I did bake it in a 9 inch tin instead of the 8 inch she specifies.

yes, I rinsed them with cold water, and did not dress them until they were cold. I know from experience that dressing them warm makes an even bigger noodleclump They still absorbed a lot of dressing though!

IC, so sorry I missed your question. It was a beautiful day last Saturday, I hope you had a good time and found a nice place to eat! Lois, thanks so much for reporting back and I am glad you enjoyed yourself! John, interesting as always to see an outsider describe what's cool in Amsterdam I haven't been to most of these places so I guess I need to brush up on my hipness The Like a Local link does not work so I'm taking the liberty of adding it here: click The EAT section will take you to the dinners-at-home as described in the article.

Inspired by the cook/off, we had some cold noodles today. The dressing was based on the 2 cold noodle recipes in eGullet mentioned above. I just mixed tahini, sesame oil, peanutbutter, rice wine vinegar, and sriracha together until it looked and tasted good. Besides that, it's just noodles and cucumber and some sesame seeds. Really lovely. It did stick together during the hour or so I kept it waiting before dinner. It seems those noodles can go on absorbing dressing forever! I added a splash of cold water just before serving, just to thin everything and make the dish slippery again instead of stodgy.

that, and the chunks of time between checking on the current eG foodblog I'm really enjoying this one, about a part of the US I know nothing about. Another great opportunity for armchair travelling! So, what's Chipotle (besides the pepper?) I'm thinking beer?

Hi all, I'm looking for information on dining late in London.. and I mean really late.. is it possible to get a real dinner (not snacks / fingerfood) after midnight? Are places like that easy to find or are there just a few? thanks for the help.

Last weekend I made the perfect party cake. I took it to a birthdayparty, so that part was taken care of, but perfect, it was not. I had a lot of problems with this cake! The layers did not rise at all. I have to ask though what 'cake flour' means. The cake flour I buy, has rising agents added (I assume baking powder, although it is not the same as selfrising flour). Anyway, I used the cakeflour which is supposed to rise on its own, and added baking powder too, but the cakes did not rise . maybe in this case, 1 + 1 is 0?? I think the main culprit was the fact that I had to do all mixing by hand (I mean really by hand, without electricity...) because I forgot I had left my mixer at a friends house. I tried to cut the layers in half anyway, which resulted in layers so thin and fragile that they crumbled all over the table as I tried to assemble the cake. I ended up baking another layer! And used the broken bits and pieces to construct a decent looking cake. I used my homemade redcurrantjelly, and fresh raspberries, for the filling. The meringue buttercream, by the way, was really really good. I was very proud of that because I had never made anything like it before. And it was very nice to plaster the cake with buttercream, at least from the outside, it looked okay! Today I made the dimply plum cake, which came out perfect! I love the combination of cardamom and orange, and it really complements the slightly sour plums.

← Completely forgot about this request when I treated myself to a chunk of 7-year after finishing a bear of a manuscript editing job on the 26th of June. The 7-year cuts easily with a trowel-like knife I have and comes off in flaky sheets. I'm about to start on another bear of a job from the same writer. I will make a point of asking at DiBruno's where this cheese comes from on my next visit. I vaguely remember seeing something like "Noord-Ost" or "Noord-Holland" on the bit of the label when last I looked at it -- I think. ← Sandy, thanks, but I've since learned a bit more about the mystery cheese. A very kind and generous eGulleter volunteered to send me a piece of this cheese, so now I have a piece of allegedly 10 year old Gouda living in my fridge. Here's what it looks like: the word Noord is indeed from Noord-Holland (a Dutch province). The importer of this cheese is Cheeseland. I have contacted them as well as DiBruno´s, and they both tell the same story: DiBruno´s buys 6-7 year old Gouda from Cheeseland, and ages it for the additional 3-4 years in their own cellars. The funny thing, ofcourse, is that DiBruno´s calls this cheese one of Holland´s best kept secrets. In fact, this cheese is so secret, that even the most knowledgeable Dutch cheesemongers haven´t heard of it, and even tell me that 10-year old Gouda does not exist. I am slowly taking my piece of Gouda on a tour of Amsterdams finest cheesemongers. Luckily, this isn´t a perishable food item Cheesepeople who tasted it, said it´s pretty good cheese, but no way this cheese is 10-years old. I really don´t know. There is, ofcourse, the chance that Cheeseland and DiBruno´s have found the prefect conditions to age cheese. But, the other thing is, that in this case, age does not really matter. I have tasted 4 year-old Gouda´s that were just as delicious, nutty salty sweet and crunchy as this 10-year old. Which makes you wonder... Anyway, I´ll keep researching and investigating! And eventually, I´ll eat the cheese!

Well, it took me a couple of weeks, but here it is: Groningse mosterdsoep, Mustardsoup from Groningen. They key to this soup is using the right kind of mustard and a light, but good flavored stock. The Dutch mustard is coarsely ground, with whole mustardseeds, and more sweet than hot. It looks like this: What you´ll need for 2: 500 ml. stock, hot 25 grams butter 25 grams flour The white part of 1 small leek, chopped A couple of slices of smoked bacon, chopped Mustard, 2-3 tablespoons 2 tablespoons heavy cream Salt and pepper Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed pan. Add the flour and stir over low heat for a minute. Add the hot stock, whisk until smooth, and let simmer over low heat for about 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, fry the bacon and leeks. If the bacon is very lean, add a little knob of butter to the fryingpan. You want the bacon and leeks to get soft and slightly caramellized. After the 10-15 minutes, whisk the cream and mustard into the soup. (After this, don´t let the soup boil again). Start with 2 tablespoons of mustard and add more if you like. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Serve in shallow bowls with the bacon/leek garnish spooned on top. Ofcourse you could use other garnishes. Chives are nice, as is tarragon. Chopped panfried mushrooms are also very good.

There's a new icecream shop near Albert Cuyp market that sells the most amazing icecream. They only have about 10 different flavors, I sampled 4 and all were excellent. It´s right up there with what has been my favorite icecream place in the city for years and years, Pisa, near RAI congress centre (Scheldeplein 10). IJscuypje, Eerste van de Helststraat 27 (little street just off Albert Cuyp market)

make a broccoli souffle (with parmesan or blue cheese). Something unusual for the sausage would be to slice it rather thinly, fry the slices/chunks, and use these to top a green salad. Use some of the fat left in the frying pan (deglazed with red wine vinegar) as vinaigrette. Roasted red onion would be good with that. Also make some garlic croutons. Ilove the combination of cold lettuce and hot fatty sausage and crisp bread. Shepherd's pie also comes to mind but is maybe too obvious.