Chufi

I'm glad you liked it Dana! That's so funny Randi. Pity you weren't the contestant, huh?? Thanks for your beautifully written post Alchemist! That's interesting about the allspice. It's definitely not traditional but I can see that it would work very well! I'm going to try it next time! Did this lady teach you any other Dutch dishes?

Hi Bunniver, I always put the smoked sausages, sliced, in after the cooking process and then leave them in overnight (or in the portions that I freeze). I guess you could do it the other way, this just seems more convenient. I thought about you this weekend and if you were making it, because I pulled the last portion of my 2006 batch from the freezer on Sunday! Mmmm it was good...

Congratulations on the new family member! I very much enjoyed your previous blog, and I'm looking forward to this one. Your life really has changed since then! About mash: some people mentioned the Dutch mashes in the Dutch Cooking thread. Dutch mash (stamppot) is basically a mash with so many other ingredients (cooked or raw vegetables, mostly) stirred in, that the side dish becomes a main dish. Here are some links to ones in the thread, just so you don't have to read thorugh all 13 pages of it (although you're welcome to do that anytime you're bored, ofcourse ) hutspot, with carrots, onions and parsnips Hete Bliksem, 'hot lightning', equal amounts of potatoes and apple with raw curly endive with hardboiled eggs and vinegar with curly kale Two other favorites of mine: turnip tops; and raw spinach.

thank you so much, all of you, for doing this. Sharing your food-life is one thing (and even that can be a demanding job.. ) but sharing the other stuff, the very personal stuff, is another. You are all heroes to me. You've inspired me, and I 'll never be judgemental of my friend who wants to quit but has such a hard time doing it (and hasn't 'succeeded' yet) ever again. Thank you, and good luck on the journey into freedom that lies ahead of you.

I'm not as dumb as I was - I'm learning, slowly, and becoming more confident. But baking still scares me and makes me nervous the way no other kitchen task does. It always feels like something magical, uncontrollable is going on in my oven. Still, this also means that whenever I bake something that comes out right, I'm extremely proud. So, I'm going to love this thread, because knowledge is the best way to conquer these fears. One thing I have learned (the hard way..) is to always take my cakes, pies cookies etc. out of the oven before I think they are done. When I firmly believe that they are really not done yet.. absolutely not.. that there is still raw dough in the center.. that they need another 5 minutes.. then, they're done. When I think they're done, they're actully not done, but ruined.

are you sure you would just want to smell.. not eat anything??

I wanna smoke. The foodie kind. Nobody smokes in Amsterdam. There's a lot of smoking going on, but that's not what I'm referring to. But I figure I could do it, on my balcony, if I had a Weber or Bullet type thingy. I want smoked meat!!! This blog really, really makes me want to smoke. The food-kind.

I made confit yesterday, using 8 large onions, and 2 whole bulbs of garlic. Flavored with some leftover gravy from butter braised beef, thyme and marsala. I used it to make butternut squash ravioli. My intention was to have a little bit of the confit in the stuffing (roast butternut squash, ricotta, parmesan and fresh oregano) but I ended up putting so much confit in, that I think they should be called onion confit ravioli instead! (what would be the italian name for that... ) The flavor of the stuffing was quite intoxicating as I was working with it. They are going to be served with sage butter and parmesan (2 weeks from now, they are resting in the freezer now..)

Thanks Moby, for you advice and input, very much appreciated - as always. (Did I ever mention that you are known as 'pasta guru Moby' in my house? When my husband sees me making fresh pasta, he always asks: did the pasta guru tell you to do it in such and such a way? ) I made them today, using 1 kilo '00' flour, 10 large eggs and 2 extra yolks. I have no stand mixer, but I figured I needed a workout, so I made just one batch and did all the mixing and kneading by hand I have succesfully frozen various stuffed pasta's, so I decided I just needed to make the filling the same consistency as I had before. But thinking of your advice, I did drain and squeeze every single item that went into the stuffing. Stuffing came out great, very rich and flavoursome. I test-boiled a couple before starting the Real Work, to see if the seasoning needed adjustment. I think that is a very good strategy - like cooking a piece of the mix you use for a terrine. I got about 160 ravioli from this amount of dough. I ended up with about 250 grams of scraps, so I guess I could've made a couple more, but I was tired. The whole process took all day. One more thing. The first batch that I put in the freezer cracked a little. But I soon figured out that was because I had put them in the freezer right after making them. I let the other ones dry out at room temp for some time before freezing, and none of them cracked - so far. Pictures here in the husbands birthday dinner thread

I love the idea of spinach and white beans so much, that I think I'm going to turn that into a side dish for the main course. Christine, I love crepes with spinach stuffing.. I often add mushrooms.. lovely. But a bit too rich for this meal.. or they would have had to go instead of the pasta.. but it's too late for that.. because I made the pasta today! It took me all day. I made onion confit yesterday (it was in the oven for about 9 hours I think). Today I roasted butternut squash. Made the stuffing: squash, confit, ricotta, parmesan, fresh oregano. I made pasta dough with a kilo of flour, 10 eggs and 2 extra yolks. And then spent the entire afternoon kneading, rolling, shaping... 160 ravioli... they are in the freezer now. I test-cooked a couple and they are great. The best stuffed pasta I ever made.

Susan, Marlene, both those butter-braises look wonderful! I'm glad it worked and that the meat was tender! Susan I really like the pictures you take with your new camera.. the fat bubbling up around the eggs.. that looks so good.. I'm looking for a new camera myself and I think I will keep this one in mind..

I'm going to make stuffed pasta for 22 this weekend. (it's for a big multi-course dinner on the 25th so I'm going to freeze them) My question is about quantities. I would like about 6-7 small round ravioli per person, that's about 150 ravioli. I'm thinking that double the amount of the basic pasta recipe will be enough for that (800 grams flour, 8 eggs, 2 yolks). Can I make the whole dough in one batch or will it become too difficult to work with, and should I do two batches? And am I sort of right about my quantities here?

welcome to EGullet Bunniver, and a special welcome to this thread! I'm looking forward to hearing your reports about any Dutch food you're cooking. Please share your experiences, be they good or bad, on this thread and ask questions if you have them... I'm glad you liked the chicken. It hasn't had as many followers here as the butter braised beef, but it's great in it's own right.. Also, share your stories and memories if you like... I would love to hear them! edited for typos

I think it'll be great.. I wish I didn't have to go to bed now. But I must. Happy braising Marlene and Susan!

So, it's slowly coming together. Here's what I have sofar: Antipasti: Eggplant Caponata this recipe from Mario Batali.. I've made this before and it's gorgeous. Slightly spicy and with hints of cinnamon and cocoa. Roast cauliflower Chicken preserved in oliveoil. This is a recipe from Marcella Hazan's Marcella Cucina.. chicken is poached and then put under olive oil for a couple of days, flavored with bay and peppercorns.. served at room temp with salad and balsamic vinegar. I'm going to splurge on a really good bottle of balsamic vinegar for this. I might swap the chicken for some simple charcuterie if I am really running out of time or energy. Ravioli with a pumpkin/ricotta/onion confit stuffing. I'll be making these this weekend and freeze them. serve them with sage butter and parmesan. I think I will have to take care that these don't turn out too heavy or 'autumnal', or it will be a bad match with the fish that follows. Stuffed whole seabass some sort of fenneldish some other sidedish there needs to be spinach somewhere in this dinner because my husband loves it, but the amount of spinach one would need for 22 people is frightening... Hazelnut Zabaglione torta This is going to be a fusion between the recipe Ludja linked to (Ireally like the idea of the crushed amaretti on the sides, and the chocolate curls) and two other recipes. Basically a hazelnut sponge with a zabaglione cream filling. But, I've been known to change menu items until one day before a big dinner so who knows what might happen

Sounds good to me. Of course, the meat (even though I dried it) seems to be releasing a lot of water as I'm browning. So it seems to be simmering in liquid rather than browning, as I understand browning. Is this ok? nothing like having your very own instructor on line with you! ← in that case I would raise the heat.. it should really be brwoning, not stewing in liquid.

I think I'm gonna stay up all night to see the fate of the butter braised beef across the globe.. ofcourse, put in as much butter as you like. As long as you don't throw away the leftover gravy. Freeze it in small portions.. add it to onion confit.. to spoon over mash when you've grilled some meat.. or just to dip some crusty bread in.. it's a gem to have in your freezer.

Ooh, I'm so excited that you are going to make this!! yes, it's a stovetop braise. Just make sure that the heat is at the very lowest simmer, the liquid should be barely moving, and keep the lid slightly ajar so that evaporation won't fall back into the gravy (who would want diluted gravy ) I think I say in the recipe in RecipeGullet to brown the meat slowly for at least 10 minutes, last time I made this I was closer to 20 like Abra mentioned upthread. I think I should edit the recipe. Also, really use the full amount of butter. It seems like a lot and it is a lot.. but it's butter so it's good

I've poured in 2 litres and they came almost to the top. But as I said, for the recipe I described, this tin was actually too large. Yunnermeier, are you in The Netherlands right now? I'm glad you are enjoying the food Thanks Christine!! I'm glad you like to read this thread. There is a Dutch fruitbread, typical for Christmas - it's called stol and is very similar to German stollen, which is what you are referring to I think. Like in Germany, this is also baked at Easter, and lately it has even been popping up in the shops around Pentacost (Whitsuntide? What's that called in English?), but I think that is not traditional - just a marketing trick to sell more sweets around the holidays...

sorry to disappoint you.. I was visiting a friend who has just become the proud 'dad' of a puppy dog.. It's not really customary to serve these things on the arrival of a new pet, but since the dog is called Muis (mouse) and is, well, a baby , we thought it was appropriate anyway.. I'll measure it tonight when I'm home and post it. You can buy various sizes here. I should add that I only filled mine half way, so the finished cake is much smaller than the pan.

Strictly speaking, this isn't Dutch Cooking, but it is uniquely Dutch food (as far as I know:) beschuit met muisjes These are dry, airy biscuits (rusks?), spread with butter and sprinkled with muisjes - literally, little mice - which are aniseeds with a crunchy sugar coating. These are traditionally served to you when you come visit a newborn baby: blue and white if it's a boy, pink and white if it's a girl. They are only eaten on this occasion. (But, you can also buy a version that is only sugar, with aniseed flavor, which is more common to eat as a 'sprinkle' on bread, even without a newborn in the family )

yeah, but I can only do that on garbage-days (garbage is collected only twice a week here in Amsterdam), because the frozen lump of nasty beansoup slowly defrosting in my bin is not pretty (not to mention the smell...)

Yes. A similar one, that has often happened to me: put a pan full of something hot in the sink to cool turn the cold tap on, let the sink fill with cold water leave the tap on, turn around, do something else never think about that as the sink fills, the pan/bowl will start to float, always in the direction of the streaming water next thing you know, your melted choclate/custard/soup/ reduced stock is nothing but flavored cold water.

I will never again freeze the leftovers of food that was left over because, well, nobody liked it. Those neat plastic containers keep staring at you reproachfully every time you open the freezer, reminding you of your culinary failures. It may seem wasteful to throw something away on the day that it was made, but freezing it, defrosting it 3 months later, discovering that you still don't want to eat it, and then throw it away, is just plain stupid

A co-worker of mine recently bought a Le Creuset frying pan (enamel on the outside, black cast iron on the inside - the inside is not enameled like Snowangel's one upthread). She's not a very experienced cook, but I think the purchase of this pan shows that she's willing to invest, to learn and to progress. Anyway, she's very disappointed with this pan, she says anything she cooks (fries) in it will stick to the bottom. She says she heats it before putting the food in, over medium heat for a couple of minutes. She's ready to put the pan in the back of the cupboard and never use it again, and I feel bad for her that she's so disappointed. I never had a pan like that so I can't really tell her what's going wrong. Maybe somebody here can offer some advice?