Chufi

Thanks for the input everybody. I ended up deep-frying in a combo of 2 liters of sunflower oil and about 250 grams of lard. I just was too scared to put butter in the frying pan The end result was delicious though and tasted just like the ones my mom made.. you can see the results here

I am reading that book right now! started this weekend. I love it. I wish I could have those cheeses to munch on while I was reading though... Especially the Sheeps cheese wrapped in bay leaves.

she did today! New Years Eve (which, by the way, is called Oudejaarsavond – Old Years Eve – in the Netherlands), is not complete without the oliebol: a sweet fritter fried in oil, liberaly dusted with icing sugar. Even people who don’t actually like them or think they are too fatty, usually end up consuming a couple – either in the middle of the night when the hunger pangs start after party-ing for hours, or the next morning for breakfast. Because of their yeasty, not overly sweet flavor, they go surprisingly well with a glass of champagne – or 2. Thet Dutch are passionate about these oliebollen. Every year a newspaper conducts the “oliebollentest”, where oliebollen from about 100 different bakers across the country are subjected to some very serious testing. The winning bakery can ofcourse expect hundreds of customers on the 31st! click here for a pic of the test! Oliebollen have been a traditional Dutch sweet for centuries. Around 1650, they are mentioned for the first time in a cookery book, although at that time, they were still flat, and shallow-fried instead of deep-fried, and called “oliekoeken”(oilcookies). The transition to the round oliebol seems to have been gradual and probably had a lot to do with the financial position of the cook making them: how much oil could you afford? When I was young my mother used to have a frying session on the 31st, in the basement of my grandparent’s farmhouse. She made hundreds, and I can still remember how exciting that day was for me. The large pan in which the dough was rising, mysteriously growing, the smell of the cooking fat and my mother turning out heaps and heaps of the golden crispy fritters. When she stopped making them because she felt it was too much work, and I started buying them instead, I found out how different the ones you can buy were from the homemade ones. Then I tasted ones that were homemade by friends and they still did not have the taste of my childhood. It wasn’t until I learned from my mom that she fried them in a mixture of oil, lard and butter, that I realized that that was the key to supercrunchy, flavorful oliebollen. So it was my intention to make my batch exactly as my mother did years ago, and as my grandmother had done for decades before my mom took over. In the end though I chickened out on putting the butter in the frying-oil. It somehow seemed impossible to deep-fry in butter, and since I have never been able to succesfully clarify butter, I decided that this was not a day for experimenting. So oil and lard it was. Ingredients for the oliebollen (makes about 50): 1 kilo flour 200 grams soft white sugar, or substitute castor sugar 125 grams butter, melted 500 ml. warm milk (I misread the recipe whuch said 1 liter of milk. Mine turned out fine, but next time I will use more milk. I expect that will make them even lighter). 2 sachets yeast 2 eggs filling: 100 grams currants, soaked in warm water until soft 100 grams raisins, soaked in warm water until soft 1 large sour apple, in small pieces 100 grams candied citron You can ofcourse vary the filling ingredients. Many people put in some lemon rind. A little bit of cinnamon is also often added, or some gingersyrup. In my opinion you can leave out everything except the currants – they are essential. Oil, or oil and lard, for frying. I used 250 grams lard and 2 liters of sunflower oil. Mix all ingredients for the dough together. You should have a stiff dough that is hard to stir, but too soft to knead. Mix in the filling ingredients. Leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until nicely risen. Punch down the dough and leave to rise again. Before starting to fry, punch it down a little again. Heat your fat to 180-190 degrees C. Use an icecreamscoop or 2 spoons to shape small balls of dough and slip them into the hot oil. Oliebollen you buy are perfectly round, mine look a bit irregular but I actually like the extra crunchy exterior that produces. So spend as much time as you like on making the perfectly round oliebol! If your fat is the right temp, the lump of dough should sink to the bottom of the pan and then immediately come up again. Fry until the underside is nicely browned. Again, commercially available ones look different than mine: much paler in color. Fry a couple first, allow them to cool, open them up to see if the inside is cooked, and experiment so you can get the texture and done-ness you like. Turn them over only once to prevent them from becoming loaded with oil. Drain on kitchenpaper. The crust should be dry and crunchy, the inside light and airy and fluffy. Serve dusted with plenty of icing sugar, mixed with a little cinnamon if you like. When I posted my recipe for boterkoek on this thread back in october, I could not have imagined that within a couple of months, people from Indonesia to Australia to the US would be inspired to cook Dutch food. So, a very warm thank you to everybody who has contributed to this thread by reading it, posting replies and comments, and ofcourse an extra special thank you to everyone who cooked the recipes and posted their pictures and feedback. From my Dutch kitchen, I offer you all an oliebol and wish you a very happy New Year! Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!!

Oliebollen coming up in about 1 hour....

Hi Behemoth, I'm not from Munich but I just wanted to wish you all the best in your new city, and good luck with adapting! Looking forward to your reports about the German food scene. Gluckliches neues Jahr!!

Wonderful food Michelle. I especially love the idea of the sweet potato latkes. Somehow that never occurred to me!

Oh my. Yetty! they are perfect!! With a lovely crunchy crust and the golden glow of mustard in the background... And what a great idea to put some smoked meat in. In my initial post, when I made them, I said they turned out a little bit blander than I had wanted. Adding some highly flavored meat (smoked, or roasted, instead of just the boiled meat I used) will balance that. After all, these were born as a way to use up leftovers, so pretty much anything goes! Thanks for posting this beautiful picture.

I love anchovies. Whenever I cook with them, I eat a couple straight from the jar.. I hate raw mushrooms. But cooked, in any possible way, they are one of my favorite foods.

that's a neat trick.. so you actually let the water run into the spoon and cover the egg? Maybe this way I can finally master the art of egg-poaching.. nothing else has worked so far..

only on EGullet... what an interesting idea! Susan, the Dinner! thread misses you! can't wait for your report!

I love gelatin-based desserts.. such as this: Rhubarb- muscatwine pudding but, this ignorant European wants to know.. why would you serve a sweet jelly with your dinner instead of after it? And why would you call it a salad?

A couple of days ago: whole orange & almond cake (Claudia Roden recipe). It's one of my favorites. So moist and juicy, and it keeps well (tastes even better after a couple of days). And a whole tub of mascarpone spread on top

I bought a copy yesterday. I can't wait to start cooking from it! The Tunisian chickpeasoup with softboiled egg, capers and harissa, is first on my list. Sounds like the perfect dish for the first days of January, recuperating from all the December-eating.. The 'stop-and-go braised oxtails with oyster mushrooms' are on the list with nominations for my husbands 50th birthday dinner (dinner for 14) in February. Yes I start planning early! has anyone made these yet?

There'll be a full report in the Dutch cooking thread.. my way of celebrating the New Year with you all! I'm pretty sure my mom never clarified her butter (or would know what that is, or how to do it). I'm seeing her tonight though and hope to get some last minute tips and trick from her!

What a wonderful story. I love your writing almost as much as your cooking I am so sad that the year is almost over. This thread has been a joy to read and a great inspiration. Please don't stop cooking - and keep showing us your work!

Pasta carbonara. Soft polenta, topped with a juicy stew. Roast chicken (while this sounds pretty normal, I only had (and cooked) my first roast chicken when I was 25. My mom never did anything to chicken than braising it in butter). Chili. Ragu Bolognese. And my favorite comfortfood is a dish that consists of chickpeas, chorizo and eggs. I never tasted chickpeas and chorizo until I was well in my twenties. Ah, the lost time... I became a cross-cultural food-explorer kind of late in life...

Thanks for the link Melissa. I have done some googling myself in the meantime.. and found out that indeed, in the past, these fritters were often fried in lard.. especially by poor people who could not afford oil. But then the fritters were called "reuzelbollen" (lard balls) rather than oliebollen. Thanks bleachboy. I think that's what I will do. I am really hoping the lard will add some of that flavor I remember from my childhood.. but these things are tricky!

On Saturday, I am planning to make (for the first time) the traditional Dutch sweet pastry for New Years Eve: oliebollen. Tennis-ball sized lumps of a rich yeasted dough, flavored with candied citron, currants, raisins and apple, are deep-fried and served dusted with powdered sugar. Mountains of these are consumed on New Years Eve.. and when properly made, they are delicious. I have my grandmothers recipe before me and that's what I'm going to use. The question is, what I am going to deep-fry them in. Most people nowadays fry in sunflower oil, but when my mother made them (20 years ago..) she fried in a mixture of lard, oil and butter. But sadly, no-one in my family remembers the proportions of the 3. I really want to make these the oldfashioned way because they tasted soooo good. They used to have a darkbrown crust that was very dry, not at all oily or fatty, and a moist juicy interior. I have tasted so many bad oliebollen (even ones bought from reputable bakeries) that I am worried that when I fry them simply in oil, they will end up like oil-sponges. So I guess my question is has anyone ever deepfried in a mix of lard, oil and butter? What would be good proportions of the three? And if I decide to deepfry in just lard, will that leave a very pronounced taste on the sweet pastry?

Michelle, I was away for a couple of days so I'm catching up on your blog now.. It's wonderful. I loved your story about how you ended up in Israel. I can't imagine what it feels like to grow up somewhere with the feeling that you don't really fit in. I am so glad for you that you found your true home. I have a question.. I see that most of your cookbooks are in English, and obviously you write about food in English here on EGullet, yet I assume that in your daily life you do not speak English? Do you think and write about food exclusively in English, or do you translate somewhere in between?

They look beautiful, and very "christmassy"! I am so glad you liked them. And hey, if it's tiny bowls, who cares if someone had more than one?

well ofcourse that is a very good idea... But, one of my own favorite braises is a meat & beetroot braise. The original recipe is for venison, but I've made it many times with beef instead. It's basically meat, raw beetroot and portwine.. The beetroot makes the meat incredibly tender, the whole braise has a beatiful deep ruby color, and even if you make it with beef, it ends up with a very deep, sweet, complex, gamey flavor. I can pm you the recipe if you like.

We spent a couple of days in the Belgian countryside, where friends had rented a little house for the week. appetizer one night: pate, homemade by another friend of mine. He gave it to me but did not want to tell me what was in it, before I tasted it. It was delicious, now I have to find out how he made it! Served with cranberry chutney. In the background my friends'2.5 year old impatiently waiting for a bite Beef stew with carrots and celeriac, baked in the oven with a cheeseymuffin topping. Served with cabbage braised with garlic, a salad of panfried eggplant with garlic and mint, and bread. Dessert: Orange almond cake with mascarpone Another dinner: Roast chicken with bacon, fennel and garlic, served with local potatoes and a rucola/ yellow cherry tomato salad. The rest of the orange cake for dessert.

A very merry Christmas to you and your family and loved ones, Zucchini! I am catching up on your blog while recovering from my Christmas party last night. I'm smiling at every post and it really helps me get over my hangover Thanks for sharing this special week with us!

Merry Christmas everybody! Last night we had a very non-traditional Christmas eve dinner for 25. first, lots and lots of hors d'oeuvres.. ginger meatballs with hoisin sauce tortilla wraps with blackbean chipotle puree, creme fraiche and coriander smoked mackerel mousse cheese plate with nuts, dried fruits and homemade eggplant chutney charcuterie platter Celeriac tarts with bacon Best dish: parsnip fritters with blue cheese mayo After that I made pizza's.. onion/ anchovies / olives, and tomato/chorizo/ rucola: Giant pizza's.. I made 4 of those... Lots of cookies to finish: green tea shortbread and cocolate chip/oatmeal/peanutbutter.

the dark color is probably from the cognac - Dutch brandewijn (like wodka) is colorless. I'm sure it won't matter for the flavor though.