Deus Mortus

Well, this is the start of a new tradition, I have vowed to serve a 3 course dinner every Sunday, mostly because I want to challenge myself and partly because I just like a good meal. This first day has been something of a mixed bag, I am afraid I tried to challenge myself a bit much, working with a new ingredient and almost all dishes were new to me, which ended in some stress at the end and some very disappointing ragout. Still, all things considered it was a good meal and a lot fun, can't wait till next Sunday! I started off with an asparagus velouté, sadly I forgot to peel the asparagus, so it had some unexpected "texture", still it was rather tasty, if not for my discovery that I really don't like asparagus. My girlfriend however enjoyed it. Then we had the main meal, duchess potato's, loin of pork and asparagus ragout. The potato's were lovely soft under a thin crackling shell and the pork was nicely moist, the ragout however was another story, not only had I again forgot to peel them, I also overcooked them and the peas turning it all a rather 60's shade of green. The peas were edible, but that is the only positive thing I can say about the ragout. Then however was the thing that made everything alright again, my first succeeded soufflé. I have tried my hand at it a few times earlier in my culinary adventures, only to be confronted with a sad pile of gunk. Luckily this time they rose! Sadly I later found out my ramekins were a bit thicker then expected ending in a rather soggy underside, still the top of the thing was great and that is enough to make my day. Coupled with the vanilla mousse and the great fresh strawberry's, dessert was a delight! (We took this picture a bit to late, so the top has dropped a bit, but it really rose fine, scout's honor!) TLDR: Lovely dinner, first time soufflé, I don't like asparagus.

Well not sure if you have the brand in America, but I'm rather fond of my Le Chef spatula's, have about 5 of them, I use them for everything.

There are few pleasures in life like tuna sashimi, simply the act of thinly slicing a good tuna is enough to anchor my soul to the kitchen, the act of dipping each thin slice in but a dash of soy sauce proof of heaven on earth. It's stark simplicity a reminder of true happiness, it's complex flavors proof of life's beauty. In the summer it cools, in the winter it reminds one of the days of summers past. Truly there is no food more worthy.

For some reason the edit button has disappeared, so sorry for the double post. I have decided on a chocolate soufflé, so I no longer need the help, still thanks for the tips and the links to good cookbooks, that is always appreciated!

Well poor machining of dough means the yeast isn't spread evenly and that would make larger bubbles form in some area's of the bread. Doesn't seem like that is your problem though, maybe the lack of steam is making the bread dryer and thus less stable while baking?

I use a simple rule in these things, if I can't taste it in a blind test, I'm fine with it. So buy some good chocolate with real vanilla in it, get a blindfold and get someone to give you the pieces of chocolate without telling you which is which. If you can taste the difference use the chocolate you have in a sauce or something else that naturally overpowers the subtle notes of chocolate and never buy it again. And about the anger, well if you get angry each time someone tries to sell a crappy product for a lot more money then it's worth, you should probably invest in a pacemaker.

The dinner is this Sunday, so I don't really have time to buy any books, that pave looks great, but when I read it and seeing how I am missing the details in a rather delicate recipe. I figure I might as well try my hand at the chocolate souffle recipe in my Larousse, but I would prefer to find something a bit easier (I have never made a souffle before).

This sunday I am starting a new tradition where I am trying to make a real nice (at least 3 course) dinner, I have everything ready except for one thing, dessert! The meal itself is quite heavy, so I'm going with a nice light dessert, I have really nice fresh strawberry's in the fridge and wanted to use them for it, making a combo with chocolate, vanilla and the strawberry's. I'll be serving half of the berries fresh and the other half in a coolis drizzled over home made vanilla mousse. I have some nice chocolate here and wanted to do a small cake, but I only know rather moist and heavy chocolate cakes. Does anyone have a nice light cake recipe, or perhaps any other I ideas?

I started going through the thread thinking it was only 6 pages or so, picking out some questions to answer, only to realize the damn things is 24 pages long. The only point in the whole thread I heartily disagree, but that is mostly because I am used to the farmer's version, which is from the eastern side of the country. Here we add something very very important, we add some very very dark beer! Hi Milagai yes I have been thinking about that... And I have to say that I am no expert on the history of Dutch Cooking or on the history of the spice trade.. so what follows is simply my own assumption about this matter. It is true that the Netherlands played a major role in the spice trade in the 17th and 18th centuries.. and recipes from those days show the use of mace, nutmeg, cloves, sugar and cinnamon in both sweet and savoury dishes. The spices were expensive though so it was only a certain part of society that could benefit from this. They used it as a way to express their wealth. The use of these spices in sweet dishes is still common (as you will see somewhere in the near future when I will start baking the December sweets, most of them are flavoured with a mixture of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and pepper). There is, to this day, a modest use of spices in savoury dishes. For instance the famous Frisian cheese that is studded with cloves. Cloves and nutmeg are often used in meat dishes and with game. But it is all very subtle. I hope this answers your question. It is a very interesting topic, but it would require much more research on my part to give a full 'history of the spices in Dutch Cuisine' ← Thanks! question deriving from yr answer above: Is there some section of Dutch society (e.g. richer, with a mercantile history) that have evolved dishes with greater use of spices? Thanks again, in advance Milagai I have recently been looking through some old dutch cookbooks and you are completely correct, richer people did add spices, a whole lot of them, to bloody everything, I tried recreating some of those dishes, but they are absolutely horrible. They only served to show people how rich you were, so the cooks put as many spices in the dishes as they could, which as you can imagine resulted in some dishes that were abominable. Yet there is one thing where it did get used by people interested in the taste, desserts, as you have seen by the speculaas, stoofpeertjes and others. When people got their hands on a bit of spice, they used it in a dessert that would keep for a while, so they could keep eating small bits of it for a few weeks. Well actually the name has a different meaning, which is also how it originated, anyone here who speaks dutch can imagine what I'm talking about. The story is actually quite amusing, but as I have not yet read all the forum rules, I am not all that sure if I'm allowed to post it, because if the story was a movie, it wouldn't be rated pg-13... Spain? How random. ← Especially since the 'real' bishop St Nicolas was a bishop in Myra, Turkey, in the 4th century. Well that is actually quickly explained, when the feast started getting traction in Holland, we weren't all that friendly with the turks. We however had just started importing citrus fruits from Spain for the rich, so that's how that happened.

I'm actually not a big fan of the stuff, I mean the spices are great, but with mixes like this I prefer to just have the components of it, so I can adjust the ratio's for each dish, if I had some perfect for balkenbrij, they would like the peppery oomph for a braise, while bringing to much of a sweet flavor. I'm the same with all other mixes, I generally despise them with a burning fury, just because when I started cooking I had a lot of spice and herb blends that would invariably make a disappointing dish. Backing off of the rage for a moment, thanks for the welcome Wow, that is airline food? What airline were you flying with? That looks actually quite edible!

On request of Chufi, here are some recipe's for Balkenbrij:

It's pretty simple, a "balk" is a word for a wooden beam, which is more or less the same shape and "brij" is a word for mush which is the consistency of the stuff before you cool it down. So it's "brij" in the shape of a "balk", not exactly the cleverest name, but hey it works Also next time I go to Scotland, I'm going to try that sausage, it looks really tasty! The recipe! Alright, I have scoured some of my older cookbooks and have a few recipe's for making balkenbrij yourself. Now a small problem in here is the spices you use, traditionally you use “Rommelkruid” this is a blend of multiple spices that is different per region and I have not been able to find a good standard ratio, nor has anyone that makes good balkenbrij been willing to share their blend. So I will just share what the ingredients most commonly found are and let you guys play around with the ratio's yourself: Ground Liquorice (Brown) Sugar Nutmeg Anise Cinnamon Cloves Peppercorns Mace Ginger powder Sandalwood About the last one, I am not all that certain what they mean with that, I have never found anything edible claiming to be sandalwood only essential oils. Now for the recipe's: Gelderse Balkenbrij Ingredients: 1.5L Broth 0.5L Blood (preferably pig's) 0,5 to 1Kg of ground up offal Rommelkruid A couple of bay leafs Thyme Salt 300g Buckwheat flour Put all the ingredients except the flour in a pan and let it boil for a short time. Bring back to a simmer and slowly add the flour, all the while stirring, make sure to incorporate the flour completely and then pour it in a terrine. Put the terrine in the oven on a low setting (The recipe's don't state how high, but usually a low setting means something between 130 to 180 Celsius, in this case I would go for 180 Celsius) and keep it in there for 20 to 30 minutes, until there is no more raw offal in the mixture. Cool it off in the refrigerator for about a day. Slice off a piece about a cm thick and pan fry it in some butter. At this point you can also freeze it, either the entire block or individual slices, it will keep well for a couple of months to (in my experience) a year. Hunter's Balkenbrij 3L Broth 300g ground up Game Liver 400g ground up Pork or Swine belly 100g ground up Game Meat 20g Rommelkruid 400g Buckwheat Flour 20g Salt The prep is basically the same, you can use blood in this one as well, just use less broth and less flour. Head's Balkenbrij 2Kg ground up Pig's Head 2L Broth Salt Allspice Tabasco Rommelkruid 400g Buckwheat Flour Lard or other animal fats (I would think bacon drippings would be amazing in this) Same prep as before and again you can use blood, but use less broth and less flour. ((A small side note, it isn't absolutely necessary to ground up the meat, some recipe's call you to keep boiling it until it falls apart or to ground up only a part of it so you have chunks, or to grind it up after boiling it in the stock. However most recipe's call for it ground up, so I stuck to that.))

Ah, I didn't know there was a difference between the two, in which case I don't think there are actually any energy bars sold here in holland. The flour keeps them pretty non-sticky, but on really hot summer days they do get a bit sticky, they are still very edible, but I would recommend wrapping them if you are going to carry them in your back pocket and not make the mistake I did, leaving them in my bag in a car standing in the sun for a couple of hours, but outside of the really extreme temperatures I don't have any problems with them.

I have a few and I generally just improvise. The basis is just rolled oats (at least I believe that's what the English word is, we call it havervlokken : picture) bound with some honey. Just heat up some honey and combine it with flour until it has gone from a really fluid state to about as sticky as molasses, then mix in the oats and other dry ingredients and let it cool in a cookie sheet. For general "snack" bars I just add whatever dried fruits I have around and I generally coat about a third of them in chocolate for when I have a sweet tooth. For exercise snacks when I need the protein, I add peanut butter to the honey (if you do this, you'll have to add less flour) and protein shake to the dry ingredients and some brown sugar for a short sugar boost while I'm exercising. Then I have my special, Night Oil bars, I work in IT and every once in a while I need to make an allnighter, these are for those special times when you need all the help staying awake. I add a coffee paste using espresso thickened with potato starch (you can use corn starch, but you won't get a nice glossy finish), then I add powdered caffeine and powdered Guarana, then I spike it with a boatload of extra sugar for the rush and coat it with chocolate. These puppy's made me very popular on many a LAN-party!

I am not a big fan of salads, but there is one thing I can never get enough of. Slightly roasted wild boar ham, sliced in nice thick slices over arugula and wild greens, topped of with a thick sauce made with berries and wild game-stock. Most people wouldn't really call it a salad, but it is a real favorite.

I know that that is probably true, but what is also true that Holland has very few dishes of it's own, being mainly tradesmen we have a lot of dishes from various cultures, but few of our own and while we and especially I aren't an especially patriotic people (again because of the trading), I still like to think Balkenbrij is very dutch. It is frugal, saving all the scraps and it uses spices like only we could, due to our trading. I am aware that is pretty stupid to hang on to something like this with such a flimsy argument, but every now and then, a bit of love for your own country isn't all that bad.

Energy bars are among the easiest things to make, about 30 minutes and I have enough for 3 months and a lot cheaper too, don't really see the point in buying them, but then again i never saw one that tasted good, so that may skew my view on things.

Scrapple originates from Balkenbrij, it was introduced to America by the Pennsylvania Dutch. It is peasant food, you take whatever offal is left over, you poach it in bouillon, grind it extremely fine, combine with blood and buckwheat flour, just enough flour to firm it up a bit, too much flour and when you pan fry it, it comes out as cardboard, not enough and it falls apart when you pan fry it. Then you add spices, if you were somewhat richer you might have added some imported spices, but generally just what was grown in the garden. Then it was allowed to set in a cool place in a terrine and stored. Usually this was made in the fall and used to add some protein and fat to the diet through the winter. Then when you want to eat it, you simply cut off a slice and pan fry it with some butter. You can make it yourself, but I was born in a small village and the local butcher has a closely guarded recipe for his Balkenbrij and it is far superior to anything else I have tasted and he puts just the right amount of flour in to make it crispy on the outside and mouth meltingly soft on the inside. He usually adds some lamb kidney's for me, as I like the added sweetness it brings. Now most people despise the stuff these days, but like I said, I grew up in a small village and nothing prepares you for a cold winter day of labor like some slices of the stuff for breakfast. The main difference these days between Balkenbrij and haggis is indeed the lack of a sheep stomach and the buckwheat, but it used to be rather unique to the Netherlands, because spices were relatively widely available due to our trading, so we were able to add spices, while Scots generally added only herbs to haggis. Now if you're like me and like to taste some really old fashioned cooking, you'll really love this, if anyone wants an exact recipe, I can probably find one in some older cookbooks.

Nicely crisped up Balkenbrij (A dutch dish, a bit like scrabble if I am to believe wikipedia) served on toast with mustard, scrambled eggs and some chives. A breakfast of champions.

I have seen them, but they are generally even more expensive then the KA ones and don't seem to have quite as many attachments, especially not having the pasta attachment breaks the deal for me.

Let me know when you're next coming to Sydney and you can teach me how to make marshmallows on mine! I do love my KA - for one thing it just looks cool in the kitchen. But it's made it possible for me to make more complicated cakes,better cookies and the occassional italian-meringue based buttercream. Lately I've been making the Ciabatta out of The Bread Bible, which can only be done in a mixer and it's been a revelation. A thousand times better than any ciabatta I can easily get my hands on here (seeing as I'm not willing to spend hours travelling across Sydney to get my hands on one). However, I still don't feel like I'm getting 'full worth' out of it - I really need to use it more. One of my problems is that I've been unwilling to spend money on any attachments as they're so pricey. In fact, they're so expensive I am close to wishing I had been given a Kenwood Chef instead of a KA, even though they're not as pretty. That is actually something I have been wondering about, everyone and their mother have KA's, what are the added bonuses on a KA that you don't get on things like a Kenwood? Or are they the same, minus the looks and brand name?

For the longest time I have wanted a KA mixer, but sadly here in Holland I haven't been able to find them for less then 400 euro's and I just don't have that kind money, but as such I have had endless dreams of what I would do when I finally find one for an affordable price. Any Batters Egg Whites Doughs Pasta Grinding meat Making Ice Cream with the chilled bowl Laughing at the inferior cooks who don't have one Filling Sausages Candy Making Slowly Caressing it as I fall asleep with it huddled against me

Just an FYI: dentists can apply a sealant these days that should help. Wouldnt she be getting stains from the red fruits too? Anyway, just a thought. Also, I have several red fruit liquors I picked up in Russia that are very nice just w/ selzer. But I will try w/ some fresh OJ and a spritz and let you know. Right now her enamel is extremely thin, from what I understand the sealant works when there is no more enamel and it is better to preserve what she has left by being careful with what she eats, especially since sealants like that can only plug up small holes, not coat an entire tooth.

I have done these multiple times, the way I usually do it is I make my own marshmallows and make them shaped into quenelle's, I quickly burn these over a wood fire, usually at the same time I am making coals for a barbecue. When they are still lovely and melty, I quickly dust them with confectioner's sugar (the kind with some cornstarch in it, that really helps) and dip it in tempered milk chocolate (I suck at tempering, but luckily I have a friend who works in a chocolatier and who seems to have a sixth sense for barbecue's), making sure to dip it rather quickly, so only a thin coat forms, I then roll them around in some nuts if I want to and serve them on ice cream.

That sounds great, however sadly due to some serious bouts of anti-biotics in her youth, she has rather damaged tooth enamel and can't really drink lemon juice, is there anything I can substitute the lemon juice with that isn't quite so acidic?