Dutch Cooking (2007-)

[Chufi]

I think you're right about variations in ingredients.  I've not had any problems with making Klary's apple pie, except that very soft butter can actually be too soft in an Australian kitchen and can result in a slightly oily pie.  The next pie with slightly cooler butter was much better.

Well, if we are still analysing the pie, can I just ask one question, please? Is one supposed to cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg and then the flour? Because I cut the butter into the dry ingredients, then added the egg (and water), and I was thinking that could have been part of the problem?

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pennylane: if your butter is soft enough, you should be able to just mix everything together. However, because you say you ´cut the butter into the sugar´, I think that was the problem: the butter should be so soft that there´s no question of cutting it! My mom used to melt the butter and then let it cool, but that makes the dough very very sticky indeed so that´s why I stipulated soft butter instead.

I hope this helps. It does make one wonder about recipe writing doesn´t it? How soft is soft butter, how sticky is sticky dough?

[pennylane]

pennylane: if your butter is soft enough, you should be able to just mix everything together. However, because you say you ´cut the butter into the sugar´, I think that was the problem: the butter should be so soft that there´s no question of cutting it! My mom used to melt the butter and then let it cool, but that makes the dough very very sticky indeed so that´s why I stipulated soft butter instead.

I hope this helps. It does make one wonder about recipe writing doesn´t it? How soft is soft butter, how sticky is sticky dough? 

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Thanks, Chufi! I know my butter wasn't soft enough. Just wasn't sure about that and thought it better to err on the side of too-cold butter as that's what's usually used in pie crusts. But I think my flour tends to be really dry as well so next time I'll go with your mom's method of melting the butter beforehand - that should do the trick!

[shelly59]

Chufi,

LOVE all of your recipes and have put several of them into regular rotation in my house, much to the delight of people who eat there :-)

I recently had a very sweet-spicy-fruity cookie called a leckerli. It was part of a gift basket of gourmet cookies. A friend of mine's mom said that it was Dutch, so I thought I would come here and ask about it. It was very sweet & spicy, filled with candied fruit and was in a bar-shape. Are they Dutch? Are they difficult to make?

Much thanks for all of your help and insights, they are invaluable.

[Chufi]

Chufi,

  LOVE all of your recipes and have put several of them into regular rotation in my house, much to the delight of people who eat there :-)

  I recently had a very sweet-spicy-fruity cookie called a leckerli. It was part of a gift basket of gourmet cookies. A friend of mine's mom said that it was Dutch, so I thought I would come here and ask about it.  It was very sweet & spicy, filled with candied fruit and was in a bar-shape.  Are they Dutch? Are they difficult to make?

Much thanks for all of your help and insights, they are invaluable.

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Thanks shelly59

about your cookies: I´ve never heard of them, and the name sounds German, not Dutch... I googled them and found them here: laeckerli. Apparently a famous cookie from Basel, Switzerland. There´s a recipe here! Hope that helps!

[shelly59]

THat certainly looks like them,and the ingredients would make a cookie similar to what I had. Much thanks!!

FYI - I have a nice big pot of pea soup, your recipe, of course, simmering on my stove right now. Yummmm!!

[pennylane]

Just thought you might like to know, Chufi, that this thread is what inspired me to finally become a member after years of lurking!

Haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but believe it or not that buttermilk pap thing is actually quite high on my list... along with the magnificent apple pie of course!

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Thanks pennylane! I'm pretty sure you'll be the first person to try the buttermilkpap

I actually have a bit of a craving for some right now! Wit lots of syrup, ofcourse

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Well, I did try the buttermilk pap! I messed it up badly, though. I made sure not to let it boil but the heat must still have been too high - it split. Oh well, I will try again soon, although I am also planning to make those gouda cheese balls and the vlaai!

[helenjp]

A friend of mine's mom said that it was Dutch,

That puzzled me for ages too, until I figured out that many people mean something like "Pennsylvania Dutch" = Deutsch = German! So "Dutch" apple cake" is really "Apple Cake with German-style dough"!

[Chufi]

Just as popular as the oliebollen are these appelbeignets - applefritters. You will often see them erroneously labelled as appelflappen, but those are puffpastries filled with apple (like apple turnovers). The applebeignet, traditional New Years Eve fare, is a fritter consisting of an appleslice, dipped into yeasted batter and deepfried.

250 grams flour

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons vanillasugar

400 ml. milk

1 tablespoon butter

half of a 7 gram sachet instant yeast

apples: I used 4 huge ones. Choose a tart apple that will keep its shape when cooked.

oil for deep frying

flour for dusting

cinnamonsugar for dusting

Whisk flour, salt, yeast and vanillasugar together in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the milk with the butter. When the butter has melted, let the milk cool to lukewarm. Pour the colled milk into the flour mixture and mix till you have a smooth batter. Cover the bowl and set aside to rise for about an hour, after which the batter should be puffy and almost doubled in volume.

Core, peel and slice your apples.

When ready to fry, heat the oil in a suitable pan (I used my cast iron wok today, which I like to use for deepfrying) to 180 C.

Just before frying, lightly coat the appleslices with flour. Then, dip them into the batter, moving them around to make sure the whole surface of the appleslice is coated with batter. Drop the coated slices into the hot oil and fry, a couple at a time, until puffy and golden brown on one side. Turn them over and cook some more until golden brown all over. Lift from the oil and drain on paper towels. immediately after frying, while they are still hot, dust them with a thick layer of cinnamonsugar.

These are delicious warm, but I also like them cold and I have to say they make a great breakfast treat for the Morning After.

Thank you, everyone who has been making the recipes, giving me feedback, encouraging me and sharing your thoughts. All your kind words have meant a lot to me. I hope to put up some more recipes in 2008, but for now: a very happy New Year to all you wonderful eGulleters all around the world!

Edited December 31, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[Abra]

Yum! We had oliebollen at a party last night, and brought home a couple of leftover ones to warm for breakfast this morning. But your beignets look totally irresistable, even so.

[Shaya]

These beignets look incredible. I must try them soon.

[MikeyMike]

Made a big pot of Snert last weekend. Sorry, no pictures but the soup was great.

[markemorse]

Dutch split pea soup - Erwtensoep, or, as it's affectionately called, snert

I know I already posted a picture of this somewhere upthread, but as I was making the soup on monday, I felt it was impossible not to share this with you. Erwtensoep is a real Dutch classic - simple, rustic winter comfortfood.

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I just tasted a bowl of Chufi's erwtensoep, made by Chufi, and all I can say is: this is the recipe (think of the Castigliani brothers in Mulholland Drive)...this is the recipe. The big difference between this and every other bowl of snert I've had (and I've had, say...10 different versions) is the abundance of shredded pork, an absolutely key addition. Grreat.

Edited January 25, 2008 by markemorse (log)

[Chufi]

Dutch split pea soup - Erwtensoep, or, as it's affectionately called, snert

I know I already posted a picture of this somewhere upthread, but as I was making the soup on monday, I felt it was impossible not to share this with you. Erwtensoep is a real Dutch classic - simple, rustic winter comfortfood.

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I just tasted a bowl of Chufi's erwtensoep, made by Chufi, and all I can say is: this is the recipe (think of the Castigliani brothers in Mulholland Drive)...this is the recipe. The big difference between this and every other bowl of snert I've had (and I've had, say...10 different versions) is the abundance of shredded pork, an absolutely key addition. Grreat.

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aww, thanks mark!

the key, the secret, is the long and slow simmering.. I think this one was on the stove for about 5 hours.. which makes the meat fall apart completely. It's just one of those things that can absolutely not be rushed!

[Cadbury]

Here's another one.. appeltaart , apple pie.

In Holland applepie is often served with whipped cream, with a cup of morning coffee.

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I've had a packet of sucade in my cupboard since New Years when I didn't get around to making oliebollen. I make Apple pie frequently but this time the addition of sucade was lovely. I have enough left over to make some gingerbread.

[Cadbury]

Chufi, I believe the addition of cream and egg to a sauce is what is known as a liason.  I read about it in my CIA Professional Chef.  I found something about it here.

The purpose is to add flavor, smooth out the texture and add sheen. - just as it did in your sauce.  The egg and cream are combined so that the cream raises the coagulation temperature of the egg.  You can also add a bit of the hot liquid to the liaison before adding to the sauce to bring the temperature up a bit (tempering).

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Yes, but you would not call the resulting sauce a liaison, right? I´m just curious about this word ragout. When I google english ragout recipes, I get lots of stews and braises, but most of them are not roux-thickened, whereas here, ragout always means a sauce with a roux base and then a liaison.

´sauce´somehow does not seem to be quite the right word.

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I know this is ann old post but I was having a look around Klary's blog and thought I'd add my 2 cents worth.

I would call Klary's sauce a ragout. We ate ragout of x (insert left-over meat) as kids. I have found several roux-thickened ragout recipes in my Australian cookbooks so I am presuming the word I am using is not just because of Mum's dutch background.

[Chufi]

Cadbury, thanks for the input on the 'ragout' issue. I think that's what I'll keep calling it in English.

For future reference, I'd like to link here to this post in the member news section about my minute of fame in the Dutch newspaper world:

click

The reporter found me through this Dutch Cooking thread. She read the whole thread before she came to interview me about my thoughts on Dutch Cooking.. quite impressive I think!

[Cadbury]

Cadbury, thanks for the input on the 'ragout' issue. I think that's what I'll keep calling it in English.

For future reference, I'd like to link here to this post in the member news section about my minute of fame in the Dutch newspaper world:

click

The reporter found me through this Dutch Cooking thread. She read the whole thread before she came to interview me about my thoughts on Dutch Cooking.. quite impressive I think!

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I noticed the link in Member News this morning.

I was able to read some of it, when I have more time I will get my trusty dictionary out . Reading through all 24 pages is certainly an effort, but writing it is much more impressive. Congratulations.

[BCarroll05]

In one of my regional cookbooks the dish is described as a "kind of stamppot",

My fiancee and I just moved to Leiden and are very excited about cooking through your post. Could you recommend some good regional Dutch cookbooks? I know they will be in Dutch, but we are learning! Thanks

-Brendan

[Chufi]

In one of my regional cookbooks the dish is described as a "kind of stamppot",

My fiancee and I just moved to Leiden and are very excited about cooking through your post. Could you recommend some good regional Dutch cookbooks? I know they will be in Dutch, but we are learning! Thanks

-Brendan

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Hi Brendan, and welcome to The Netherlands and to this thread!

as far as the Dutch cookbooks go.. let me get back to you on that. I think there are some recommendations thoughout this thread (for books in English) but I don't expect you to tackle the whole thread in one day...

The regional cookbooks I mentioned are tiny volumes, most of them printed in the seventies. But I know that Selexyz boekhandel (is there one in Leiden? ) has a couple.

Your post actually reminds me that a little bibliography of English and Dutch language Dutch cookbooks is way overdue. Let me get working on that... but it may be a little while before I can post it.

But please feel free to ask any question on this thread!

[Cadbury]

Today I made hopjesvla for the first time, inspired by the recent talk about vla.

Amapola, yes, we need your input here! because while my vla came out delicious (so delicious in fact, that I just had a huge bowl for lunch  ), it did not seem quite right.

Here's what I did: caramelized 50 grams of sugar. I had 400 ml. milk, I used some of that to make a paste with 25 grams of cornstarch.

Added the rest of the cold milk to the caramelized sugar in the pan (the sugar immediately seized up, but melted down again while I stirred the mxture over low heat).

Stirred 1 eggyolk into the cornstarchmixture. Added warm milk/sugar mix to cornstarch/egg mix. Put everything back in the pan, brought to the boil and cooked very briefly until thickened. Stirred in 4 tablespoons of very strong coffee.

Put pan in icewater and stir every now and then, until cool.

The color is much lighter than the commercial variety. Maybe I did nog caramelize my sugar enough? Also, I feel the coffee/caramel flavor could be more pronounced.

looking forward to your recipe amapola!

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I made hopjesvla this morning to have after dinner tonight as it is my Dad's birthday. I only made one change as I don't have any "real" coffee in the house at the moment. I used 2 heaped teaspoons of instant coffee in 40ml (2 Australian tablespoons) of water. I had a little taste now that the vla has cooled and it seems very close to what I was expecting (I have some hopjes hiding in the pantry ). I also let the caramel become fairly dark. Yum.

[rooftop1000]

I spent my lunch break the other day just looking at this thread (and getting hungrier even as I ate).  I'll add to the chorus that it's chock full of beautiful photos, great explanations, and dishes I'd love to try myself.  I thought I didn't know Dutch cooking at all but this all seems to familiar and comforting at once.  Great job!

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Thanks Kevin.. that's great praise coming from the King of Megathreads...

I'm aiming for at least 22 pages myself...

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page 24!!

butter beef on the stove, and the house smells yummy

tracey

Edited November 17, 2008 by rooftop1000 (log)

[kaneel]

Hey Klary

Is there another word for sugarchips and can you buy it at albert hein?

My mom is coming next weekend so i can get some ingredients that 's hard to find or is not available here in houston at all.

Ashiana

[Chufi]

Ashiana,

I've never seen them at supermarkets. I got mine at a bakery, where they just sold me a bag of their bulk supply. Maybe your mother could try that too... have her ask for 'zachte (soft) kandijsuiker voor suikerbrood'.

She could also try health food stores. But make sure she doesn't buy the rock hard 'kandijsuiker', that won't work in the sugarbread (I'm assuming that's what you want to make?)

Goodluck!

[kaneel]

Thanks klary, that exactly what i am planning on making.

[Marcel]

Ashiana,

I've never seen them at supermarkets. I got mine at a bakery, where they just sold me a bag of their bulk supply. Maybe your mother could try that too... have her ask for 'zachte (soft) kandijsuiker voor suikerbrood'.

She could also try health food stores. But make sure she doesn't buy the rock hard 'kandijsuiker', that won't work in the sugarbread (I'm assuming that's what you want to make?)

Goodluck!

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Hi, Chufi,

I wanted to make sure that you are still contributing to this forum so I went to your last page. I have several questions that are not all related so I hope you'll excuse the broken protocol.

FYI I, too was born in Amsterdam but in 1935!! I spoke Dutch until the age of 3 so I still can pick up a few phrases if I know the context. Here come my disjointed questions:

1- STROOP. When I visited a Pannekoeken house in Duisberg some 12 years ago, the syrup was unlike any I had tasted in the U.S. I bought both Barley Malt syrup, and Sorghum in the hope of finding it. I found that the Barley Malt was closest to my memory of the Dutch syrup but what I had in Holland also had a slight touch of sourness mixed with the sweet. I suspect that because the Dutch use Sugar Beets as a sweetener that perhaps that was the base for the syrup? ___ Any idea what I may have had? ____

2- ONTBIJTKOEK I have a craving for Ontbijtkoek and hope to try to bake my own. My memory of it is that it is quite dense and not overly sweet, with even a touch of sharpness probably because of the ginger. Is it possible that the dark brown, dense cake I had also contained chopped crystaline ginger pieces? Is ontbijtkoek a totally different animal from Gemberkoek as the Dutch know it? ___

3- ROOKWURST I live in Oregon and have been unable to find a true Rookwurst as I tasted it in my youth. The sausage I find at the on-line Dutch food stores looks like baloney. The sausage I had was stuffed in real animal casings, was speckled with chunks of fat, was almost a purple color, looked more like a fatty Italian salami, and was very densely smoked. Have you ever tasted a Rookwurst as I describe it? ____

Thanks for any help you can send my way.

Marcel