Overkill of recipes

[pierke]

And I'm curious: what are some of those typically Dutch ingredients? Could they be substituted successfully for others in those books? (Most of what I know about Dutch food is cheese-- mmmmm, roomkaas  , peasoup, and hutspot met klapstuck (forgive my spelling, please).

I got myself into a fix here! Now I have to come up with examples of typical Dutch ingredients! Let's try:

There’s a uniform coloured brown bean, aptly called ‘bruine boon’, with looks like your borlotti/cranberry bean but tastes slightly different. If you translated from Dutch to American it could perfectly well be substitute by cranberry beans. Then there’s the ‘witte boon’, a white bean like you Navy bean, they even may be the same bean. But as I haven’t found canned Navy beans in a Dutch shop, I can’t be entirely sure. The next legume is the one that’s really unique; it’s called ‘kapucijner’ (Capuchin) or ‘grauwe erwt’ (grey pea); it has a greyish colour and an uneven shape. It’s part of the pea family. The seeds are also eaten fresh and in both guises, have a very distinct flavour. You either like them or hate them. When looking at the shelves with canned beans in a Dutch supermarket, you’ll find them there in their fresh and dried (cooked) form. They really are delicious, but if you don’t incorporate them in cookery books I’m sure they will be forgotten in the end.

There are several vegetables seldomly mentioned in translated cookery books, that abound in Dutch markets when they are in season: postelein (purslane), schorseneren (salsify), pastinaak (parsnips) and raapstelen (turnip greens). ‘Witlof’ (endive, chicory, witloof), ‘veldsla’ (corn salad, mache) and rabarber (rhubarb) are sometimes treaty as expensive novelties in cookbooks of foreign origin, while in Holland they are cheap and available whole year round. On the other hand American recipes use vegetables that are expensive over here or totally unobtainable. Swiss chard for example is only grown in private vegetable gardens: the same with Collards. Romaine has only just been introduced to Holland via ethnic markets and still is expensive. Arugula is also a recent re-introduction (it once was a common salad herb grown in most vegetable gardens) and because of a hype is very expensive. Radicchio you can only buy at Italian delicatessen, not at the normal supermarket. Broccoli raap and sprouting broccoli I only saw once, the prize was fantastic. (This is not a complete list, but at the moment I can’t come up with more)

Besides all this there are groceries that are not available in Holland, but used in a lot of foreign recipes: double cream (especially English cookbooks), real vanilla-essence (only the artificial vanilla extract is for sale), canned crushed pineapple, cream style sweet corn, gluten flour and maple sugar to name a few. Of course most of the Dutch cheeses are not used in foreign recipes; instead they use cheeses the average Dutch cook is unfamiliar with. In 1993 I bought Delia Smith’s Summer Collection in a Dutch translation. It contains a wonderful recipe for Baked Halloumi Cheese. I’ve search for years for this cheese, since 2000 I know a specialty shop in Groningen who has a steady supply. As a vegetarian I don’t know a lot about meat, but I’m sure that in that section of the market you miss out on some traditional ingredients too. So every thing considered, when a Dutch cook only has access to translated foreign cookbooks he/she is in for a lot of frustration.

Hope this gives an idea of the differences.

Pierke

[Big Bunny]

I become loyal to certain cookbook authors because of their style. I will buy almost any book written by Sri Owen, Patricia Wells, Paula Wolfert - and it looks like Fuchsia Dunlop will be on that list. There are others, too.

I like books that are a sort of good reportage: "when", "where", "who", "why" just as much as "how". But mainly, cookbooks should have style. Let your personality come through your book and people will like you (not everyone, of course.)

Beyond that, write recipes that work. We all know that recipes need to be coaxed into behaving and are not perfect. Still, some authors are REALLY GOOD at describing all of the processes of a cusine in a way that instills confidence in the reader/cook.

BB

[Suzanne F]

and hutspot met klapstuck (forgive my spelling, please).

that's not the beginning of an ethnic joke then

Oh my goodness, no! Hutspot => hot pot, hochepot = a meat-and-vegetable stew.

met = "with"

Klapstuck, iirc, is something like bubble and squeak.

Pierke: you can get rhubarb year-round?? How lucky you are!

[bentherebfor]

I feel that the real way to sell a cook book is not by the recipes, for food.com and egullet.com have plenty of free ones, but by an approach or style to cooking, or by selling the author of the cookbook. But yes, I feel its true, cookbooks are too repetitive.

~Ben

[pierke]

Pierke: you can get rhubarb year-round?? How lucky you are!

Is this meant as a pun? I love rhubarb, even all year round.

Pierke

[pierke]

Oh my goodness, no!  Hutspot => hot pot, hochepot = a meat-and-vegetable stew.

met = "with"

Klapstuck, iirc, is something like bubble and squeak.

Hutspot is a vegetable stew with onions, carrots and parsnips. Klapstuk is the rib of beef that goes with it. So nothing like your awful Bubble and Squeak!

Pierke

Edited June 21, 2004 by pierke (log)

[Rachel Perlow]

And then there are cookbooks like Lisa's (aka balmagowry) Lobscouse and Spotted Dog, and I can guarantee from personal experience that it's a great read!

I've edited the above link to give eGullet a commission if anyone buys it. Please use eGullet commissioned links when purchasing from Amazon.com.