Dutch Cooking (2005-2006)

[Chufi]

I am starting this thread to share some of my country's traditional dishes.

Dutch cooking today is ofcourse very much influenced by cuisines from abroad, but there are still many homes where traditional cooking is the daily fare and where people still eat the way we all did 50 years ago. My mother only has salt and pepper by her stove, and I’m pretty sure she never used a single sprig of thyme or rosemary in her stews. I grew up on that kind of cooking – meat, boiled potatoes and boiled vegetables every single night – and I could not wait to start exploring the wonderful world of food when I moved out of my parents house.

By now, my mother thinks my cooking is quite eccentric, but at the same time I find that I have a new appreciation for the dishes and traditions that I grew up with. It’s time to collect the family recipes and to think about the culinary heritage that my country has to offer me.

Fall seems the perfect season to start this project. I feel Dutch cooking is at its best in fall and winter. The sweet and spicy pastries that accompany the celebrations of December, warming soups and nourishing stews, boozy drinks to keep you warm in the icy wintermonths.

I don’t want to romanticize – the winters are no longer as icy as they appear in 17th century paintings, almost everybody buys their liquers instead of making them at home, and even the great Dutch soup, splitpea soup, is more often bought in a tin than made from scratch. But this is Egullet and I’m going to do it my way.

I’ll start with a Dutch pastry, boterkoek (buttertart). This is a very rich, thin, buttery pastry. While I agree that the rich buttery taste is essential to this pastry, most boterkoek you can buy (and most recipes) has too much butter for my taste. Some are so rich that the pastry almost becomes translucent from all the fat.

This is my mother’s recipe for boterkoek. Technically it should be called gemberkoek (ginger pastry) because it is flavored with crystallized ginger. Her recipe has an unusual method which creates a final product that is rich but light, and deliciously chewy.

ingredients:

150 grams of butter

150 grams of sugar (in this case, taken from the vanilla jar)

200 grams of selfraising flour

1 egg

3-5 knobs of crystallized ginger (to taste) and a little bit of syrup from the jar

not in the pic is the pinch of salt that I forgot to put in

Method:

Preheat the oven to 175 C / 350 F

Melt the butter. Mix melted butter, sugar, flour and ginger + syrup together. Beat the egg and add almost all of it to the batter. Mix well.

The dough looks like this:

Have ready a round, 20-22 cm tart tin (buttered and floured). Press the dough into the tin with a fork. Brush with the leftover beaten egg.

[note: if you use the smaller tin the pastry will be a bit thicker and will have to bake a little longer].

Put it in the oven. It will have to bake for about 30 minutes, but during that time you will have to knock it down a couple of times like this:

Because you have used selfraising flour the pastry will start to rise. Knocking it down produces a pastry that is soft and slightly chewy. According to my mother, using ordinary flour just does not give the same result. I've never tried.

It's ready when its firm and golden brown. Don't overbake or it will be dry.

End results:

The more common version is made without the ginger and often has a pattern of halved almonds on top.

[therese]

Lovely, Chufi, just lovely.

And fall is the perfect time to talk about traditional Dutch fare. Really looking forward to more.

[ludja]

This is exciting; thank you for doing this, Chufi!

The boterkoek with ginger looks just great. Thank you for the recipe; I will definately try it soon.

I found a terrific Dutch bakery out here in California in the town of San Luis Obispo this past summer. They had many great baked goods that I had not been aware of from my short visit to The Netherlands. Looking forward to your other postings as well...

[Milagai]

I am starting this thread to share some of my country's traditional dishes.

Dutch cooking today is ofcourse very much influenced by cuisines from abroad, but there are still many homes where traditional cooking is the daily fare and where people still eat the way we all did 50 years ago. My mother only has salt and pepper by her stove, and I’m pretty sure she never used a single sprig of thyme or rosemary in her stews. I grew up on that kind of cooking – meat, boiled potatoes and boiled vegetables every single night – and I could not wait to start exploring the wonderful world of food when I moved out of my parents house.

By now, my mother thinks my cooking is quite eccentric, but at the same time I find that I have a new appreciation for the dishes and traditions that I grew up with. It’s time to collect the family recipes and to think about the culinary heritage that my country has to offer me.

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that boterkoek looks divine! the richer the better, hmmmmmm!

(again, i call for including a drool emoticon...)

your description of traditional Dutch cooking was very itneresting.

The Netherlands has always been a center of international trade

and finance, no? (rivalled Venice historically?)

So it's interesting that none of the spices that were imported / exported

ever reached Dutch kitchens !! Where did they end up? Who used them?

Looking fwd to more on Dutch food..

Milagai

[Alinka]

Thank you, Chufi, for starting this thread! Good luck!

[MelissaH]

Chufi,

I'll add my echo of thanks for starting this thread.

You mentioned that winters are not as icy as they used to be. What, exactly, would a typical January day be like? Rainy? What sorts of clothing do people wear these days to stay warm and dry?

(Yes, there's an ulterior motive here: I'll be journeying to your part of the world in early January, and I'd like to blend in rather than stand out thanks to entirely American outerwear!)

Is Dutch cooking best eaten at home, or can it be experienced properly as a traveler? If I make some of your recipes, will I be dreadfully disappointed when I get there myself in person?

MelissaH

[dano1]

i've been trying to eat my mother in laws' food for 12 years. Frugal is not a word but a lifestyle, apparently, for the Dutch(at least in this guys family) along with bland.

Looks good though.

[Chufi]

thanks everybody for the kind words

I found a terrific Dutch bakery out here in California in the town of San Luis Obispo this past summer.  They had many great baked goods that I had not been aware of from my short visit to The Netherlands. 

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Ludja, if you have names/descriptions of the baked goods, I would love to learn about them. It's always interesting to see how traditional stuff 'travels' to other countries and if, and how, they change along the way.

your description of traditional Dutch cooking was very itneresting.

The Netherlands has always been a center of international trade

and finance, no?  (rivalled Venice historically?) 

So it's interesting that none of the spices that were imported / exported

ever reached Dutch kitchens !!   Where did they end up?   Who used them?

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That's a very interesting issue. i will talk about that some more tomorrow (have to do a little research first.. )

i've been trying to eat my mother in laws' food for 12 years. Frugal is not a word but a lifestyle, apparently, for the Dutch(at least in this guys family) along with bland.

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frugal and bland are indeed two words that describe traditional dutch fare quite well. That's exactly what my complaint was and why I have spent the last 15 years cooking with garlic, aragula and chillies...

Anyway, lately I've come to realize that when done the right way, bland becomes really tasty comfortfood, and frugal is just a way of making the most of only a few ingredients. If the food is good, there's a place for it in my kitchen.

edited to add: Melissa, I'll answer your questions tomorrow as well

Edited October 24, 2005 by Chufi (log)

[ludja]

thanks everybody for the kind words 

I found a terrific Dutch bakery out here in California in the town of San Luis Obispo this past summer.  They had many great baked goods that I had not been aware of from my short visit to The Netherlands. 

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Ludja, if you have names/descriptions of the baked goods, I would love to learn about them. It's always interesting to see how traditional stuff 'travels' to other countries and if, and how, they change along the way.

...

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Here's the link to the The Utopian Bakery in San Luis Obispo, CA. They describe themselves as a European Bakery but many of their specialities are Dutch. I snipped out the obviously Dutch items.

Koffiebroodje - Dutch Coffee Bread. A soft twist with raisins and currants

Saucijzebroodje - Dutch Sausage Roll. Pastry filled with our homemade sausage

Dutch Fruit Vlaai - Sweet bread crust filled with pastry cream and topped with seasonal fruit

Cookies:

Gevuldekoek - Dutch stuffed cookie, soft cookie filled with almond paste -

Boterkoek - Dutch soft butter cookie

Jan Hagel - Flaky with almonds and light cinnamon

Sprits - Butter shortbread cookie

Klettskopper - Caramel lace cookie with walnuts

Kattetongen - Meltaway butter cookie

Bokkepootje - Dutch almond macaroons filled with raspberry purée topped with powdered sugar

Bokkepootje with Chocolate Dutch almond macaroons filled with raspberry purée topped with chocolate

Dutch Cream Horns - Lace cookie filled with white butter cream and dipped in chocolate

They also served these for breakfast on the weekends:

Pofftertjes

A dozen "puffed up" Dutch Pancakes with butter and powdered sugar.

Pannekoeken

World Famous Dutch Pancakes with:

Dutch Stroop Syrup

Bacon & Syrup

Apple, Raisin & Syrup

Ham, Cheese, & Syrup

Edited October 25, 2005 by ludja (log)

[Smithy]

Stroopwaffeln! I want to know how to make stoopwaffeln!

Great thread idea, Chufi. I know little about Dutch foods except stroopwaffeln and the odd bits I can get when I stroll up the road from the main train station. Some of the sauces for pomme fritje (sorry, don't remember how it's spelled there) are worth the trip alone, but there are a couple of bistros along there with nice fare. How typical it is of Dutch food is another question, and I look forward to learning more.

MelissaH, Chufi will have a better answer for you, but I'll start with what I think makes me stand out when I'm there: running shoes/sneakers/whatever you want to call the Nike/New Balance/Converse sort of sporty footwear, and colored Goretex or other synthetic jackets. Stands us out as Yanks every time. Solid-color coats and leather footwear blend in much more. Chufi, would you agree? (Sorry if this is too OT.)

[Poffertjes]

Poffertjes are always good....

What about spice cookies?

www.dutchmall.com is a website that links to the local butchershops and bakeries in my hometown of Pella, Iowa.

There are two bakeries in town, Vander Ploeg's and Jaarsma as well as two butchers, Ulrich's and In't Veld's. The website ships and supplies with a taste of home when I need it.

I'm always interested in learning new dutch recipes. Now that its getting cold out I can't wait to make pea soup, and when I go home for thanksgiving I get to sit with my grandfather and help him make some of the family specialties.

[prasantrin]

I hope there's a Dutch apple cake/pie that'll be demo-ed! There are many Dutch where I grew up--both naturalized and first or second-generation Canadians, and it's their dessert tables that I remember best!

One of my friends, whose father was Dutch, used to complain that they couldn't even have spaghetti at their house--just meat and potatoes every night. I thought it was weird, but now thanks to you, I understand why that was!

[BonVivant]

coincidentally i'm doing an NL series to be posted at a couple of places. here's a preview of the sweets.

[prasantrin]

coincidentally i'm doing an NL series to be posted at a couple of places.  here's a preview of the sweets.

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That was most unkind, making me look at that link to find pictures of that delicious looking gevulde speculaas! Now I have to look for a recipe and try to find some marzipan (probably outrageously-priced here in Japan!). Plus I now have a craving for something sweet, with nothing but a 2-month-old pecan pie to satisfy it. Cruel, I tell you, cruel!

[yunnermeier]

hoi Chufi!

Will you also please do a demo of pepernoten? After all, it's Sinterklaas soon! I've never tried pepernoten before but when I was an exchange student in Japan, the Dutch exchange students used to call me pepernootje and though they often donated me stroopwafels , no one has ever given me a taste of my 'namesake' yet

groetjes!

[Kim D]

(Yes, there's an ulterior motive here: I'll be journeying to your part of the world in early January, and I'd like to blend in rather than stand out thanks to entirely American outerwear!)

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Rent a bike and you'll fit right in.

I love Dutch pancakes with Ham and Cheese! I would love to make these. Do you make them? I love the idea of a savory pancake. The last time I had them was at the Pancake House at Prinsengracht 191.

- kim

[oraklet]

hoi Chufi!

Will you also please do a demo of pepernoten? After all, it's Sinterklaas soon! I've never tried pepernoten before but when I was an exchange student in Japan, the Dutch exchange students used to call me pepernootje and though they often donated me stroopwafels , no one has ever given me a taste of my 'namesake' yet 

groetjes!

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i'm not sure if it's exactly the same thing, but here's a recipe for danish pebernødder:

250 g. flour

1/8 teasp. hjortetaksalt (not baking powder nor yeast, but the other rising agent)

1/2 teasp. cinnamon

1/2 teasp. pepper

1/2 teasp. ginger

1/2 teasp. cloves

100 g. cold butter

175 g. sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp. cream

mix flour, raisin agent and spices.

mix with cold butter, as for a pie crust.

mix egg and sugar well, add cream. mix gently with flour etc.

roll into sticks, diameter c. 1/2". cut in 1/2" bits. roll these to small balls.

bake for 10 min, at 180 C.

[Adam Balic]

Excellent recipes, thank you very much. I make Spekkoek for a Dutch co-worker's birthday and this was great and quite simple to do as well.

[Chufi]

so many questions.. and assignments

I''ll try and answer them one at the time!

Here's the link to the The Utopian Bakery in San Luis Obispo, CA.  They describe themselves as a European Bakery but many of their specialities are Dutch.  I snipped out the obviously Dutch items.

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tahnks for that link Ludja. I think some of these items will be appearing on this thread in the near future! fascinating that you can get vlaai in San Luis Obispo. I visited SLO 3 years ago, pity I did not know about the bakery back then..

Stroopwaffeln!  I want to know how to make stoopwaffeln!

MelissaH, Chufi will have a better answer for you, but I'll start with what I think makes me stand out when I'm there: running shoes/sneakers/whatever you want to call the Nike/New Balance/Converse sort of sporty footwear, and colored Goretex or other synthetic jackets.  Stands us out as Yanks every time.  Solid-color coats and leather footwear blend in much more.  Chufi, would you agree? (Sorry if this is too OT.)

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I don't think anybody makes stroopwafels at home. You need special equipment.. I could try and get a picture of the guy at the Albert Cuypmarket who makes them, so you would see what I mean..

re the clothing: Nancy is absolutely right about the sneakers and Goretex. Just wear what you would normally wear when going to a city.. comfortable shoes because Amsterdam is small enough to walk around all day. And layers of clothing because it can be very cold with snow and ice, or wet and mild and anything in between!

I hope there's a Dutch apple cake/pie that'll be demo-ed!  There are many Dutch where I grew up--both naturalized and first or second-generation Canadians, and it's their dessert tables that I remember best! 

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Apple pie is definitely on my list!

hoi Chufi!

Will you also please do a demo of pepernoten? After all, it's Sinterklaas soon!

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I've never made pepernoten at home. It's one of those things everybody just buys, you know.. Oraklet's recipe seems about right though, as far as the spices go.

[srhcb]

The Summer 2004 issue of Gastronomica magazine had an article by Jose Van Mil titled "Dutch Treat" which was basicly an essay on Dutch meals and eating habits rather than a collection of specific dishes or recipes.

SB (likes Dutch licorice)

[Chufi]

Stoofperen

This is a dutch variety of a cooking pear, called Gieser Wildeman. They are inedible when raw (very hard, almost like quinces) but become ruby-red and meltingly soft when cooked for hours in a sugar syrup.

Here's what they look like:

They are usually a bit smaller, but I picked the larges ones from the market stall because peeling those little ones is a real pain..

In the pan with cinnamon stick, a couple of tablespoons of sugar, some water, a splash of red wine.

My mother, who grew up on a farm where using wine in cooking was as unheard of as using garlic , never adds wine and her pears still turn bright red.

After hours and hours of stewing (these were on the stove for close to 4 hours) they look like this:

In my family they are traditionally eaten as a 'vegetable' accompaniment to braised meat or chicken. I like them better for dessert, like we had tonight: with rice porridge, flavored with lemon and vanilla:

[Carrot Top]

Those pears - they almost look as if they were in a Dutch painting rather than in a real Dutch life, Chufi! Gorgeous.

[snowangel]

Chufi has put her recipe for Boterkoek into RecipeGullet. Click here and start baking!

[Chef Metcalf]

And layers of clothing because it can be very cold with snow and ice, or wet and mild and anything in between!

Except on the day we had the pleasure of meeting you at the Teahouse in Vondel Park! Was it 33 or 34 celsius that day Klary?

...told you I'd post it one day !

And here we'd brought all sorts of warm clothes for Amsterdam...and ended up using then in Southern France!

I told Hans about your Dutch food thread and he's requesting (begging actually) that you demo Bitterballen. It's the first thing he orders when we go to Amsterdam and he'd love to be able to eat them at home.

So if your looking for more suggestions...

PS Great to have met you Klary and we look forward to being your tour guides in Vancouver one day!

[touaregsand]

Those pears - they almost look as if they were in a Dutch painting rather than in a real Dutch life, Chufi! Gorgeous.

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I was thinking the same thing and here are saying it.

I did a double take of the pears!