Dutch Cooking (2005-2006)

[Chufi]

Hi Klary,

thank you for all the wonderful dishes !  Good to read that you take requests, I am born and bred in Leiden and still live in the Netherlands but your old style high quality cooking makes me long for the meals my Mom cooked when I was a toddler (around the '50ies).

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Hi Leo, welcome to EGullet! And an especially warm welcome to this thread!

I just came home from the market, and guess what, hutspot (or at least my slightly bastardized version of it) is on the menu for tomorrow.

I was thinking abut the horsemeat. This was a staple in my husbands family, but it was never eaten in mine. So I acyually never had any!

There are still a couple of butchers in Amsterdam that sell really good and tender (if I am to believe my mother in law..) horse's steak. Hmm, maybe I should give it a try...

Keep the ideas coming Leo, I love the input!

[Chufi]

I decided to use some of the speculaascookies to make one of my favorite childhoodtreats: the speculaassandwich

Fresh, soft white bread, butter, cookies. This may seem weird but the combination of the squishy bread, the sweet butter and the crunhcy spicy cookies is just fantastic... I think I was maybe 12 the last time I had this... Now I wonder what took me so long!

[Chufi]

One more answer to the question: where did all the spices go?

.. they went into the cheese!

Leidse kaas, with cumin:

and Friese nagelkaas, with cumin and cloves (sometimes this one has only cloves):

these are both "belegen", mature - somwhere between very young cheese and very old. I like this type the best for everyday eating.

[Chufi]

Remember the beef braised in butter?

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Well.. what you can do to beef, you can do to chicken.

While the beef was something my mom would cook during the week, and that we would eat often a couple of nights in a row, chicken braised with butter was definitely a luxury dinner for Sundays and holidays.

You need even less ingredients than for the beef.

Chicken, seasoned with salt, pepper and a very light sprinkling of nutmeg. Butter, water.

Hoe much butter do you need? Chosse a pan that can accommodate all the chickenpieces without overlapping. Now you need to melt as much butter as you need to have about 1 inch of butter in your pan. (This is why it's a good idea to have a pan that fits your chicken pieces in snugly).

Melt the butter. When it's foaming, put in the chicken. Now brown the chicken very, very slowly. The chicken is obviously going to braise much shorter than the beef, so you need to pack as much flavor in as you can at this stage. The browning should take about 15 minutes.

Yes, by that time the chickenpieces are probably already done. But Dutch cooking is never about cooking things until they are 'just done'. So now you add water to come up halfway of the chicken. Cover the pan and braise. At least 45 minutes, longer won't hurt - I promise you this chicken won't be dry!

It ends up like this. The dark colour of the gravy comes from the slow and careful browning.

This chicken is good with anything. But I think it is especially good with brussel sprouts and mash - lots of mash to soak up that incredible gravy.

This time I took the chicken from the gravy (which I will be using tomorrow for another dish) and served the chicken with couscous and a spicy vegetable stew

Edited November 15, 2005 by Chufi (log)

[Megan Blocker]

Klary, that looks excellent. I think I know what I'm making for my Sunday night dinner!

[Abra]

I made the butter beef, and the filled speculaas tonight as part of a Dutch/French dinner. You can see it here. Delicious!

[bleudauvergne]

Abra's Blog brought me here. Wow this all looks really really good. Thank you Klary! I think I am also going to make these cookies which look amazing!

[azureus]

Kapucijners, or capucijner peas, are a kind of pulse that I think, is unique to the Netherlands.

They are the main ingredient for what's known as the "kapiteinsmaal", the Captain's Dinner.

The beans, cooked and mixed with fried smoked bacon

Klary,

I'm very excited that you've written about capucijner peas. I'm an avid gardener and I've been growing them in my garden for several years now, but I've only used fresh peas and pea pods so far. How do you prepare the peas for the Captain's Dinner? Any other recipes using the capucijners would be welcome as well.

Also, would you write more about Dutch cheeses and how they are used in Dutch cooking? By happy coincidence, I visited friends in Iowa this past weekend, and they served a dry, aged cheese that they said was Dutch, but they couldn't remember the name. It reminded me somewhat of parmeggiano, but was less salty. In any case, it was delicious!

April Sorenson

[Chufi]

I'm very excited that you've written about capucijner peas. I'm an avid gardener and I've  been growing them in my garden for several years now, but I've only used fresh peas and pea pods so far.  How do you prepare the peas for the Captain's Dinner?  Any other recipes using the capucijners would be welcome as well. 

Also, would you write more about Dutch cheeses and how they are used in Dutch cooking?  By happy coincidence, I visited friends in Iowa this past weekend, and they served a dry, aged cheese that they said was Dutch, but they couldn't remember the name.  It reminded me somewhat of parmeggiano, but was less salty.  In any case, it was delicious!

April Sorenson

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Hi April..

what fun to hear that you are growing these peas.. is that very unusual in the US? Over here, the fresh peas are usually eaten plain, as a vegetable, with a little bacon and maybe some fried onions. The ones I used for the Captains dinner were dried. I don't know if you can succesfully dry fresh peas yourself, I've never tried it.. over here you would buy the dried ones, soak and cook, or just buy them in a can like you would buy kidneybeans etc.

as for the cheeses: the Dutch don't cook much with their cheese, at least not in the traditional cuisine. Cheese is mostly eaten with bread, for breakfast and lunch.

Very old, high quality Gouda can be reminiscent of Parmesan, so maybe that's what you had in Iowa. I'm planning on getting some good Dutch cheese later on (so much to show and do! ) and talk some more about that great Dutch product.

[Chufi]

Today: hutspot

This is another one of the Dutch stamppotten, potatoes mashed with other vegetables to serve as a main course. But unlike the others this one has a story attached to it.

In October 1574, when the Spanish who had been besieging the city of Leiden had finally fled, leaving the inhabitants of the city hungry, a boy from Leiden wandered outside the citywalls and found a pot cooking over a fire. This was left behind by the Spanish who had to flee in haste. In this pot was a mixture of vegetables and meat that would become the famous ‘hutspot’. To this day, hutspot is eaten every year in Leiden on October 3, to celebrate the liberation from the Spanish army, as Leo explained upthread.

Today hutspot is a classic Dutch winterdish that has changed a lot since 1574. The original version most probably consisted of beans, onions, parsnips and meat, whereas todays hutspot is made from carrots, potatoes, onions and meat.

This is my version, a mixture of both. It’s made with potatoes, parsnips, carrots and onions.

Use about equal amounts of every vegetable. If you use more potatoes, it will be blander, with more carrots and parsnips it will be sweeter. The exact proportions don't matter too much.

Cut up all the vegetables in small pieces, cover with water, add salt and boil until everything is done. Drain and mash with a lump of butter and some milk, seasoning very liberally with salt and pepper.

This is traditionally served with a piece of boiled beef, but because this is quite a sweet and bland dish, I like to spice it up. As a tribute to it’s Spanish history I like to serve it with fresh chorizo sausages. And ofcourse some gravy. Any good Dutch housewife usually has some gravy in the fridge from a braise.. as do I today.. so I serve it with the gravy from yesterday’s butter braised chicken!

[ludja]

Thank you for showing the two lovely examples of cheese, Chufi.

I really like the Leiden cheese with Cumin. In fact wtih this reminder I may serve it before Thanksgving dinner...

I've not had the "Friese nagelkaas", with cumin and/or cloves Does anyone know if this cheese is available in the US, and if so, how it would typically be named?

[Chufi]

I've not had the "Friese nagelkaas", with cumin and/or  cloves   Does anyone know if this cheese is available in the US, and if so, how it would typically be named?

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'nagel' comes from 'kruidnagel' which means clove.

The cheese is a specialty of Friesland, one of the Northern Dutch provinces.

I googled a bit and I think Dutch clove cheese, or Frisian clove cheese, is what its usually called abroad.

In my opinion, the one with just cloves is better, the two spices seem to clash a bit.

Edited November 16, 2005 by Chufi (log)

[Leo Starrenburg]

Hi Klary, April,

captainsdinner is known to me as 'Groningse rijsttafel', it's a dish served aboard merchant- and navy ships for ages. The dried beans could be stored for a long time and the side dishes evolved to make the beans a bit more attractive (Try eating the same dish for a month in a row).

I wonder if anyone reading this has ever eaten 'Labskous', another famous dish served on ships. Zeekaken or seabiscuits and the big bowls to soak them in were on sale in Scheveningen at least until 1975: soggy seabiscuits and pan-fried fresh Mackerel followed by a wee tod of jenever

cheers, Leo.

PS: Loved -and could almost smell- the butter braised chicken Klary ! It was indeed a Sunday treat and around Christmas time my Dad would 'arrange' a rabbit, it was cooked in the same way. Please try it, you may find it even better than chicken. Thanks for putting us back on track to good old fashioned cooking !

[Chufi]

PS: Loved -and could almost smell- the butter braised chicken Klary ! It was indeed a Sunday treat and around Christmas time my Dad would 'arrange' a rabbit, it was cooked in the same way. Please try it, you may find it even better than chicken. Thanks for putting us back on track to good old fashioned cooking !

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Leo, are you sure you are not related to me.. we always had butter braised rabbit for Christmas at my grandparents house.. the best way to cook rabbit I think because the butter keeps it moist...

Funny because I don't know anyone else who had this rabbit tradition!

Edited November 16, 2005 by Chufi (log)

[handmc]

I'm making the butter braised beef tomorrow. I can't wait.

[Jake]

Klary, any cuisine that involves having gravy available at all times is just about perfect imho! Mmmmm, gravy.

[helenjp]

Lobscouse is the English version of labskous, and I think that the original English sailor's version was also thickened with hard tack rather than the modern potatoes. Seems to have changed quite a bit in its travels, except for the thick texture.

Rabbit in butter - Is rabbit farmed for sale? I've eaten wild rabbit, and recall that it tasted quite gamey.

I made some filled speculaas for a visiting child who is fairly adventurous, but even he was too astonished by the highly aromatic aniseed to finish his piece! Spices in baked goods are very rare here. I hadn't stocked up on ground almonds, so made a filling with coconut, soft-dried peaches, and tangerine juice and peel...just what you would use, right ?

Edited November 17, 2005 by helenjp (log)

[azureus]

Hi April..

what fun to hear that you are growing these peas.. is that very unusual in the US? Over here, the fresh peas are usually eaten plain, as a vegetable, with a little bacon and maybe some fried onions. The ones I used for the Captains dinner were dried. I don't know if you can succesfully dry fresh peas yourself, I've never tried it.. over here you would buy the dried ones, soak and cook, or just buy them in a can like you would buy kidneybeans etc.

as for the cheeses: the Dutch don't cook much with their cheese, at least not in the traditional cuisine. Cheese is mostly eaten with bread, for breakfast and lunch.

Very old, high quality Gouda can be reminiscent of Parmesan, so maybe that's what you had in Iowa. I'm planning on getting some good Dutch cheese later on (so much to show and do! ) and talk some more about that great Dutch product.

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[tryingsomethingnew]

I found a  recipe for Dutch Pancakes and it calls for wheat flour. Does that mean whole wheat flour? Cake flour? All purpose flour?

I love Pannekoeken. Do you make them?

- kim

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As a matter of fact, what a coincedence, I just made some..

I always made pannenkoeken (pancakes ) without a recipe, just mixing flour, eggs and milk until it looked right.. Today I looked up a number of recipes and found that they all have different proportions of the ingredients.. I guess it has to do with whether you like your pancakes thick and fluffy or thin and crispy (more crepe like). So, I made pancakes and took notes of what I did:

Make a batter from 2 eggs, 200 grams flour, 300 ml. milk, pinch of salt. Depending on the size of your pan and how much batter you use per pancake, this will yield about 4-6 pancakes.

I wanted spekpannenkoeken (pancakes with bacon) so I fried up some smoked bacon. I like to fry the bacon first, then pour of the bacon grease, wipe out the pan and then proceed to bake the pancakes (in butter).

on the left is one with apple and bacon. The appel slices were first sauteed in the butter, before adding the bacon and batter to the pan.

Flip the pancake when the top is almost dry.

On the plate with Dutch sugar syrup:

Spekpannenkoek

and appel-spekpannenkoek (apple and bacon)

I should add that these are much smaller and thinner than the ones you get at the special Pancake restaurants. (where you can also eat weird pancakes like pancake stroganoff, pancake with chicken curry, and I'm pretty sure a pancake with aragula and goatscheese has made an appearance by now )

For home cooking I prefer this size, so you can have more different flavoured ones.

Pancakes are a favorite dinner for kid's birthday parties but most adults love them too...

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okay i want to make these tomorrow monring....but how many cups is 200 grams of flour??

[ludja]

...

okay i want to make these tomorrow monring....but how many cups is 200 grams of flour??

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~ 454 g per lb so 200 g is ~ 7 oz. (If you don't feel comfortable w/the calculation there are many "online calculaters" for grams to ounces.)

It is best to weigh out stuff like flour if the recipe is given by weight, but I did find an online site that estimated that 1 cup of All Purpose flour is about 4 oz. food weight volume conversion

7 oz would then be approximately 1 3/4 cups flour.

[tryingsomethingnew]

thank you, ludja!

Edited November 17, 2005 by tryingsomethingnew (log)

[handmc]

Thank you Klary. The Butter Braised Beed is incredible!

[Grub]

Lobscouse is the English version of labskous, and I think that the original English sailor's version was also thickened with hard tack rather than the modern potatoes. Seems to have changed quite a bit in its travels, except for the thick texture.

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...I wonder if anyone reading this has ever eaten 'Labskous', another famous dish served on ships. Zeekaken or seabiscuits and the big bowls to soak them in were on sale in Scheveningen at least until 1975: soggy seabiscuits and pan-fried fresh Mackerel followed by a wee tod of jenever 

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There's a Norwegian stew called "lapskaus" -- I'm not perfectly certain about this, but I believe that might have been the origin of this dish. Norway always had an extremely active shipping industry, and Norwegian sailors went everywhere. Pretty much every busy shipping port had a Norwegian sailors' church -- Liverpool in particular. The nickname "Scouser" for Liverpoodlians (or more specifically, Liverpoodlians from Merseyside, I think) comes from this dish.

The words are obviously variant spellings of the same dish, but I've never come across any definite evidence of its origin. The word doesn't break down into any sensible, linguistic meaning.

[Chef Metcalf]

Klary, you must be absolutely exhausted girl!

This is quite the volume of work you've done, and brilliantly I might add.

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't tried out the bittenballen yet (but I'm getting plenty of flack over it).

And the list of recipes I want to try is getting longer, including...

Bittenballen, Butter Beef and either the Gevulde koeken or Speculaas.

I've never seen the clove cheese here in Vancouver but I'm going to try a deli in North Vancouver that carries a few Dutch items and see if they have it.

It sounds like an interesting combo.

Cheers to a job well done Klary...not go put your feet up and have a beer!

[snowangel]

we would eat often a couple of nights in a row, chicken braised with butter was definitely a luxury dinner for Sundays and holidays.

Is/was chicken more expensive? In our house, we more often think of chicken than beef as a budget meal!