A country so much characterized by its Calvinist
heritage and the generally perfectly matching grey cloudy weather surely
can't have a fancy cuisine, and it hasn't.
Superficially this is only illustrated by the traditional
Dutch home cooked meal: potatoes, accompanied by a piece of
meat and boiled vegetables. The whole lot of it preferably covered
with heaps of gravy. Herbs and spices appear to be obsolete
altogether, which makes the food pretty bland.
However, times are changing.
Partly due to the influx of citizens from former colonies,
and the Mediterranean, partly due to the formation of the
global village these traditional patterns are changing.
Nowadays the traditional Dutch meal is gradually
being replaced by foods and spices from all over the
world.
So, these days one can find African, Arabian, Chinese,
Indian, Indonesian, Italian and Spanish food on the
Dutch dinner tables. And if not, then certainly there will
be restaurants serving these kinds of food within
the vicinity.
| Contents: |
| 1. Dairy products | 2. Breakfast | 3. Lunch | 4. Dinnertime | 5. an ABC of Dutch cuisine |
Looking at this list we can easily assume that a Dutch meal hasn't been a meal if no dairy product has been put on the table. One of the possible reasons for the Dutch being so tall is said to be based on this consumption. (Well, it could be a secondary thing, as farmers tend to add growth hormones in cattle fodder).
Ingredients (12 p.):
10 eggs
½ level teaspoon salt
275 g. (8,84 oz tr) sugar
4 dl. (0.7 pints) cognac (brandy)
½ level teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation:
Separate the yoke from the whites and beat the yolk with the salt and sugar
until the mixture is thick and creamy. Add the cognac and beat again.
Put the mixture in a saucepan. Heat gently, whisking all the time until
the advocaat is warm (don't let it boil) and thick. Remove the pan from the
stove and add the vanilla extract. Stir. Pour into a jug.
Advocaat is served in a glass and eaten with a teaspoon. It could be topped
with whipped cream, like we Dutch like to do. Very yummy.
Coming back to my first remark: advocaat is nothing like the american eggnog.
Ingredients (12 pieces):
250 grams flour, 125 grams cold, firm butter, 1 deciliter water, a pinch of salt.
For the filling : 4 to 5 apples, approximately 4 tablespoons of sugar,
30 gr. currents, 30 gr. raisins, some cinnamon.
For brushing : 1 egg yoke or a mix of milk and sugar.
Preparation:
Prepare or buy (short crust) pastry. Roll the pastry not too thinly and cut out
large circles (6 in/15cm). Prepare the filling by cutting dice out of the pealed
apples and mix them with the sugar, cinnamon, well drained previously washed
currants and raisins. Do NOT prepare the filling in advance as the sugar will
melt making the pastry too damp. Heap some filling on each circle of pastry
and fold the edges over it, gluing the edges down with water.Brush each
apple fold with the egg yoke, which has been slightly beaten in a table spoon
of water or use the mix of milk and sugar. Put the folds on a buttered baking
tray and bake them in the middle of a hot oven in approx. 10 minutes until
golden brown and well cooked. Eat them not too long afterwards as the crust
will soon become limp because of the moist filling.
Ingredients:
For the dough : 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of butter (do not use margarine), 1 cup
(caster) sugar, 1 small egg, pinch of salt.
For the filling : 2 cups blanched almonds, quarter cup sugar, 1 small egg, grated peel of half a lemon.
Preparation:
Knead all the ingredients for the dough into a firm ball. Divide the dough in
two and press one half into a buttered pie pan of 1 inch (2½ cm) deep and
8 inch (20 cm) diameter. Make the filling.
Grind the blanched almonds, mix with sugar, beaten egg and lemon peel and grind once more. Place this almond paste on top of the dough layer and press the other half on top of both. Bake in moderate (350 degree Fahrenheit = 175 degrees Centigrade) oven until golden brown and done, about one hour. Remove from the pan and cool on wire rack. Cut in wedges or diamonds
I wouldn't try to make this at home.
A liquorice that is made of Arabian gum, some herbs, sugar and salt.
This is very popular among the Dutch, and is eaten in large
quantities. Some substances are said to be mildly addictive.
Foreigners (tourists), when confronted with the rubber like sweet often
consider the combination of taste and substance disgusting.
Oliebollen (Dutch Dough Balls, or so) are the traditional treat served at New Year's Eve. At New Year's Eve friends or family gather to celebrate the coming of the new year by playing games, watching television and or getting loaded (when one is younger). One can be certain to find a huge bowl/tray filled with oliebollen. One caution: since they are very greasy don't eat to many of them, for they don't mix with beer (yeast) and can very well make you very sick.
Ingredients:
500 grams of flour, 25 grams yeast, 3 ½ deciliter milk, 250 grams
(in total) of currants and raisins, some salt, if preferred also
2 apples oil or baking fat for deep frying.
Preparation:
Put the flower in a bowl, make in the center a depression and
pour the yeast, which has been dissolved with a bit of lukewarm milk, into
the hole. Add the remaining milk and stir. Stir the washed currants and
raisins (and, sliced into small dice, apples) through the mix.
Beat the mass to a smooth and airy mix and leave it, covered with a damp
cloth (e.g. tea towel) to rise in a warm place (i.e. on top of a bowl with warm
water) for about three quarters of an hour to one hour. Use two table spoons or an ice scoop
to shape balls and slide them into the hot oil or fat. The temperature of the
oil should be such that it is only just giving off vapor. Deep fry the oliebollen
quickly until brown and thoroughly done. They should be soft and not oil soaked
inside. Remove them from the oil with a skimmer or similar tool, leave for a short
while to leak on absorbent paper and serve them with powder sugar.
Ingredients:
2 cups of self raising flour, 1/2 (half) cup dark brown sugar (demerara sugar),
1/3 (one third) cup molasses or treacle, 1 cup of milk, 1 tsp. each of ground
cloves, cinnamon and ginger, 1/2 (half) tsp. grated nutmeg, pinch of salt.
Preparation:
Combine all the ingredients to a smooth paste. Butter an oblong 8" x 3" cake
tin, fill with dough and bake for about one hour in a slow oven (300 degrees F).
When cooked, allow to cool and keep in a tin or in the bread-bin for 24 hours
before serving.
This cake keeps moist when put in the bread-bin with the bread. The Dutch serve it with their tea time, buttered or on a slice of bread for breakfast.
Ingredients:
For one large pancake : 1 cup flour, salt, 2 large eggs or 3 medium (fills
½ cup when beaten), 1 cup milk, at least ¼ cup butter or margarine.
(multiply the above recipe with the number of pancakes you wish to make).
Preparation:
Put the flour and salt in a bowl, make a well in the middle and add the beaten
eggs. Mix to a smooth batter. Add the rest of the milk. Melt half the butter
in a heavy skillet. Pour the batter into it. Turn these pancakes frequently,
each time adding some butter. They should then become golden brown and
crisp at the sides.
Gewone Pannenkoeken (Regular Pancakes).
This recipe makes 4 big pancakes.
Ingredients:
4 cups of flour (or 4 cups of proprietary pancake mix if available), salt, 1 cake
yeast (60 grams), 4 cups lukewarm milk, butter or margarine.
Ingredients (12 p.):
Put the flour and the salt in a bowl. Make a depression in the center. Add
the diluted (with a little milk) yeast. Add 2 cups of milk and mix to a smooth
batter. Add the rest of the milk. Leave to rise for three quarters of an hour.
Heat enough butter in a heavy skillet. Pour in part of the butter and fry the
pancake on both sides. You can toss the pancake in the air for turning, if you
like. Try outs with someone standing by to catch them is advisable if this is your
first attempt ! :-) Otherwise use a spatula.
Keep them hot in the warming drawer and serve with sugar or molasses,
golden syrup or treacle.
St. Nicholas celebrates his birthday at december 6th, and each year he will come to the Netherlands with a huge ship packed with presents for all the children. Of course he isn't able to distribute all the presents among the children, so he has got the help of hordes of 'zwarte pieten', originally chimney sweepers as present were lowered through the chimney, but later for their black appearance they developed into black helpers. Slaves maybe even, in old days. Black Peter carries a sack full of presents and sweets, which he will joyfully throw into groups of children. The sack, however, can also be used to tug away naughty kids to be transported to Spain for penance. Nowadays there is debate on the political correctness of the Sinterklaas festivities. Typical.
Pepernoten, ingredients:
150 g self raising flour
75 g castor sugar (the brown variety, if possible)
90 g butter
2 tbsp milk
3 tsp speculaaskruiden
Officially this is a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg cloves pimento mace ground
ginger and cardamom, but leaving out some of the more exotic
spices will not be disastrous. (Personally I think it is)
Preparation:
Mix ingredients into a dough that can be easily managed
(add a little more milk if too crumbly, a little more flour if too wet).
Form into balls the size of a small marble,
Put them on a greased baking tray in the middle of a pre-heated oven
(150'C) for about 15-20 minutes.
TIP:
If you keep the pepernoten in a tin together with a piece of bread,
they won't get too hard.
Ingredients :
2 cups split green peas - 3 quarts of cold water -
1 cup bacon squares - 4 Frankfurters - 800 grams potatoes - 4 table spoons salt - 1 celeriac
(the root of a celery plant) - 1 bunch of celery green - 2 leeks (throw away the green parts) -
2 large onions (sliced into rings), to make things yuchy one could also add 1 pig's marrow bone.
Preparation :
Wash the peas, soak them for 12 hours and
boil gently in the water they were soaked in for at least two hours. Cook in this
liquid the marrow bone and the bacon for at least one hour. Add the
sliced potatoes, salt diced celeriac, cut up leeks and celery green and cook
until everything is done and the soup is smooth and thick. Add the Frank-
furters for the last 10 minutes. The longer the soup simmers the better the
taste. Three hours is the usual time in Holland.
Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 cup butter
1.5 cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
(the following are added according to preference)
1 pinch cloves
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch ginger
1 pinch black pepper
milk
blanched almonds
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Mould all the ingredients, but the almonds should be
kept apart. Add the milk until it makes a stiff paste that can be rolled out on a
baking tray. Cut roughly into rectangles and carve lines with the tip of
a knife. Press the almonds into the dough. bake until light brown.
Ingredients :
1 or 2 slices of lean bacon, 4 large onions, 800 grams potatoes, 800 grams carrots,
milk, 4 table spoons fat, butter or margarine, pepper.
Preparation:
Wash the meat, boil in 2 cups of water and salt for about 2 hours. Scrub and
mince the carrots. Peel, wash and slice onions and add them to the meat together
with peeled and cut potatoes and carrots. Boil until done (about 30 minutes).
Remove meat from pan. Mash all the vegetables and add fat, butter or margarine
and pepper. If too thick add some milk (but a spoon must stand up in it). Serve
with the sliced meat. The lot should be covered with rich, fat gravy.
The dish is eaten as a main meal dish.
Ingredients:
Dough:
4 cups flour
½ cup sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 pack of yeast
½ cup of warm water
Syrup:
1.5 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons dark corn syrup
Preparation:
Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Mould butter and flour into dough, while adding
sugar, eggs and yeast mixture. Set to rest for 30-60 minutes. Roll the dough into
balls and bake them in pizelle iron (wafer iron). In the meanwhile make the syrup
by boiling all the ingredients in a sauce pan. Split the wafers in half in pour
the hot syrup between the slides. Put the halves back together.
Ingredients :
250 grams of honey, 150 grams of syrup (treacle), 1 tablespoon ani seed,
two and a quarter deciliter of water, 250 gram patent flour, 500 grams rye flour,
20 grams of cookie herbs, one to one and a half of deciliter buttermilk, 1 table-
spoon of fine corn flour, 1 small packet of baking powder and some cooking oil,
butter, milk.
Preparation :
Put the honey/treacle/ani seed and water in a pan to the boil whilst stirring.
In the meantime mix the patent flour, rye flour and the cookie herbs. Rub the
contents in the pan which has been left to cool off first, through a sieve into
the mix of the flour and herbs. Mix thoroughly together. Leave the contents
in a pan (covered with a cloth) for a least a week in cool place.
After a week : Mix the fine corn flour and baking powder and sieve this into the
pan containing the week earlier prepared ingredients. Add the buttermilk and
thoroughly stir the final mix.
You will now need some kind of mould to pour the mix into to produce the figure- shaped Taai Taai cookies. In The Netherlands these moulds can be bought. They are usually cut into a wooden plank. Each plank containing about 6 figures. Similar moulds would do. Oil the moulds and fill them with (part of) the mix. Remove excess from the mould with a knife to make a clean, flat surface. Empty contents of the mould onto a flat, buttered, baking (oven) tray and brush with some milk. Bake in pre-heated oven of 220 degrees (centigrade) for about 30 minutes to a nice dark golden brown. Let them cool off and keep for at least another week before consuming them.
Tip :
If you are using small moulds, keep about one and a half cm distance
between each cookie.
As you will have noticed from the recipe, you will have to start making the Taai Taai two weeks before you plan to eat them !
Ingredients:
For the dough : a sweet bread dough (or fine bread dough) baked in a 10 inch
(25 cm) round pan or in 4 individual smaller pans, made of 2 cups flour (use
your own favorite recipe).
For the filling : any fruit, dried fruit, sugar.
Preparation:
Limburg Pies are thin, flat pieces made of bread dough. They are made in all
sizes
from 4 to 20 inches (10 to 50 cm) in diameter. For a pie of about 8 inches
(20 cm), a dough made of 2 cups of flour will suffice. For preparing dough
use recipe for sweet bread dough or fine bread dough adding a little butter
or margarine. Knead dough, leave it to rise, roll it out thinly, put it in a
greased round pan, cover up and leave to rise to double its size.
Prick
through the dough with fork or knife if it has risen too high. Cut (for instance)
the plums into halves, stone them and put them closely together on the dough
with the cut side upwards, or fill the pie with stoned cherries or stewed fruit.
Bake pie in hot oven (450 degr. Fahrenheit = 235 degr. Centigrade) for about
30 minutes. Sprinkle fruit with sugar 10 minutes before pie is taken out of the
oven, sprinkle once more when pie is done. If stewed fruit is used, mix fruit
with sugar before filling pie.
| ©Rick Vermunt |