Deveron Projects Food Chain 22nd February 2021

Going Dutch

Boerenkoolstamppot & Boterkoek

with Roosje de Graaff

Boterkoek – Butter Cake 1. H International Phonetic Alphabet: ˈboː.tərˌkuk/ Hyphenation: bo‧ter‧koek.

In the Netherlands, Butter Cake is a typical delicacy, delicious with tea or coffee.1 We often eat a piece of butter cake at “koffietijd” which is the Dutch equivalent of the British tea time (often between breakfast & lunch/lunch & dinner/after dinner). The outside should be crispy but the inside still nice and soft. The taste is determined by the quality of the butter, so use the best butter you can find.

Butter Cake is a rich, buttery, sweet treat that really is not a cake nor a cookie and can only bear the name “butter cake” when real butter is used. Thanks to extensive use of butter, the dough of this sweet treat is very tender, just like the dough of Shortbread. However, the difference between Shortbread and Butter Cake is the amount of sugar used in the dough.

Ingredients & Utensils • 250gr flour • Optional: ½ lemon zest and/or seeds of • 225gr unsalted butter a ½ vanilla pod • 150gr caster sugar • Spring form (diameter: 20 – 24 cm) • A pinch of salt • Baking paper • 1 egg, beaten (or bit of milk) • Optional: mixer

Preparations

• Preheat the oven to 170 ° C (Conventional heating) | 160 ° C (Fan oven). Grease the springform pan/circular cake tin with butter. After doing this, line the bottom and the sides of the tin with baking paper.

In the Netherlands, butter cake is usually made in a butter cake baking tin with a diameter of 20-24 centimeters. However, a springform will also do.

• In a large mixing bowl/bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Toss in the butter, the lemon zest and/or scraped seeds from ½ vanilla pod (optional). Use

1 Dutch Fact: Don’t call the Netherlands ‘Holland’. To clarify, the Netherlands consists of 12 provinces, and Holland is an area that is made up of two provinces; North-Holland (Noord-Holland) and South-Holland (Zuid- Holland). your fingers or the mixer and paddle to work the butter into the flour until there are no large lumps of butter. Then knead the mix into a cohesive dough.

• Put the dough in the tin and try to press it until it is flat. The best method to do this is with the convex side of a wet spoon. Make sure you get the top smooth.

• Beat 1 egg and brush the dough with the beaten egg. This can also be done with a bit of milk.

• Use a fork to create the lattice pattern on top. Bake until golden-brown and cool completely before cutting.

• Bake the butter cake for 30 to 40 minutes until the top is golden brown. Please check regularly. For the people using the fan oven, make sure to keep a close eye on the butter cake as it tend to go fast.

• As soon as you take the cake out of the oven, flatten it with the convex side of a spoon. If you don’t do that, it will become brittle.

• Let the butter cake cool down in the tin for at least 6 hours or so and then remove it with the help of the baking paper. The reason why it takes so long is because the butter has to harden again. Don’t worry, the cakes tastes even nicer the next day.

• Don’t store your cake in the fridge but in a cookie jar or transparent foil.2

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2 Dutch Fact: there are more bicycles in the Netherlands than people.

Boerenkoolstamppot met Rookworst – Mashed Potatoes with Kale and smoked Sausage

Dutch Boerenkool Stamppot (literally translated: farmers cabbage hodgepodge) is probably one of the most authentic Dutch dishes. To be fair, it is not the most appealing looking dish we offer, however, it is a warm, filling dish that reminds many Dutch people of home. On cold winter days, Stamppot is eaten in the Netherlands. This is a one-pot dish of potatoes with vegetables such as: kale, sauerkraut, endive or carrots and onions that is served with (smoked) sausage or a steak and gravy. For a long time – into the twentieth century – such dishes were prepared during the harvest months (late July to early October), when workers worked long days in the fields and needed a lot of energy to do the hard work.

Horrible histories – Dutch edition What is the origin? The oldest variant of Stamppot is Hutspot, which is mashed potatoes with carrots and onions. The legend goes that we have to thank the Spanish for this dish. During the Eighty Years' War, our small country was full of Spanish soldiers from the warm south. Often a sort of stew, consisting of carrots, parsnips, onions and meat, was eaten at the Spanish army base. When the dikes at Leiden were breached in 1574 and the Spaniards withdrew, the hungry Dutch raid their camp in search of food. There they found a pan of Stamppot that would soon be known as Hutspot. Every year, on 3rd October, people in Leiden celebrate and commemorate ‘Siege of Leiden,’ they do this by eating haring and Hutspot.

It was a few centuries later that we replaced the parsnip with potatoes. With the arrival of the potato, Stamppot was further expanded to include other vegetables. Strangely enough, this is nothing compared to today’s Stamppot. It was only a hundred years ago that the first dishes appeared where everything was mashed together. With this Food Chain I am not making the oldest variant of Stamppot, thus Hutspot, but I will make Boerenkoolstamppot. In the Netherlands, this is just as popular as Hutspot. The reason why I choose this Stamppot is because I prefer the taste more and I ate it a lot as a child.

Ingredients & Utensils (for 4 people)

• 400gr finely chopped kale • Salt, pepper, nutmeg • 1kg peeled potatoes - halved into • Pinch of milk and/or 20g butter equal pieces • Side optional: gravy, mustard, • 200gr smoked bacon lardons pickled onions, piccalilli (optional) • Large pan • 260gr Smoked Pork Sausage (or • Potato masher vegetarian/vegan sausages) • Aluminum foil

Preparations

• Wash the kale before you chopped them finely with a kitchen knife. Make sure to leave out the kale stems:

• Peel the potatoes and halve them into equal pieces – wash them after peeling with cold water.

• Cook water in a kettle.3

• Bring a large pot of water with a pinch of salt to the boil and add the potatoes in equal sizes. Add the finely chopped kale and let it float on top of the potatoes. Put the lid on the pan and cook the potatoes and kale for about 20 minutes. When the first 5 minutes are passed, and if you have the pre-packaged smoked sausage, put the sausage in its

3 Dutch Facts: The Dutch are the tallest nation in the world plastic in the pan on the kale (see picture). If you have vegetarian/vegan sausages just fry them separately in another pan, follow the instructions on the package.

• While the potatoes & kale are cooking, fry in a separate pan the smoked bacon lardons. You don’t need to put any oil/butter beforehand, the bacon has enough fat. Do this for 3 to 4 minutes and then let them drain on kitchen paper. If you prefer to keep the Stamppot vegetarian, just skip this instruction. When adding gravy to the dish, also start making this while the kale and potatoes are cooking.

• After 20 minutes of cooking, get the sausage out of the pan first and put it in aluminum foil to keep it warm

• Drain the potatoes and kale.

• Start smashing potatoes & kale. To get it smooth add a pinch of milk and/or butter. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the bacon lardons and stir it into the mashed potatoes/kale.

• Spread on plates and serve with the sausage. You can add any of the following as a side to complement the dish: mustard/gravy/pickled onions/piccalilli.

• If you choose to add gravy, in the Netherlands it is very custom to make a gravy volcano, to give you an idea:4

4 Dutch Facts: Orange is the national color of the Netherlands. The Dutch also turned carrots orange.