IT'S DUTCH, AND MIRACULOUSLY EDIBLE

Apparently the World Championship of Snert and Stampot cooking was held in Groningen yesterday. Alas, I have no recipes to share of this staggering culinary event, as I was not there.
And even if I were on the other side of the Atlantic, I would not attend. Although Snert and Stampot are among the quintessential masterpieces of Dutch cuisine, both pale in comparison to the unchallenged queen of the Dutch kitchen: nasi goreng.


There. In one short paragraph, I have probably insulted more than ninety percent of both Netherlanders and Indonesians.


Snert is a split pea soup of the thickness of spackle, which in addition to the main ingredient also contains a very large carrot, a smoked sausage of fierce proportion, and celeriac. Stampot consists of potatoes mashed with curly kale or turnip greens, carrots, onions, and lardons or fry-meat gravy added for flavour. It's a close cousin of hutspot. Either may be served with some nice fatty grilled or braised pork alongside.
Nasi goreng is fried rice. What makes it typically dutch is the inclusion of sweet soysauce (ketjap manis), shrimp paste, chives, plus pork and bacon-like substances, often with a soupçon of something spicy.
It's really really good with a frikadel alongside.

What makes all of these things "Dutch" is the presence of fatty pork in the dish, plus excellent mustard and hot chili paste on the table.


And, by that standard, even though I use mostly ingredients purchased nearby, in San Francisco Chinatown, as well as things for which there are no Dutch or English names, what I cook is Dutch.

Got bacon, got spicy mustard, got sambal.

Dutcher than that it cannot get.


[There is more to the Dutch national kitchen than that, of course. It also includes lots of beer, herring and other fish, various deep fried objects, plus potatoes buggered-up, and mayonnaise. Lots of mayonnaise.]


Speaking of such things, there are two pounds of five flower pork loin (五花腩 'ng faa naam') in the freezer, still waiting to be cut into hunks of a size suitable for single serving dishes. There's also some laap yiuk (臘肉) in the refrigerator, which steams up marvelously, requiring only slivered ginger and sambal oelek (辣椒醬 'laat chiu jeung') to become a splendid accompaniment to either yau choi (油菜) or gai lan (芥蘭).
It can also be nicely combined with snow vegetable (梅菜 'mui choi'), sour cabbage (酸菜 'suen choi') or simmered in stock, shrimp paste (鹹蝦醬 'haam haa jeung') and sherry. Great over rice.

In lieu of five spice powder (五香粉 'ng heung fan'), you could use nutmeg (荳蔻 'dou kou'). That too makes it Dutch.

Don't forget the two condiments.


AFTERWORD

By the way: the two recipes in this link mui choi kau yiuk and suen choi paak yiuk are very nice indeed with either hutspot or stampot.

Laap yiuk (preserved pork belly strip) is good in snert.

If you want a more authentically authentic Dutch food experience, try kale and potato mash with smoked sausage. For a better overview of my tastes in food, see here: cooking with a lizard.
For oddities, a series: bachelor chow.


There is no mayonnaise in my kitchen.
But there used to be.




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