Food

Stroopwaffles

Apparently, the first stroopwafels were baked in Gouda (also famous for its cheese) in the late 18th century. They are popular all over the Netherlands today, and while you can buy them abroad, they taste their best freshly (home)made, baked until golden and crispy with a melting caramel center and that familiar warm cinnamonny smell of Dutch fairgrounds and markets.

RECIPE

Waffle iron / Pizzelle
Butter (to grease the waffle iron)
25 g fresh yeast cake
1 teaspoon tepid milk
225 g softened butter (‘roomboter’)
75 g white sugar
1 egg
250 g flour
Pinch of salt
200 g syrup
125 g brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 45 min

Yield: makes 18-20

Dutch Pepernoten

In The Netherlands, you can buy pepernoten in the shops from October until December. This is because of the celebration of Saint Nicolas (‘ Sinterklaas’ ) on the 5th of December. These treats look like little tiny balls. Mixed with other sweets is what Zwarte Pieten (Black Pete’s, they are chimney sweeps) throw at children when they make their surprising entrance to visit families and schoolchildren. (Trust me, it’s delicious!)

To make pepernoten, you need to have some speculaas spices. In The Netherlands, you can buy them in every grocery store. If they don’t sell it in your country, you can mix them yourself!

RECIPE

To make the Speculaas spices, you need:

30 g ground cinnamon
10 g ground nutmeg
5 g ground aniseed
10 g ground cloves
5 g white pepper
5 g ground coriander

Now you’ve made your own Speculaas spices by mixing these ingredients, you can continue baking your pepernoten!

Ingredients:

250 g self-raising flour
125 g caster sugar
2 tsp speculaas spices
pinch of salt
100 g cold butter, cubed
60 ml milk

Combine the flour, speculaas spices, caster sugar, salt and butter in a large bowl. Mix everything together. Then add the milk and knead thoroughly for 5 minutes. Roll into small bals and place them on a baking tray lined, with baking paper. Bake at 200°C for 15 minutes.

kroketten and bitterballen

A typically Dutch recipe: kroketten and bitterballen. These are small fried breaded food rolls. They are basically the same, the difference is the shape. A kroket is oblong, a bitterbal is, as the Dutch name indicates, a little round ball.

The beginning of the kroket and bitterbal

The Dutch kroket and bitterbal started as a way of getting rid of leftovers. Did you have any meat, fish or cheese left? Turn it into a kroket! The base was always the same: a ragout, more thickened than when served as a stew. Originally it was served as a first course, presented on beautiful folded napkins, together with a sprig of parsley. It was then still called by its French name croquette.

Kroketten

These are seldom made at home nowadays, people buy them at the snack bar, often together with a portion of french fries (a standard combination like the British fish and chips). Or you can buy them deep frozen at the supermarket, to deep fry at home. The name kroket is Dutchified French from croquette.

De bitterbal

The name bitterbal, literally bitter ball, does not indicate that its taste is bitter, but that they were originally meant to be served with a bittertje (a small glass of Dutch jenever, not the same as gin as the translator tells you).

Bitterballen are still served in bars to accompany (alcoholic) beverages (like Spanish tapa), or served as finger food at birthdays or other meetings.

How do you make them?

First you prepare a ragout. This ragout, can be varied upon in many ways. Not only can the main ingredient be different (meat, fish, shrimp, vegetables), but of course the herbs and spices, the used liquid (stock, wine, milk, even plain water), and added ingredients (fried onions, bacon or mushrooms) can be changed too. Then the kroket is breaded and deep fried.

Ingredients:

600 gram cooked meat, chicken or beef

To make the roux

1 onion, chopped

60 gram (4 Tbsp.) butter

60 gram (1/2 cup) flour

1/2 liter (2 cups) stock

pepper,salt, mace, nutmeg to taste

For the breading

flour

eggs or egg whites

toasted breadcrumbs

Preparation in advance

Chop the meat very finely.

Make a roux with butter, flour and stock, but start with sautéing the onion. When the sauce is ready, add meat and spices. Let the ragout cool completely. Keep the ragout refrigerated until use, or freeze it.

Preparation

Keep the ragout in the refrigerator until just before making the kroketten. Use your hands to form either sticks (about 10 by 3 cm/4 by 1.25 inches) or balls (diameter 4 cm/1.5 inches). Don't make them too large, or they'll have to be deep fried too long. If necessary, return the formed kroketten to the refrigerator. It is easier to bread them when they are cold.

For the breading, take three soup plates, put flour in one, stirred eggs or egg whites in the second, and bread crumbs in the third plate. One by one, cover the kroketten with flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs. Mind that the kroketten are covered all over, otherwise the ragout may leak out when you deep fry them. Return the kroketten to the refrigerator for thirty minutes.

Heat oil or whatever you use for deep frying to 180 °C /355 °F. Fry the kroketten to a golden brown, about four minutes. Drain on paper towels.

To serve

Serve them really hot. In the Netherlands they are eaten as snack or appetizer, or as the main course with french fries and apple sauce. Or serve them the old-fashioned way, as a first course.

The classic accompaniment to bitterballen and kroketten is mustard.

QUICHE LORRAINE

Preheat oven to 200 ° C.

For the dough

You can buy one at the supermarket (shortcrust pastry)

Wheat flour: 250g

Soft butter: 125g

Yolk sac: 1

Water: 2cl

Fine salt: 1pinch

Mix the flour with the butter to obtain a smooth paste. Add the egg yolk, a pinch of salt and water. Mix again the dough without working it too much, and then turn it into a ball. Spread the dough in a pie pan of 20 cm in diameter.

For the garnish

Whole cream: 20cl

Whole milk: 20cl

Eggs: 2

Smoked bacon bits: 200g

Fine salt: 2pinch

Pepper mill: 4rouds

A TYPICAL "LIGEOIS" MEAL

La Salade liegeoise

This dish is often considered as a main dish but it can also be eaten as a starter. The salad from Liege is completely different from a traditional salad by the mere fact that there is no lettuce in it. In the Salade Liegeoise, you require way more ingredients. Indeed it is made with potatoes, onions, diced bacon, French beans, hard-boiled eggs and vinegar. It is a warm salad, that’s the reason why it’s more often eaten in winter rather than in other seasons.

Le Liegeois

Liegeois is the way the inhabitants of Liege are called but it is also the name of a typical drink really appreciated by the children. Basically, it is a mix of grenadine syrup and orangeade (Orangina or Fanta).

Boulet a la liegeoise

The “Boulet a la liegeoise” is definately the best meal to warm you up and to satisfy your hunger. It is a main dish which principal ingredient is meatballs most of the time, a mix of pork and beaf). Those meatballs are cover of a generous sweet sauce made out of Syrup of Liege,

caramelized onions and vinegar.

Those “boulets” are generally accompanied by French fries (which has the wrong name because it is a Belgian speciality!).

La Biere Curtius

The Curtius beer was awarded a Gold Medal at the World contest in 2015 by an international jury. Curtius is a blond beer made with a mix of different malts, barley and wheat. It’s unique flavour is the results of multiple fermentation steps which last several month. This beer is contained in a 37,5 cl bottle: just like a champagne one because of its value.

La Gaufre de Liege

A traditional waffle has to be:

- round and not square

- made up of 24 wholes in the waffle.

The ingredients are the following: 750g of pastry flour, 270cl of tepid milk, 30g of dried yeast, 3 eggs and 2 eggs yolk, a pinch of salt, a little bit of vanilla sugar, 400g of softened butter and 500g of pearl sugar from Tirlemont (Belgium). This specific sugar is essential because it doesn’t melt during the baking. It is really easy to bake, you just have to mix everything altogether except from the butter and the sugar. Than wait 30 minutes before adding the softened butter and finally knead the dough with a food processor rather than with the hands in order to avoid the butter to melt. Add the sugar at the last moment than let it rest during 15 minutes. After all, divide the dough in balls of 75g more or less. In the end, bake the dough balls in a waffle iron during up to 3 minutes.

Le Peket

Peke in Walloon means Juniper berries which are the main flavour of those alcoholic shots. It is renowned due to the wide variety of flavour: chocolate, speculoos, passion fruit, cherry…

The most popular place where it is sold is called “The House Of The Peket”.