Did you know that stamppot is a traditional Dutch dish that really warms you on a cold winter’s night?
Stamppot (literal translation: ‘mash pot’) is the Dutch name for mashed potatoes mixed with any mashed vegetable and usually served with bacon bits or smoked sausage and some gravy. The Dutch have enjoyed this dish for centuries during cold winters because it is delicious, nutritious and easily prepared in large quantities.
Stamppot ingredients
There are many versions of stamppot with different vegetables: boerenkool (kale), hutspot (winter carrots and onions) and hete bliksem (apples and onions) and varieties with curly endive or sauerkraut. You can pretty much use every other vegetable or even fruit.
How to make stamppot
The ingredients are boiled in plenty of water in the same large pot. After the water is drained, everything is roughly mashed together with a potato masher. To keep the chunky texture, the ingredients are not mashed into a smooth purée.
Leave simmer, stir occasionally and add salt, pepper and butter. Stamppot is served piping hot with gravy, bacon bits or smoked sausage (‘rookworst’ in Dutch) on top. The meat is not mashed in.
Another method of preparation is to boil the potatoes and vegetables separately and then mash it all together.
Little crater of gravy
The Dutch like to make a little hole in the middle of the stamppot on their plate and fill it with gravy. This is called ‘kuiltje jus’ (literal translation: ‘little pit of gravy’).
Hete bliksem
Hete bliksem is made of two parts potatoes, one part of sour apples and one part of sweet apples (or pears) and some onions. Because of the moisture in the apples and pears, this dish stays hot for a long time, hence the name hete bliksem (‘hot lightning’).
Another explanation for this name is that the almost boiled-to-mush apples easily stick to the palate, sometimes burning the roof of your mouth or causing burn blisters.
Links to stamppot recipes
Boerenkoolstamppot (potatoes and curly kale)
Hete bliksem (potatoes, apples and pears)
Hutspot with klapstuk (winter carrot, onions and braised beef)
Andijviestamppot (potatoes and curly endive)
Smakelijk eten! Enjoy your meal!
