Typical Dutch Food
You can set out on a journey in various areas of your life, also in the culinary ones. We can experience completely new tastes and enrich our lives with new experiences. Let’s go on a real adventure!
Dutch cuisine - what to try?
Culinary tourism is back! Before the pandemic, it was very popular, unfortunately, the coronavirus severely limited our travel options. Today we can travel again in search of new flavors and experience culinary curiosities. That is why we decided to take a look at the meals that are worth tasting in the Netherlands. Even if you already live in this country, you may find that you haven’t tried some of the dishes, so be sure to check out our top list.
Basic menu
The basis of the traditional menu of the Dutch is steaks, fish and seafood. The Dutch love filling soups and stewed dishes. These dishes are prepared mainly based on potatoes, meat, and vegetables, and their advantage is that they are simple and quick to make. In Dutch cuisine, little attention is paid to details, its dishes are not very popular in the world, and the Dutch themselves somehow do not boast about their cuisine. However, you can find some tasty inspiration in its specialties.
Favorite meal
The Dutch people's favorite hot dish is a dish consisting of boiled potatoes with jus sauce (a brown sauce made of melted fat or butter, in which the meat was previously baked), slightly overcooked vegetables (carrots, onions, zucchini) and a large-sized fried minced cutlet balls (gehaktbal). Doesn't sound too fancy, does it? However, it can be quite tasty!
Mashed potatoes with sides
One of such dishes is stamppot, or "mashed pot". The dish is boiled potatoes and other vegetables served in the form of puree, usually with deeply fried bacon. In winter, the version with kale and Dutch smoked rookworst sausage is popular. Side dishes are endive ("andijvie stamppot"), spinach and sauerkraut (zuurkool). The hutspot ("pot mess"), which is essentially mashed potatoes, carrots and onions, is also popular. Preferably eaten with klapstuk, i.e. stewed beef brisket. There will also be a vegetarian version - hete bliksem - mashed potatoes, onions, apples and pears.
Dutch soups
The Dutch like thick, rich soups that allow them to eat well. No wonder, they cycle for half a day, so they may need a hearty meal! One of the most popular soups is erwtensoep - a thick pea soup made of green shelled peas. It is only cooked in winter. Bruine bonensoep soup is also eagerly eaten - prepared from brown beans.
Carnivores
The Dutch like meat, you can find a lot of it in the traditional menu of this country. Not everything sounds tasty, such as draadjesvlees, literally 'fibrous meat', which is actually braised beef. In the Netherlands, they also eat krabbetje - ribs and fried bacon slices called speklappen.
Sea fish and seafood
The seafood has to be present in the cuisine of a country located by the sea! That is why you will find fried flounder (gebakken schol) on the Dutch menu; mosselen - steamed sea shells (mussels) with spices and garnalen - shrimps most often served as appetizers in various salads. Haring is a hit - Dutch herring. It is small and delicate in taste, therefore it is not as heavily salted as other herring. It is traditionally eaten with an onion, held by the tail and inserted into the open mouth vertically from the top.
Bon Appetit!
The Dutch eat three meals a day: breakfast, lunch (between 12.00 and 13.00) and a warm dinner (most often at 18.00). Traditional Dutch cuisine influenced the development of cuisine in the New World (around 1650), the custom of using a fork. They also popularized the eating of tomatoes, lettuce, coleslaw, and donuts, which are now known as American donuts. That’s not all. They popularized the eating of pretzels, pancakes, waffles, and small shortbread cookies.
