Snert, traditional winterfare Dutch cuisine has few internationally known highlights. Gouda cheese is one them, maatjesharing (young herring eaten slightly salted but essentially raw) is another. Snert or pea soup is also an icon of Dutch cuisine. As with all traditional recipes Dutch pea soup is made in many different ways. It is an ideal…
With meat
Chicken stock
To the list with recipes for stock and soup Basic recipe – 3½ liter (3 UK quarts, 3.7 US quarts) Commercial chicken stock is often a rather pale liquid. The taste is salty and artificial. Just try making this chicken stock and taste how a simple chicken broth should REALLY taste. To begin with: chicken…
Mallard with onion sauce
Straight to the recipe An English recipe from the fifteenth century A recipe from an English manuscript from the middle of the fifteenth century, Harleian 4016 from the library of the British Museum. The cookbook opens with the menu of a banquet that was served to king Richard II and the Duke of Lancaster on September 23 1387 in…
Pasties with sweetbread
Straight to the recipe What Johann Sebastian Bach might have eaten in Leipzig The connection between the pasties and the famous German baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is tenuous; a few years after Susanna Eger had published her cookbook (in 1706), J.S. Bach accepted the situation of cantor in the Lutheran Thomaskirche in Leipzig. He would work there from 1723 until his…
Escoffier’s Salsify Fritters
Straight to the recipe The picture shows the garden terrace of the Ritz Hotel in Paris, which openend its doors in 1898. This is one of the legendary hotels that were run by César Ritz (1850-1918) and Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935). I have spend many hours searching for a nineteenth-century painting with black salsify, but alas,…
Indonesian chicken stock
Indonesian cuisine does not have soups as a first course, although sometimes they appear on the menu through Chinese and Western influences. One of the dishes in which Indonesian broth is used is soto. That is a ‘full-bodied’ main-course soup, with the meat used for the stock, vegetables, and for example cooked eggs, peanuts, rice or…
Mulahwaja
Straight to the recipe A recipe from 1001 nights There are few Europeans who can read and understand Arabic, let alone medieval Arabic, and I am not one of them. That is why the translation in English of the tenth century Kitāb al-Ţabīkh of al-Warrāq from Nawal Nasrallah is so valuable (also literally, the book is quite…
Roman health food
A nourishing recipe from the first century AD Straight to the recipe Hadrian’s Wall is the iconic heritage monument of Roman presence in Britain. It still determines the border between England and Scotland. The remains of Romanpresence in the Netherlands are less obvious, but the Dutch are becoming more and more aware of this part of their…
Scappi’s Macaroni
Straight to the recipe A lot of work, but also a lot of fun The previous historical recipe on Coquinaria consisted of three parts: two recipes for macaroni from World War One, and a page on the production of industrial pressed macaroni. There is also a page with part two of the history of making macaroni and other…
Chicken Salad
What to do with soup chicken What to do with all the tasty chicken meat from the boiling hen when you have made chicken stock? This recipe for chicken salad is better with meat from a boiling hen than with a pale chicken breast. It tastes great on toast or on bread, or it can be…
Barley soup for a ball
Straight to the recipe Double take The Netherlands celebrated the bicentennial of their existence as a kingdom in 2013. But at the time that was actually 198 years ago, not 200. From 1813 to 1815 the Netherlands were the Souverijne Vorstendom der Verëenigde Nederlanden (the sovereign principality of the united Netherlands). We didn’t have a king, but a prince….
Lamb-chops Pie
Straight to the recipe A Dutch recipe from the eighteenth century To serve lamb on Easter Sunday is an ancient custom. Although this recipe is not specifically intended for an Easter meal, this pie will be a great succes when served on the occasion. With a salad or mixed spring vegetables this is an excellent…
Dutch barley soup
Straight to the recipe This barley soup is not French haute cuisine as Carême’s recipe is. It is Dutch and was published in Aaltje, de volmaakte en zuinige keukenmeid (‘Aaltje, the perfect and thrifty cook’), a popular cookery book from the early nineteenth century (1803). In fact it was so popular that in 1887 a teacher of house economics, Odilia Corver, thought to…
Nourishing square omelette
Straight to the recipe Medieval stuffed omelette with marrow Some years ago I prepared a menu in the Culinair-historisch Kookmuseum (‘culinary cookery museum’) in Appelscha in the North of the Netherlands, consisting of medieval recipes with marrow from first course to dessert. The menu was called To the bone (Tot op het bot). The recipe below was one of…
Dutch beef stew or ‘hachee’
Great with mashed potatoes and red cabbage Hachee (pronunciation ɦɑʃeː or hashay) is a traditional Dutch winter dish with beef. It has an almost medieval flavour, because of the use of vinegar and peperkoek (something like gingerbread but not quite the same). Hachee can be served as a separate dish, but I have chosen to prepare an oven dish, with red cabbage and apple on the bottom…