Straight to the recipe Tompouce is the Dutch version of mille-feuille. It is popular throughout the year, but on some days, it is almost traditional to eat this pastry. And on those days, the tompouce is not decorated with the customary pink glaze, but with orange glaze to emphasize the connection to our royal family…
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An old family recipe
I have good memories of this salad. My grandmother (on the right, with me on her lap) prepared it during long vacations during the summer in Maastricht, the Southern-most city of the Netherlands, when it was very hot. My mother also had it on her repertoire as an easy meal during heatwaves. So this is…
Excellent almond cookies
Straight to the recipe In the Middle Ages, cookies were served during the banquet or the final course of a festive meal, along with fresh or preserved fruit and spiced wine. During the sixteenth century the Italians even started their meals with sweet cookies, according to the menus provided by Bartolomeo Scappi (Opera, 1570, see…
Basis recipe – Mayonnaise
To the page with Tips & Tricks If but one tablespoon is needed, just use mayonnaise from a jar. But in some dishes mayonnaise is an important ingredient, and then it is very rewarding to make one’s own. When buying mayonnaise in a store, always check the list of ingredients. Water should never be listed,…
Medieval onion stew
Straight to the recipe The recipe for this nourishing dish has survived in several medieval English manuscripts. Although it is not stated explicitly, the dish is typically meant for Lent. It contains olive oil and almond milk, and lacks any meat or dairy products. The main ingredient are onions. In the picture a man and…
If you’re feeling under the weather
I prepared this beverage with barley water and almonds for the promotion on the Foodie Festival in Amsterdam of my most recent book Het geheim van de keukenmeid (The cook’s secret). Theme of this publication is recipes from the eighteenth century from printed cookery books with the word ‘keukenmeid’ (kitchen maid or cook) in the…
Braised Belgian Endives
Straight to the recipe Belgian endives are not widely appreciated. It does not look very attractive once it is cooked, with its grey and slimy exterior. That is why generally speaking, today this vegetable is eaten raw as salad, or only slightly cooked. Imagine my horrified surprise when I read the recipe for Belgian endives…
Speculoos ice cream
Can one enjoy ice cream during winter? Absolutely! This ice cream with speculoos is a great way to use left-over speculoos cookies from the celebration of Dutch Santa Claus. It can be served as a refreshing entremet between courses, and of course it is a great dessert – especially when accompanied by a glass of…
Fish with leeks for Lent
Straight to the recipe Herring, often in preserved form, is very important food for medieval people. During the fifteenth century, when the recipe on this page was written, one could buy very salty pickle herring, dried herring en smoked herring. The English have, just like the Dutch, several kinds of smoked herring, like kipper, bloater…
Refreshing almond lemonade
Straight to the recipe This is a recipe with a short introduction, belonging to the series of recipes for the group stage of the WC Soccer 2019 for women. Each day I published a recipe from a country that was playing on that day, and the Netherlands played their first game on Tuesday 11 June….
Cheese biscuits
Straight to the recipe The first recipes for 2019 both concern hot, mulled wine. To accompany these wines, I have added this recipe for cheese biscuits from a French cookery book that we used for our Christmas dinner 2018: La cuisine de monsieur Momo, célibataire. This was originally published in 1930. These biscuits were served…
Royal Punch from Poland
Straight to the recipe The recipe on this page is a historical version of the Feuerzangenbowle that can also be found on Coquinaria. Both are for hot, mulled wine that is sweetened by a sugar cone which is drenched in rum and set alight above the punch bowl. I was looking for a historical version of the…
Feuerzangenbowle, playing with fire
In October 2018 I gave a guest-talk for an international group of ex-pats in The Hague on spiced wines through the ages. It was a great evening, especially because these people, from all over the world, quite liked the experience. One of the people present was Thomas, a German. He asked me whether I had…
Vegetarian cutlets from World War I
Straight to the recipe Recently a book was published containing the biography of the Dutch chef Iwan Kriens (1871- ca 1957) who had a very succesful career in England. To honour the occasion, this page contains a recipe from The Victory Cookery Book, which he wrote with Mrs C.S. (Dorothy) Peel in 1918. Kriens already had…
Stock from winter vegetables
A recipe from a century ago I prepared this vegetarian stock for the vegetable cutlets from Iwan Kriens. The stock recipe is also from his cookbook, that he wrote with Dorothy Peels in 1918 to provide the British with recipes to use during the food rationing. More can be read at the recipe for vegetable…