Very simple The recipe is taken from ms KANTL Gent 15, second part. Edition: W.L. Braekman, Een nieuw zuidnederlands kookboek uit de vijftiende eeuw. Scripta 17, Brussel, 1986, recipe nr 92 (edition p.53). About this manuscript. The erweijten (peas) in this recipe can mean either green peas or marrow fat (or field) peas. The liquid in which peas were…
Netherlands
Gerstepap voor zieken
Meteen naar het recept Wie eet er tegenwoordig nog pap? Mijn opa, geboren in 1904, ontbeet ermee. Vaak at hij havermoutpap, maar soms ook lammetjespap (met melk en bloem). Wij, logerende kleinkinderen, vonden dat maar raar. Nu vind ik het heerlijk om in de winter de dag te beginnen met warme havermoutpap in plaats van…
Melon pie from the eighteenth century
Straight to the recipe Deze meloentaart is heerlijk bij koffie of thee, maar in de achttiende eeuw werd hij tegelijk met de tweede gang met vlees- en groentegerechten geserveerd. Het recept komt uit het Hollands of Neederlands kookboek (HNK) uit 1724. Ondanks de patriottische titel heeft dit kookboek vooral uit Franse bronnen geput, met name…
Kale with chestnuts and groats
Straight to the recipe A recipe from the cook of Stadtholder Willem IV The recipe on this page is from Le cuisinier moderne, written by the French cook Vincent La Chapelle (1690 or 1703-1745). He wrote his book first in English, while he was in the service of the fourth Earl of Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope. The…
Plum Pie and Pieter Cornelisz Hooft
Straight to the recipe A delicious Dutch pie from the seventeenth century Straight to the recipe Summer is plum season. In Dutch the expression tot in de pruimentijd (litterally ‘see you in the plum season’) has a special meaning: ‘Until we meet again, whenever that may be’. This expression is commonly ascribed to Pieter Cornelisz. Hooft (1581-1647), but there are…
Parsnip salad
Straight to the recipe A sixteenth-century Dutch recipe This winter salad for parsnips is taken from a Dutch cookbook from the middle of the sixteenth century. It is a translation from a recipe by the Italian humanist Platina (Bartolomeo Sacchi) in De honeste voluptate (published in 1474, edition Milham, see bibliography). The Dutch cookbook bears the title Eenen nyeuwen…
Mille-feuille the Dutch way
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…
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…
Real Dutch kroket and bitterbal
The picture shows my daughter and some of her friends at her birthday party many years ago (in 2002). As part of the festivities they were preparing their own meal, the standard birthday fare for a lot of Dutch children in the past: kroketten, French fries and apple sauce, but everything made from scratch. They…
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…
Excellent cookies
This is a recipe for small but rich cookies. High tea is not customary in the Netherlands, but we do serve a biscuit or cookie with a cup of coffee or tea, in the morning as well as in the afternoon. At what time of the day would these cookies have been served in the eighteenth…
Quince pie
Straight to the recipe A very special pie from the sixteenth century There is a growing interest for vegetables and fruit from the past. Compared to, say the seventeenth century, the variety in apples, pears and plumbs has become less and less. Nowadays it is mainly those varieties that are easy to grow, have a high…
Sup with prunes and raisins
Straight to the recipe A dish for Lent This recipe for a ‘sup’ from the middle of the eighteenth century demonstrates the original meaning of the word soep (soup in English). The (toasted) bread at the bottom of the dish soaks in the juices of the dish, and adds filling carbohydrates to it. Often the…
Traditional Dutch herring salad
The Dutch are famous for eating ‘Dutch new’ or ‘matjes’ herring, which is essentially still raw. Tourists stare with fascinated abhorrence at those strange people who let the fish slide down their throats with extatic expressions on their face. But why would this be any less delicious than eating Japanese sashimi? And the herring is…