''Stamppot'' (
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
: 'mash pot') is a traditional Dutch dish made from a combination of
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
es mashed with one or several vegetables.
History and description
These vegetable pairings traditionally include
sauerkraut
Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferme ...
,
endive
Endive () is a leaf vegetable belonging to the genus '' Cichorium'', which includes several similar bitter-leafed vegetables. Species include '' Cichorium endivia'' (also called endive), '' Cichorium pumilum'' (also called wild endive), and ''Ci ...
,
kale
Kale (), or leaf cabbage, belongs to a group of cabbage (''Brassica oleracea'') cultivars grown for their edible leaves, although some are used as ornamentals. Kale plants have green or purple leaves, and the central leaves do not form a head ...
,
spinach
Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...
,
turnip
The turnip or white turnip (''Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''rapa'') is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, fleshy taproot. The word ''turnip'' is a compound of ''turn'' as in turned/rounded on a lathe and ' ...
greens, or
carrot
The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nat ...
and
onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...
(the combination of the latter two is known as ''
hutspot
''Hutspot'' (Dutch), ''hochepot'' (French), or hotchpotch (English), is a dish of boiled and mashed potatoes, carrots, and onions with a long history in traditional Dutch cuisine. Hutspot is also found in the Indonesian cuisine due to their c ...
'' in the Netherlands and as ''
wortelstoemp'' in Belgium). Leafy greens such as endive may be left raw and added to the potatoes only at the mashing stage.
[ Some less common regional varieties of ''stamppot'' are made with fruit and potatoes, such as ''blauwe bliksem'' (blue lightning), made with pears, and ''hete bliksem'' (hot lightning), made with sweet apples.][ Pineapple may also be included in sauerkraut or endive stamppot.] In recent years, variations on the traditional stamppot have been becoming more and more popular with people adding ingredients such as rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
, leek
The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus ''Alli ...
s, beet
The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant, usually known in North America as beets while the vegetable is referred to as beetroot in British English, and also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet, dinner beet or golden beet ...
s, sweet potato
The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...
, mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...
s and various other vegetables. Sometimes, fish is used as an ingredient in stamppot as well. Stamppot is primarily a cold-weather dish.
''Stamppot'' is usually served with sausage
A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders.
...
(in the Netherlands often smoked, in Belgium more often fried), julienned bacon, or stewed meat. Other accompaniments include cheese, gherkins, nuts, and pickled onions.[
Prepared ''stamppot'' can be purchased from shops and supermarkets. It can also be ordered in cafe-style restaurants, but more strict recent regulations about allowed foods in ]tavern
A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...
s versus restaurants has restricted the custom of offering simple dishes in many Belgian pubs.
The origin of ''stamppot'' is unknown, although legend attributes the invention of ''hutspot'' to the 1574 Siege of Leiden
The siege of Leiden occurred during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War in 1573 and 1574, when the Spanish under Francisco de Valdez attempted to capture the rebellious city of Leiden, South Holland, the Netherlands. The siege fa ...
. Using raw leafy vegetables instead of cooking them with the potatoes has not been dated to earlier than 1940.
Preparation
There are two methods of preparing ''stamppot'', the first being the more modern form:
# ''Stamppot'' is prepared by boiling the vegetables and potatoes separately. Once done, the potatoes are added to the same pot as the vegetables and all are thoroughly mashed together. ''Rookworst
The Rookworst (; smoked sausage) is a type of Dutch sausage in which ground meat is mixed with spices and salt and stuffed into a casing (originally made of intestine, but these days usually made of bovine collagen). Described as a Bologna-type ...
'', a type of smoked sausage, is the preferred piece of meat to be added to the dish in the Netherlands.
# ''Stamppot'' can also be made in a single pot. Potatoes and the vegetables or fruit of choice are placed in the pot. Water is added, and the mixture is left to boil. After the vegetables are cooked and drained, some milk, butter and salt are added, and the vegetables are mashed together. Sometimes the same pot is used to warm sausage as well, but those aren't mashed in. An example often cooked by this method is ''hutspot'' with carrots and onions as vegetables.
Lardon
A lardon, also spelled lardoon, is a small strip or cube of fatty bacon, or pork fat (usually subcutaneous fat), used in a wide variety of cuisines to flavor savory food and salads. In French cuisine, lardons are also used for larding, by thr ...
s (''spekjes'') are often added for flavoring. It is also common to make a small hole in the top of the mix on the plate and fill it with gravy, known in Dutch as a ''kuiltje jus'' (little gravy pit).
Similar dishes
* Bubble and squeak
Bubble and squeak is a British dish made from cooked potatoes and cabbage, mixed together and fried. The food writer Howard Hillman classes it as one of the "great peasant dishes of the world".Hillman, pp. 62–63 The dish has been known sin ...
, from England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
* Champ and colcannon
Colcannon () is a traditional Irish dish of mashed potatoes with cabbage or kale.
Description
Colcannon is most commonly made with only four ingredients: potatoes, butter, milk and cabbage (or kale). Irish historian Patrick Weston Joyce defined ...
, from Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
* Rumbledethumps
Rumbledethumps is a traditional dish from the Scottish Borders. The main ingredients are potato, cabbage and onion. Similar to Irish colcannon and English bubble and squeak, it is either served as an accompaniment to a main dish or as a main di ...
, from Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
* '' Stoemp'', from Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
* ''Trinxat
Trinxat is a food from the Pyrenees, principally Andorra and the Catalan comarques of Cerdanya and Alt Urgell. It is made with potatoes, cabbage and pork meat, and resembles bubble and squeak. The name, meaning “mashed” or “chopped”, is ...
'', from the Empordà
Emporda (from the official name in ca, Empordà, , name in es, Ampurdán, ) is a natural and historical region of Catalonia, Spain, divided since 1936 into two ''comarques'', Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà.
The city of Figueres, an important u ...
region of Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
, northeast Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, and Andorra
, image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg
, symbol_type = Coat of arms
, national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...
References
Further reading
* Bates, J (1988). ''Let's Go Dutch'', van der Zeijst Publishing, pp. 83–84
{{Potato dishes
Dutch cuisine
Dutch words and phrases
Potato dishes
National dishes