Stamppot

Ingredients

Stamppot

• 1.5 kgfloury potatoes (Bintje or Maris Piper), peeled and cut into even 4 cm chunks
• 600 gcurly kale, thick stems stripped and leaves very finely chopped
• 2 tspsalt
• 150 mlwhole milk, hot
• 80 gbutter
• ½ tspfreshly grated nutmeg
• White pepper, to taste

On top

• 1rookworst (smoked Dutch sausage), about 300 g
• 2 tbspmustard, to serve

Jus

• 1onion, finely sliced
• 20 gbutter
• 200 mlstrong beef stock
• 1 tspplain flour
• 1 tspWorcestershire sauce

To serve

• Piccalilli or sweet-sour gherkins
• A glass of buttermilk, the traditional accompaniment

Directions

1. Put the potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water, add the salt and bring to a boil. Cook 12 minutes.
2. Pile the chopped kale on top of the potatoes, press it down, put the lid on and cook a further 12–15 minutes. The kale steams and softens above the water rather than boiling in it, which keeps its flavour.
3. While that cooks, lay the rookworst on top of the kale for the last 10 minutes to heat through, or warm it in a separate pan of water held at 80°C (175°F); never let it boil or the skin splits and the fat runs out.
4. Make the jus: soften the onion in the butter over medium heat for 8 minutes until deep gold, stir in the flour, cook 1 minute, then whisk in the stock and Worcestershire and simmer 5 minutes to a thin gravy.
5. Lift out the sausage and keep it warm. Drain the potatoes and kale thoroughly and return them to the dry pot over low heat for 1 minute to steam off, which is the difference between fluffy and watery stamppot.
6. Add the butter and the hot milk and mash with a potato masher, straight up and down, not stirring. Dutch stamppot is mashed coarsely: you want visible strands of kale through the potato, not a smooth puree.
7. Season hard with nutmeg, white pepper and more salt. Taste it; potato and kale both need more salt than you expect.
8. Pile it into a warm dish or into four deep plates and make a well in the centre of each with the back of a spoon, the kuiltje that every Dutch child knows.
9. Slice the rookworst thickly on the diagonal and lay it over the top, pour the jus into the well, and serve with mustard, pickles and a glass of buttermilk.

Technique

• Never use a food processor or a ricer. Stamppot is deliberately rustic and the coarse texture with strands of kale is the dish; blitzed potato turns to glue.
• Kale is added on top and steamed, not boiled in the water. Boiled kale loses its flavour into the water you are about to pour away.
• Boerenkool was traditionally picked after the first frost, which converts starch to sugar and makes the kale sweeter and more tender; it is a winter dish for that reason.
• The well of gravy in the middle is not decoration. It keeps the jus off the mash until you break the wall, so the plate does not go soupy.

Substitutions

• No rookworst: use any good smoked sausage such as a coarse smoked frankfurter or a Polish kielbasa, heated the same gentle way.
• Curly kale can be replaced by cavolo nero (finer, sweeter) or by 600 g drained sauerkraut for zuurkoolstamppot, in which case skip the nutmeg.
• For a vegetarian plate, leave out the sausage and jus and serve with a vegetable gravy, crisp fried onions and a wedge of aged Gouda.

Variations

• Boerenkoolstamppot, with curly kale, the version above and the most iconic.
• Hutspot, with carrot and onion mashed through, eaten on 3 October in Leiden to mark the end of the siege.
• Zuurkoolstamppot, with sauerkraut and often with bacon and a sharp mustard.

History

Mashed potato beaten with vegetables; the hutspot version is tied to the relief of Leiden in 1574, when the fleeing Spanish left a stew behind.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stamppot?

Stamppot is a main from Netherlands: potatoes mashed with kale or sauerkraut, smoked sausage on top. Mashed potato beaten with vegetables; the hutspot version is tied to the relief of Leiden in 1574, when the fleeing Spanish left a stew behind.

How long does Stamppot take to make?

Stamppot takes 20 min of preparation and 35 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Stamppot?

Yes, within limits. No rookworst: use any good smoked sausage such as a coarse smoked frankfurter or a Polish kielbasa, heated the same gentle way. Curly kale can be replaced by cavolo nero (finer, sweeter) or by 600 g drained sauerkraut for zuurkoolstamppot, in which case skip the nutmeg. For a vegetarian plate, leave out the sausage and jus and serve with a vegetable gravy, crisp fried onions and a wedge of aged Gouda.

What is the most important thing to get right in Stamppot?

Pile the chopped kale on top of the potatoes, press it down, put the lid on and cook a further 12–15 minutes. The kale steams and softens above the water rather than boiling in it, which keeps its flavour.