Stamppot

Stamppot literally means “mashed pot.” It’s a rustic mash: boiled potatoes mashed together with a vegetable, sometimes cooked in the same pot, sometimes raw and chopped and stirred in at the end. The result isn’t smooth like a fine purée; pieces of the vegetable remain visible.

Each vegetable gives its name to a variant. Boerenkoolstamppot uses curly kale (boerenkool) and is the most common; zuurkoolstamppot uses sauerkraut; andijviestamppot uses raw chopped endive; and hutspot contains carrots and onion. Hutspot has its own history in Leiden, linked to the end of the city’s siege in 1574 and commemorated every October 3.

Stamppot is winter and home food. It almost always comes with rookworst, the smoked sausage, or with another meat, like a rib or meatballs, and with gravy (jus). A familiar custom is to make a small well in the mash to pour the gravy into.

In a poll by the popular science magazine Quest, boerenkoolstamppot was chosen as the national dish of the Netherlands, ahead of split pea soup and kapsalon. Stamppot is also celebrated, alongside erwtensoep, in an annual championship held in Groningen.

In Dutch cuisine restaurants, stamppot appears on the menu in cold months, and in many homes it’s the weeknight dish during winter.