Spruitjesstamppot

The Dutch winter one-pot: potatoes mashed with Brussels sprouts and served with smoked sausage and gravy

Origin: The Netherlands

Stamppot, literally 'mash pot', is the great national comfort dish of the Dutch winter: potatoes boiled and mashed together with a vegetable, piled into a steaming mound, hollowed at the top to hold a pool of gravy, and served with a length of rookworst, the Dutch smoked sausage. The most famous versions use kale (boerenkool) or endive (andijvie), but the Brussels sprout version, spruitjesstamppot, is a cherished classic of the cold months, the sprout's gentle bitterness playing against the soft, buttery potato. The dish is plain, hearty, and deeply Dutch, the food of dark, cold evenings and of a people who built a cuisine of warmth and substance against the North Sea winter. It asks little: good floury potatoes, fresh sprouts, butter and milk, and a proper smoked sausage to steam on top and lend its flavour to the whole. The sprouts are boiled until tender and then chopped or crushed through the mash, so that every forkful carries the taste of the vegetable. The Netherlands later gave the Brussels sprout one of its greatest gifts, the plant-breeding work of the 1990s that bred out the harsh bitterness of the old varieties; but long before that, the Dutch had already made the sprout a staple of their table in this most comforting of forms.

Ingredients

Stamppot

900 g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
500 g Brussels sprouts, trimmed
50 g butter
100 ml whole milk, warmed
grating of nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

1 rookworst (Dutch smoked sausage), about 250g
gravy or jus, to serve

Method

Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, about 18 to 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil the Brussels sprouts in a separate pan of salted water until tender, 7 to 9 minutes, then drain and chop roughly.
Warm the smoked sausage through according to its packet, traditionally by gently heating it whole in simmering water (not boiling) for about 20 minutes, then slice.
Drain the potatoes well and let the steam die down, then mash with the butter and warm milk until smooth.
Fold the chopped sprouts through the mash, keeping it coarse and textured. Season well with salt, pepper, and a good grating of nutmeg.
Pile the stamppot into a mound on each plate, make a well in the top, and fill it with gravy. Lay the sliced sausage alongside and serve at once, very hot.

Notes

A handful of crisp fried bacon lardons stirred through is a popular addition. Stamppot is best served piping hot; it is winter food, meant to warm. Any leftovers fry up into excellent crisp potato-and-sprout cakes.

The Gastrographer

Name: Spruitjesstamppot
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: The Netherlands
Ingredients: 900 g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks; 500 g Brussels sprouts, trimmed; 50 g butter; 100 ml whole milk, warmed; grating of nutmeg; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 rookworst (Dutch smoked sausage), about 250g; gravy or jus, to serve

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control