Dutch Boerenkool Stamppot with Rookworst
Potatoes and curly kale cooked in one pot under a smoked sausage, roughly mashed with braised bacon and onions, butter, a splash of vinegar and lots of black pepper, served with the sausage on top.
Stamppot is the Dutch family of mashes: potatoes "stamped" together with one or more vegetables and usually served with sausage, and Wikipedia says its origin is unknown. The curly kale version, boerenkool, is the winter favorite. Dutch food historian Christianne Muusers writes that kale was the ordinary green of country people until headed cabbages took over in the late Middle Ages, prized because it survives frost and can be picked in deep winter, and that the Dutch have eaten kale this way for centuries (Coquinaria, December 3, 2010, updated November 27, 2019:). Rookworst, the Dutch smoked sausage, is the usual partner, and the mash is traditionally served as a little volcano with a well of gravy, the "kuiltje jus" (Wikipedia; Muusers). Netherlands supermarket chain Albert Heijn's classic version uses mustard and crisp bacon (search summary of; the page refused our request).
Why it works the kitchen science
One pot, layered
The kale steams on top of the simmering potatoes and the sausage warms through on the kale, so everything is ready at once and the sausage's smoke flavors the greens.
Vinegar and pepper
A splash of vinegar and plenty of pepper cut through the bacon fat and the earthy kale, which keeps a heavy winter dish lively.
Step by step
- Step 1
Put the potatoes in a large pot with just enough cold water to cover and crumble in the bouillon cube. Pile the kale on top of the potatoes and lay the sausage on the kale.
- Step 2
Cover, bring to a boil over high heat, then lower to medium-low and simmer about 20 minutes, until a fork slides into the potatoes easily.
- Step 3
As soon as the pot goes on, cook the bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the fat runs. Add the onions, lower the heat, cover and braise about 15 minutes, stirring now and then. Uncover for the last 3 to 4 minutes and raise the heat if you like the onions browner and the bacon crisper.
- Step 4
Lift out the sausage and keep it warm. Drain the potatoes and kale, saving the cooking liquid.
- Step 5
Mash the potatoes and kale together roughly; some texture should stay. Add a splash of the cooking liquid if it seems stiff.
- Step 6
Stir in the bacon and onions with their fat, the butter, the vinegar and a lot of black pepper. Taste before adding salt; the bacon, bouillon and sausage are already salty.
- Step 7
Pile on plates, slice the sausage thickly over the top and serve piping hot. For the old-fashioned touch, press a hollow into each mound and fill it with hot gravy.
Dutch Boerenkool Stamppot with Rookworst
Serves 4 · about 8 cups plus 1 sausage · 50 min total
Pot
- 2 1/4 lb (1 kg) floury potatoes, peeled and cut into even 2-inch chunks
- 1 beef or vegetable bouillon cube (optional)
- 1 1/4 lb (about 9 packed cups) chopped curly kale, tough stems removed
- 1 rookworst (Dutch smoked sausage, about 10 oz), or another fully cooked smoked sausage
Bacon and onions
- 4 1/2 oz thick-cut bacon, chopped
- 2 medium onions, chopped
To finish
- 3 tbsp butter or lard
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- Plenty of black pepper; salt to taste
Method
- Put the potatoes in a large pot with just enough cold water to cover and crumble in the bouillon cube. Pile the kale on top of the potatoes and lay the sausage on the kale.
- Cover, bring to a boil over high heat, then lower to medium-low and simmer about 20 minutes, until a fork slides into the potatoes easily.
- As soon as the pot goes on, cook the bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the fat runs. Add the onions, lower the heat, cover and braise about 15 minutes, stirring now and then. Uncover for the last 3 to 4 minutes and raise the heat if you like the onions browner and the bacon crisper.
- Lift out the sausage and keep it warm. Drain the potatoes and kale, saving the cooking liquid.
- Mash the potatoes and kale together roughly; some texture should stay. Add a splash of the cooking liquid if it seems stiff.
- Stir in the bacon and onions with their fat, the butter, the vinegar and a lot of black pepper. Taste before adding salt; the bacon, bouillon and sausage are already salty.
- Pile on plates, slice the sausage thickly over the top and serve piping hot. For the old-fashioned touch, press a hollow into each mound and fill it with hot gravy.
Adapted from Christianne Muusers, "Stamppot: Traditional Dutch Winterfare", Coquinaria (2010, updated 2019). She gives 500 to 600 g chopped kale (we use 550 g), 1 kg potatoes, 50 g lard or butter, 1 rookworst, 2 onions, 100 to 150 g bacon (we use 125 g), an optional stock cube, pepper and 2 tbsp white vinegar, for 2 very hungry or 4 ordinary appetites (we say 4). Her times (about 20 minutes simmering, about 15 minutes braising) are kept; the sausage weight is ours. Coquinaria. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- Muusers's tasting panel liked it just as much without gravy.
- Leftovers keep a few days in the refrigerator and reheat best in the microwave; Muusers says the oven dries it out.
- No rookworst? Use a fully cooked smoked sausage (kielbasa-style); frankfurters work but are not the same (Muusers).
- Mash roughly by hand; stamppot is meant to be chunky, and a food processor would make it gluey.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Kale tastes best after the first frost. Folklore: widely repeated by Dutch cooks; Muusers documents only that kale survives frost and was picked in deep winter.
- Stamppot is centuries old. Disputed: Muusers says the Dutch have eaten kale this way for centuries; Wikipedia says the dish's origin is unknown.
- Hutspot was invented at the 1574 Siege of Leiden. Folklore: Wikipedia calls it a legend; it concerns hutspot (carrot and onion), not boerenkool.
- It must have gravy. Disputed: Wikipedia and Muusers describe the gravy well as traditional; Muusers's own recipe skips it.
- Rookworst is the only sausage. Folklore: Wikipedia says rookworst is preferred in the Netherlands and fried sausage is more common in Belgium.
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