Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-05-03
Dutch Foou

All food is good in Holland. all
cooking excellent. beef and mutton
even better than in England. veoeta-
bles in abundance. Butter is very
good and plentiful and is used with
out stint, but everything is spoiled
by being served cold. Rich dishes
which would be the most appetiz-
ing were they eaten piping hot,
become repulsiye, indigestable masses
of grease when served from L cold
dish on stone cold plate. During
the whole of my stay in Holland |
never once saw a dish covered or
plate heated.
Cakes are a speciality with the Dutch,
Each town has one or more of its own,
and 1t was interesting to trace the
ancestryof many of our American ones.
Watf1es met me at Kermes at the
Hague. The Rookie which is to be
found all over Holland and is in fact
the Dutch word for little cake" is
actually and etymologically the an
cestOr of the New England cookie
DOughnuts ! met everywhere, though
| cannot imagine from where they got
their ugly name of dough nut" In
Holland they are called Spritsen and
Ia French Canada where they are a
sort of national cake they are known
by the name of Croquignoles and
sometimes Beignet, which latter name
is simply the French for fritter. I
imagine that in one way and another
we owe good deal of our cooking to
Holland.
The menu of a small Dutch dinner
may be found interesting. The house
to which | was invited was on the
Prinsen Gracht princes CanaD of
Amsterdam, and was the residence of
a rich merchant. The dinner was a
small one of eight persons, and given
on the occasion of tire anniversary of
the birthday of the hostess. Two
large sofa cushions of natural flowers
ornamented the table, which was
round. A decanter of claret on a
small silver tray stood between each
two guests. Nothing was helped on
the table, the joints being carved into
pieces in the pantry and then handed
round on flat meat dishes. A man
servant and two maids waited, all
three wearing white cotton gloves.
soup. Fried fish came next, the dish
ornamented with little croquettes of
potatoes. A large tillet of beef was
next handed round with asparagus.
This came in all cut into portions,
each piece leaning against the other,
not a pretty fashion. The next
course consisted of pair Of roast
chickens carved in the same way as
the fillet and served on big fat dish;
buttered macaroons were served at
the same time. After these dish hes
came meringues and cream, branded
plums, champagne. curacao, coffee,
and several courses of sweets.
AS | said before it was the birthday
of the hostess, therefore the occasion
of good deal of speechmaking, each
gentleman present standing up in turn
and addressing a few appropriate re-
marks to her. A chil1 had been born
during the year; slight allusion to
this brought a smile on the assembly.
A mother, evidently very dear, had
died, this was also touched on and a
few quiet tears paid tribute to her
memory. There was a good deal of
kissing done, the host walking round
the table and kissing the hostess when
her health was drunk, and other mar
ried gentlemen kissing their better
halves. kissing, by the way is very
Dutch. After all this was got through
we adjourned to the drawing room,
and l was not astonished to find the
clock pointing to nine, although we
had sat down to dinner at six o'clock
punctually.-Good Housekeeping