page_title: Dutch cuisine
section_title: Dinner
hierarchical_section_title: Dutch cuisine / Structure of meals / Dinner
caption_attribution_description: ★★★★☆ Slavink with potatoes and sweet pepper sauce
context_page_description: Dutch cuisine is formed from the cooking traditions and practices of the Netherlands. The country's cuisine is shaped by its location in the fertile North Sea river delta of the European Plain, giving rise to fishing, farming, and trading over sea, its former colonial empire and the spice trade.
  Traditionally, Dutch cuisine is simple and straightforward, with many vegetables and little meat: breakfast and lunch are typically bread with toppings like cheese, while dinner is meat and potatoes, supplemented with seasonal vegetables. The diet contains many dairy products and was relatively high in carbohydrates and fat, reflecting the dietary needs of the laborers whose culture molded the country. Without many refinements, it is best described as rustic, though many holidays are celebrated with special foods.
  During the twentieth century, Dutch cuisine and diet changed. Influenced by the eating culture of its colonies, it became more cosmopolitan and most international cuisines are represented in the major cities.
context_section_description: Dinner, traditionally served early by international standards, starts around or even before 6 o'clock in the evening. The old-fashioned Dutch dinner consists of one simple course: potatoes, meat and vegetables—known under the acronym "AVG" (aardappelen, vlees, groente). AVG consists traditionally of potatoes with a large portion of vegetables and a small portion of meat with gravy, or a potato and vegetable stew. Vegetable stews served as side dishes are for example rodekool met appeltjes (red cabbage with apples), or rode bieten (beetroot). Regular spices used in stews of this kind may be bay leaves, juniper berries, cloves, and vinegar, although strong spices are generally used sparingly. Stews are often served with pickles, including augurken (gherkins) or cocktail onions (zilveruitjes). Due to the influx of other countries, traditional meals have lost some popularity. Stamppot, mashed potatoes with different options for vegetables, is traditionally eaten in winter. If there is a starter, it is usually soup.
  The below listed meals have historic origins as meals for common laborers. From the 17th to 19th centuries workers worked 10 to 16 hours on farms or in factories in unheated rooms, hence these meals are very heavy on calories and fat and were meant to replenish a laborer's energy.
  Stamppot, boiled potatoes mashed with vegetables and served with a meat and/or gravy, comes in a number of varieties:
  Hutspot, made with potatoes, carrots, and onions served with meats like rookworst (smoked sausage), slow-cooked meat, or bacon. Before potatoes were introduced in Europe hutspot was made from parsnips, carrots, and onions
  Stamppot andijvie, raw endive mashed with hot potatoes, served with diced fried spek (a kind of bacon)
  Hete bliksem ("hot lightning"), boiled potatoes and green apples, served with stroop (treacle) or tossed with diced speck
  Stamppot zuurkool, sauerkraut mashed with potatoes. Served with fried bacon or a sausage. Sometimes curry powder, raisins or slices of pineapple or banana are used to give a stamppot an exotic touch
  Stamppot boerenkool, curly kale mixed with potatoes, served with gravy, mustard, and rookworst sausage. It is one of the oldest and most popular Dutch dishes. Boerenkool was mentioned in cookbooks from the year 1661. 1661 mashed potatoes were not used in this dish yet, although the sausage was already served with the cabbage in this dish. The dish became popular after a few bad corn-seasons when potatoes became popular as food. Stamppot boerenkool is high in carbohydrates, which makes it a popular meal for cold winter days.
  Snert, also called erwtensoep, is a very thick pea soup that can be served either as a main dish or as an appetizer and is traditionally eaten during the winter. Snert has a very thick consistency and often includes pieces of pork and rookworst and is almost a stew rather than a soup. The thick consistency of the Dutch pea soup is often described as that "...you should be able to stand a spoon upright in a good pea soup". It is customarily served with roggebrood (rye bread) spread with butter and topped with katenspek, a variety of bacon which is first cooked and then smoked. The meat from the soup may also be put on the rye bread and eaten with mustard.
  Meat dishes include:
  Gehaktballen, meatballs (usually made of half pork, half beef)
  Slavink, minced meat wrapped in bacon
  Balkenbrij, a type of liverwurst and meatloaf. The butter based gravy (boterjus), in which the meat has been fried or cooked, is also served. A variant of this, eaten around the IJsselmeer, is butter en eek, where vinegar is added to the gravy.
  Flour dishes:
  Pannekoeken (large and thin pancakes) with bacon, apples, cheese, or raisins.
  Poffertjes (miniature pancakes) and spekdik (a Northern variant with bacon).
  Wentelteefjes (similar to French toast).
  Broeder, a type of boiled pudding usually containing buckwheat, is a traditional dinner mainly in West Friesland.
  Seafood:
  Mosselen (mussels) are quite popular and commonly served with french fries.
  Kibbeling, chunks of sea fish that are battered and fr
caption: Slavink (at top) with potatoes and sweet pepper sauce
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