Ingredients:
•1 pig foot, well cleaned
•6 cups water
•3 cups dried split peas, rinsed
•1 smoked pork hock
•2 potatoes, peeled and diced
•2 leeks, sliced
•2 stalks of celery, finely sliced
•1 onion, sliced
•5ml dried thyme
•Pinch of nutmeg
•15ml lemon juice
•Salt and pepper
•A couple of smoked sausages, sliced

Times Live, Hilary Biller - It became a post-Christmas ritual. The family always lamented the end of the large festive ham. For my mother - who would never think of discarding the bone, not even to the family dog - it became the foundation of her favourite Dutch pea soup. It was a tasty, wholesome broth, but on a balmy summer’s evening it was our least favourite: a stodgy porridge flecked with bits of leftover ham.
The soup’s humble origins are typical of many Dutch dishes - subsistence in character, using cheap and plentiful products in the best possible way.
Split peas are the most popular of all legumes and can be traced back to 500BC when the Greeks and Romans were cultivating them and vendors would sell hot pea soup on the streets of Athens.
For the Dutch, whose diet centred around potatoes, vegetables and meat, pea soup became a winter staple almost as famous as another cold-weather favourite - bruinebonensoep (brown bean soup). The Dutch say a good pea soup (also known as snert ) is one in which you should be able to stand a spoon upright. In fact, on cooling, it thickens so much you cannot even ladle it out.
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A sprinkling of nutmeg is the Indonesian influence, as the Dutch colonisation of Indonesia has left an indelible mark on Dutch cuisine.

It’s a simple thing to make, but not quick. Do take care in our warmer climate, as the soup can ferment very quickly.

Store it in the refrigerator for no more than a couple of days, and refrigerate it in small quantities as the core does not cool down if left in one large pot.

You can find a pork trotter at most butcheries, but if you don’t fancy the idea, the hock would add sufficient flavour.

The Dutch serve the soup with a dark rye bread topped with butter, bacon and cheese for a complete meal.

RECIPE

Ingredients:

•1 pig foot, well cleaned
•6 cups water
•3 cups dried split peas, rinsed
•1 smoked pork hock
•2 potatoes, peeled and diced
•2 leeks, sliced
•2 stalks of celery, finely sliced
•1 onion, sliced
•5ml dried thyme
•Pinch of nutmeg
•15ml lemon juice
•Salt and pepper
•A couple of smoked sausages, sliced
Method:

In a large pot, place the pig’s trotter, cover with water and add a generous pinch of salt. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for a couple of minutes before discarding the water. In a clean pot, place the six cups of water, the split peas, pig foot and pork hock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer partially covered for 2 hours. Stir occasionally.

Add the rest of the ingredients, except the sausage and simmer for another 30 minutes. Remove the pig foot and hock, cool enough to handle, remove the skin and cut up the meat. Return to the pot with the sausage. Simmer to heat the sausage.

It is traditionally served with dark rye bread and bacon.

This entry was posted on dinsdag, april 27th, 2010 at 4:06 am and is filed under Historie, Lifestyle, World on the Dutch, Going Dutch, Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.