Traditional stamppot boerenkool: the Dutch potato and kale mash with smoked sausage

Stamppot means mashed pot, and that is exactly what it is: vegetables cooked with potatoes and mashed together in the same cauldron. It has been the Dutch way of facing winter since the 17th century, when the potato arrived and became the base of the peasant table. The version with boerenkool, curly kale, is the most classic and is only eaten after the first frost, which makes the kale sweeter.

On top goes the rookworst, the smoked pork sausage every Dutch supermarket sells, and in the middle of the mash you open a hole for the meat gravy, the jus. Mustard on the side, and nothing else. It is a one-pot dish, ready in half an hour, that fills you up well and costs little.

Outside the Netherlands, a good-quality smoked sausage or a kielbasa plays the role of the rookworst. Curly kale is found at markets and grocers; finely cut collard greens are the closest substitute.

Recipe card

• Origin: Netherlands
• Category: Main course, mash with sausage
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation time: 20 minutes
• Cooking time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg floury potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
• 500 g curly kale without the stems, finely chopped (or collard greens)
• 2 smoked sausages of the rookworst type (or 400 g smoked sausage or kielbasa)
• 100 ml hot milk
• 60 g butter
• 100 g bacon in cubes (optional)
• 1 bay leaf
• Nutmeg, salt and black pepper to taste
• Mustard to serve
• Meat gravy (jus) or the melted butter with the bacon drippings

Method

1. Put the potatoes in a large pot, cover with the chopped kale, add the bay leaf, salt and water up to the level of the potatoes (the kale cooks in the steam).
2. Cover and cook over medium heat for 25 minutes, until the potatoes fall apart with a fork.
3. Meanwhile, heat the sausages in hot water without boiling for 15 minutes (or grill the sausage), and fry the bacon until golden.
4. Drain the pot, remove the bay leaf and mash the potato and kale together with a masher, without beating.
5. Add the butter, hot milk, bacon with its fat, nutmeg, salt and pepper and mix into a rustic mash.
6. Serve in deep plates with the sausage sliced on top, a hole in the center with the gravy, and mustard on the side.

Tips and variations

• Hutspot is the stamppot of carrot and onion; zuurkoolstamppot, of sauerkraut; andijviestamppot, of raw endive mixed into the hot mash.
• A spoonful of vinegar in the kale at the end cuts the fat and is common in the Groningen region.
• Without meat gravy, melt butter with the bacon fat and use it as jus.
• Leftovers become fritters browned in the skillet the next day.
• Fresh kale must be finely chopped and without thick stems, or it stays fibrous.
• A pinch of sugar softens the kale if it is bitter.
• Serve with a dark beer or a glass of milk, like Dutch children.

Stamppot is food for a snowy day with your feet by the heater: green mash, steaming sausage and mustard. Few dishes warm you up so much with so little effort.