What to eat Amsterdam? culinary specialties and gastronomy

In the Netherlands, a wide variety of cold meats and cheeses are served as aperitifs, usually with beer. Among the most popular specialties are metworst, a dry sausage from the north of the country, and ossenworst, a spicy, smoked beef sausage. These snacks are often accompanied by a dense, dark rye bread called roggebrood. Bitterballen are small fried beef or veal dumplings served with mustard. In a similar vein, kroketten - breaded croquettes - are sausages stuffed with beef, fish or shrimp and bound with a béchamel sauce. Kibbeling is fish & chips -style fried fish cubes served with tartar sauce. It's one of the most common street foods in the Netherlands. Indeed, the Dutch love seafood and fish, which is hardly surprising given that most of the country is surrounded by sea and estuaries. Zeeland oysters, smoked eels, gray shrimp, mussels, fish of all kinds and, above all, the delicacy that every Dutchman would die for, the famous herring in brine called maatje or Hollandse nieuwe. They're often served with bread rolls, a little pickle and lots of chopped raw onions. But it can also be eaten Dutch-style, by grabbing it by the tail and wolfing it down in one go, with the head tilted back.

Stamppot is a traditional Dutch dish of smoked sausages served with mashed potatoes, spinach and sauerkraut. A rich dish, perfect for cold winter days in Amsterdam. Erwtensoep - or snert - is the national split-pea soup, almost as thick as mashed potatoes, often garnished with slices of sausage. While the French and Belgians often dispute the paternity of French fries, the Netherlands doesn't seem to be outdone. Fry stands can be found in every corner of Amsterdam. Often served as they are, they also exist in an even heartier form: patatjes oorlog. These " war fries " - literally translated - are drowned in mayonnaise and satay sauce, then generously garnished with chopped onion. Another nourishing recipe, slavink, are tasty minced pork and beef croquettes with bacon.

Most of these dishes are accompanied by beer. Indeed, the reputation of Dutch beers is well established. In most cafés, draught beers are served in pints known as een grote pils. For smaller quantities, order een pils or even smaller een fluitje. In Amsterdam, you can visit the emblematic Heineken brewery (Heineken Experience), but the Grolsch and Amstel brands are very popular with locals. White beer is particularly refreshing in summer. Stronger dark beers are more common in the south of the country, as in the province of Limburg, between Belgium and Germany.

On the sweet side, Amsterdam offers a wide variety of cakes, Viennese pastries, entremets and other sweets, such as the salted licorice known as zoute drop. The most emblematic of all is certainly the stroopwafel, consisting of two crispy wafers concealing a heart of cinnamon-scented brown sugar caramel. Although it's hard to enjoy this snack without dripping caramel on it, these wafers are divine. In another style, poffertjes are plump little pancakes sprinkled with powdered sugar and often accompanied by red fruit or spread. More substantial, oliebollen, which could be translated as "oil balls", are small raisin doughnuts traditionally served on New Year's Day and more generally in winter. They are said to be the origin of the famous American donuts, imported by the Dutch to the New York area in the ^17th century. More sophisticated, the bossche bol originated in 's-Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc), although it can be found in every pastry shop in Amsterdam. This large profiterole is filled with whipped cream before being covered with a layer of dark chocolate.

The Dutch don't use much spice in their cooking, but some pastries are generously flavored with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and white pepper. This is particularly true of speculoos, served with any hot drink in Amsterdam. While the much-loved appeltaart is simply an apple pie, it differs greatly from what you'd find in France. Thicker, it's richly garnished with raisins and spices. In a different style, Limburgse vlaai is a pie native to the southern Netherlands, though common in Amsterdam. It is filled with cherries, plums or apricots, then covered with a criss-cross of pastry to give it its crispness.

If some Dutch recipes borrow know-how and a multitude of spices from a country as far away as Indonesia, it's because of their shared history. The Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, experienced an unprecedented economic boom in the ^17th century, known as the Gouden Eeuw or Dutch Golden Age. Thanks to an efficient and modern merchant navy, the Netherlands criss-crossed the seas and created colonial trading posts throughout the world, notably in Asia thanks to the unshakeable VOC or Dutch East India Company. This economic boom was reflected in the Netherlands' stranglehold on the lucrative spice trade, which was sold at a premium in Europe. Indonesia remained under Dutch control until 1949. So it's hardly surprising to see how Indonesian cuisine has blended with local specialties, creating a fusion cuisine that is often astonishing.

Nasibal is a perfect example. This recipe consists of steamed rice mixed with pork, vegetables and spices, including a chili paste called sambal. The whole thing is molded into croquettes, then breaded and fried. It's so common that in Amsterdam it can be found in vending machines called snackautomaten. Bamischijf is a similar snack, but prepared with noodles. Probably the most emblematic of these fusion specialties is rijsttafel, which translates as rice table. More than just a dish, it's a banquet with up to 50 different courses. While the recipes on offer are undeniably Asian, the origins of this type of buffet are colonial, created by wealthy Dutch landowners in Indonesia to show off their financial affluence. Last but not least, spekkoek is an Indonesian-influenced cinnamon cake, made with a multitude of layers of different-colored pastry that requires meticulous preparation.

Other dishes, though purely Indonesian, are extremely popular in Amsterdam and have become almost a form of local cuisine. These include rendang, a spicy beef stew with coconut milk; satays, small chicken skewers served with a peanut sauce; and nasi goreng, stir-fried rice with omelette and vegetables.

With an annual production of around 800,000 tonnes, the Netherlands is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of cheese. It is also one of the world's biggest consumers, consuming an average of 22 kg of cheese per capita per year. The reputation of Dutch cheeses is well established.

If in France we often think of Dutch cheese production as slightly boring, often because of the tasteless vacuum-packed products found in supermarkets, this is a serious misconception, and many mature cheeses taste totally different from what we're used to. Most cheeses in the Netherlands are hard cheeses made from cow's milk. Called kaas in Dutch, the main varieties of cheese are gouda and edam, but there are of course many others, such as beemster, similar to gouda, or the creamier limburger, also produced in Germany and Belgium. Its taste is similar to our Munster. The Dutch also love cheeses flavored with cumin, caraway, mustard seeds and other spices. Such is the case with leidse or kanterkaas, which belong to the komijnekaas or cumin cheese group. Nagelkaas, from Friesland in the north of the country, is flavored with cloves. Brandnetelkaas, meanwhile, is garnished with nettles, giving it a pungent, almost garlicky taste. Finally, delfts blauw is one of Holland's rare blue-veined cheeses. Other cheeses, such as maasdam or leerdammer, despite their apparently authentic names, are industrially produced.

A wheel of cheese weighs between 10 kg and 25 kg; the larger the wheel, the better the cheese ages. The term boerenkaas, which can be translated as farmer's cheese, encompasses various types of preparation, all of which have the common feature of being made with unpasteurized raw milk. For gourmets, we recommend trying boeren gatenkaas and overjarige boerenkaas, old cheeses with a strong, full-bodied taste.

Mimolette is not Dutch, as is often believed, but originated in Lille, although it was created to imitate Dutch Edam, whose trade was banned in the ^17th century under Colbert, in favor of French products. Indeed, Dutch cheeses were already highly appreciated in Europe, not least for their good keeping qualities, which can be explained by the thick layer of wax that often covers them, helping to preserve them for longer. But Dutch cheese-makers didn't wait for this era to develop their skills: as early as 200 BC, cheese-making had already been mastered in Holland, as archaeological discoveries attest. In the Middle Ages, the manufacture and marketing of cheese enlivened daily life, with cheese markets and weighing houses(Waag in Dutch). Haarlem, on the outskirts of Amsterdam, was the first town to be granted the right to hold a cheese market, in 1266.
Today, for cheese lovers discovering Amsterdam, a visit to the Albert Cuypmarkt is a must. This market in the De Pijp district, officially established in 1906, offers a wide range of Dutch specialties in addition to cheeses, which can be found in every conceivable form and variety, including some more modern variations, flavored with basil, chili pepper or even spirulina. And if that's not enough for the enthusiast, there are also guided cheese tours in Amsterdam, including Reypenaer and the Old Amsterdam Cheese Store, as well as numerous cheese shops, including the famous De Kaaskamer, where you can buy some tasty local products with your eyes shut.