Hutspot recipe: Leiden's carrot mash with braised beef
Potatoes, winter carrots and onions cooked in one pot and mashed by hand, with beef braised until it falls apart: the dish Leiden has eaten every 3 October since the siege of 1574.
This hutspot recipe is the Dutch autumn classic from Leiden: floury potatoes, winter carrots and onions cooked together and mashed coarsely, served with klapstuk, beef short rib braised for three hours. The key is very little water: the vegetables steam rather than boil, so the mash stays dense.
Leiden ties the dish to 3 October 1574, when the Spanish siege of the city was lifted. The story goes that a boy found a still-warm pot of stew in the abandoned Spanish camp, made with parsnips, carrots and onions; potatoes came later. The 3 October Vereeniging still serves hutspot to its members on the eve of this year's festival, which peaks on Saturday 3 October.
Ingredients
Hutspot is coarse on purpose: mash it by hand and stop before it turns smooth.
- 800 g klapstuk (beef short rib) or chuck, in one piece
- 70 g butter
- 1 onion, quartered, for the beef
- 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves and 6 black peppercorns
- 1 kg floury potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
- 750 g winter carrots, peeled and diced
- 400 g onions, roughly chopped
- 100 ml warm whole milk
- Freshly grated nutmeg
- Salt and black pepper
Method
- Season the beef and brown it all over in 40 g of the butter in a heavy casserole over medium-high heat, about 10 minutes. The crust and the browned butter give the gravy its colour.
- Add the quartered onion, bay, cloves, peppercorns and hot water to come halfway up the meat. Cover and simmer very gently for 2½ to 3 hours, until a fork slides in easily: short rib is rich in connective tissue, which only turns to gelatine with long, low heat.
- Forty minutes before the end, layer the potatoes, then the carrots and onions, in a large pan with a pinch of salt and just 250 ml water. Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes: the potatoes simmer while the vegetables above steam.
- Drain, keeping the liquid, and mash by hand with the remaining butter and the warm milk. A blender turns potato starch into glue, so leave it coarse, with carrot visible. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
- Lift out the beef, strain the braising liquid and boil it down by a third. Slice the meat across the grain or pull it apart.
- Serve the hutspot with a well in the middle, the beef alongside and the gravy poured into the well, the Dutch way.
Klapstuk, chop or smoked sausage
Klapstuk is the Leiden tradition; on weekdays the Dutch serve hutspot with a pork chop, crisp bacon or a rookworst, the smoked sausage. Use winter carrots rather than young bunched ones: they are sweeter and keep their flavour. For another Dutch plate, read about pike-perch from the IJsselmeer.
Hutspot recipe: your questions
What is the difference between hutspot and stamppot? Stamppot is the family name for Dutch potato and vegetable mashes, such as boerenkool with kale. Hutspot is the one with carrots and onions, and the only one with its own date in the calendar.
Can I make it ahead? Yes. The beef improves overnight in its liquid, and the mash keeps two days in the fridge; reheat it in a pan with a splash of milk.
Can it be vegetarian? Skip the beef and serve the hutspot with a fried egg and a gravy of browned butter, onion and mushroom stock.
