Snacking State-by-State: Iowa II - It just ain't salad without bacon grease

This project would have been so much more difficult without the insights and travel experience of Jane and Michael Stern, whose Roadfood books have been cited and utilized various times throughout this State-by-State round-up. I turn again to the semi-regular guests of NPR's Splendid Table for the lowdown on a few more Iowa curiosities.

Official Name: State of Iowa
State Nicknames: The Hawkeye State
Admission to the US: December 28, 1846 (#29)
Capital: Des Moines (largest city)
Other Important Cities: Cedar Rapids (2nd largest), Davenport (3rd largest), Sioux City (4th largest)
Region: Midwest; East North Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Cornbread & BBQ, Bison
Bordered by: Minnesota (north); North Dakota, Nebraska (west); Missouri (south); Illinois, Wisconsin & the Mississippi River (east)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: none
Some Famous & Typical Foods: again, typical Midwestern foods, especially corn; Native American and pioneer foods; soybeans; Red Delicious and "Hawkeye" apples; Dutch, German, Amish and Scandinavian foods

One dish that specifically caught my attention speaks to Iowa's notable Dutch-American community, this time in and around central Iowa. When the Sterns described the dish that Sully and Pella residents refer to as Dutch lettuce, my mind went back to my visit to Amsterdam a few years ago, where I sampled so many wonderful things. And then I sampled Dutch food. Don't get me wrong: the stroopwafels and pannenkoeken were lovely. The other Dutch curiosities were, well, niet lekker. Let's just say I won't be eating hutspot again.

That said, I know I should not pan a whole cuisine. This last month, I learned that in my exploration of Midwestern food. This time, I better give Dutch food another chance. And I will do that with the dish that the Sterns describe as a combo of, at least, "hard-boiled eggs, bacon, sweet-and-sour dressing, and, of course, lettuce" (Stern and Stern 2009: 241). This time I figured I would give Roadfood a rest, and try to find another recipe for Dutch lettuce. I was successful, finding a recipe on the website for the Pella Historical Village. Their Dutch recipe section features a slew - er, a slaw - of Dutch recipes for breads, desserts, soups and salads. Did I mention their recipe for "Dutch Mess"? It's the Stern recipe, but with potatoes.

The recipe: Dutch Lettuce with Potatoes (Slaw met Aardappels, or Dutch Mess)


For this version of Dutch lettuce, originally given to the Pella Historical Village by Jo Harmeling & Jenny Messer (of Pella, I assume), you will need:

* lettuce (well duhhhhh. Fortunately the lettuce in my garden is literally exploding right now. I had lettuce. Lots of it).
* potatoes (had them. This does not seem to be a common thread running through all Dutch lettuce recipes)
* green onion or sweet onion, chopped (the Sterns' recipe calls for sweet onion; PHV's needs scallions instead. I picked up a bunch for a few bucks).
* hard boiled eggs (had them)
* bacon (both the bacon itself and the grease, which you will need below. Yes, I actually ran out of bacon, so I needed to buy some - $5 for a package at Harris Teeter)
* the dressing that you will make from the following: the aforementioned bacon grease, plus apple cider vinegar, one raw egg (yes, in addition to all the hard boiled ones), sugar, flour and butter (had them all)


Before making the dressing, prep your other components.


Wash the lettuce and chop or rip it up into medium or small pieces. The Sterns suggest a crispy lettuce like iceberg, but I settled for what was growing in my garden (which tastes better than iceberg lettuce anyway). Boil the potatoes till soft. You will smash them a little, or at least chop them up. It doesn't have to look perfect. Also boil your eggs so you will have them ready to put in your salad.

Next, make the sweet-and-sour dressing. This is actually the most tedious part, and I don't think I got it quite right.


First, melt the butter, and blend in a little flour, and then some water.


As you bring that to a boil, mix in a separate bowl your raw egg, sugar and apple cider vinegar. Add this to the pot and let it come back to a boil.


Next, fry (or cheat like I did and microwave) up the bacon. The recipe suggests you cut up the bacon before cooking it. Save the bacon grease. You will end up adding it to the dressing. I put all of mine into the pot, since I didn't really get that much bacon grease. Stir occasionally and keep it heated on the stove.

And it may or may not look like this.

Now to assemble the Dutch lettuce.


Start with a layer of potatoes.


Next, add some of your lettuce.


Then some sliced hard-boiled egg...


...some of the bacon...


...and a good amount of your dressing.


Finish it off with the rest of the potatoes, lettuce, eggs and bacon.

You are supposed to serve this up while the dressing is hot, though for leftovers, I just ate it all cold.


I have to say, my expectations were not very high for this salad. However, I was pleasantly surprised by it. The flavors and textures together made for an extremely hearty salad. This is no side salad we're talking about. With the eggs, potatoes, bacon and dressing over all that lettuce, this is a meal unto itself. It lasted me for several days. Though the dressing is, again, tedious to make, this is one salad I would be willing to try again. Dutch food is again redeemed!

We're not quite out of the Midwest yet. Somewhere nearby, just south of Nebraska, just west of Missouri, lies Kansas with its prairies, wheat fields and twisters. And I don't even have to go over any rainbows to get there. Y'hear me, Auntie Em? I'm comin' for you, express-style.

Sources:

Pella Historical Village. "Old Dutch Recipes - Pella Tulip Time". Copyright 2011 Pella Historical Village.

Stern, Jane, and Michael Stern. 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Boston, 2009.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Iowa" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Iowa".

World Cup Buffet: Pannekoek mit Aple (NED - the Netherlands)

Long-time readers may remember that I visited Amsterdam a few years ago, to experience the multi-ethnic cuisine of Holland's largest city. I noticed delicious foods from Indonesia, Suriname, Italy, Ireland, India, Argentina - and a mixed boat itself of Dutch cuisine. While the hutspot in our hotel was, um, something to be desired, I had some good pancakes from a little restaurant in Den Haag, delectable stroopwaffels from the Albert Heijn supermarket, and more nasi goreng than ik kan schudden een stok bij.

Although I'm more familiar with Dutch cuisine than Brazilian, I can find another time to better familiarize myself with the foods of Brazil, after the Netherlands' shocking upset over a Brazilian team that came surprisingly unglued after the Dutch came back to tie up the game.

Country: The Netherlands (IOC/FIFA Abbreviation: NED)
Nickname of National team: De Oranje (Dutch, "The Orange")
Number of World Cups they have appeared in: 9
Highest finish: final game (1974, 1978)
Common foods: pancakes, lots of meat (particularly beef), cheeses out the wazoo, Indonesian and Surinamese offerings, vlaamse frites
Number of Dutch restaurants in the Baltimore area: 0 (the Dutch Kitchen in Cockeysville is Pennsylvania Dutch - that is, Amish/German - and not Dutch at all)
Number of Dutch restaurants in the Washington area: 0, but again, there are quite a few German and Penna. Dutch markets around, which are your best bet for finding Dutch foods.

Pancakes in the Netherlands are a bit different than the ones here in the US. Whereas we like 'em fluffy and thick, the Dutch prefer theirs larger and more crepe-like. And again, a pancake here is pretty much a sweet breakfast offering. In the Netherlands, pancakes can be served any way - sweet, savory, plain, chock full of lots of stuff - and at any time. For a typical pancake with syrup, the most similar to what we'd find in the US, the syrup is less sweet, thicker and darker than the high fructose crap we generally prefer here. I brought a box of pancake mix and a bottle of pancake syrup back with me from the Netherlands after I went. The mix is still in my fridge waiting to be used. The syrup is sitting in my pantry waiting for me to use the pancake mix. Or at least they were until Saturday, when I found out that a box mix actually stays pretty fresh if left unopened in the refrigerator for - yes - two years.

The instructions and ingredients on the side of the Albert Heijn brand box of pannenkoek mix were in Dutch. Sadly I could not remember enough Dutch to muddle through the recipe. Thankfully I had Google Translate on tap to give me a pretty accurate translation. The one befuddling thing was the liquid measurements, which were in deciliters. It seemed that 8 deciliters (roughly 3 1/3 cups) was a bit much, but it turned out to be just right for this box mix.

Just take the box mix, 2 eggs and half the milk, mix it together until smooth. Add the rest of the milk and continue to stir. Then take a knob of butter and melt it in a pan, and pour the batter in the pan, turning it until it covers the entire bottom. Cook a minute, and flip over the pancake when ready and cook for one more minute. Serve with syrup. I brought some Dutch-style syrup back with me, since ours is so sweet. The closest thing you should use to get the full-on Dutch experience would be molasses, but you can use many other things as well. I made one pancake with thin apple slices:


I just cooked it a little bit longer after flipping it. They also recommend, as translated from the side of the box: "...ham, salami, cheese or fruit, such as raisins, cherries, apple, banana or pineapples. Serve the pancakes with white and brown (caster) sugar, jam, syrup, honey, ice cream, butter or cream." Again, these are breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner or dessert pancakes. Do what you will with them. I have enough batter that I might just freeze the rest to use for later. One 400 gram box makes about 6 large pancakes.


And so ends the first dish for our four World Cup semifinalists. The Netherlands will go on to face Uruguay next, and a typical Uruguayan meal will not exactly feature pancakes. And since the other South American teams were all knocked out, Uruguay's cuisine will have to represent.

Notes from the Inlandbelly

Friends of mine have been cooking for me and taking me to lovely holes-in-the-wall for some good food over the last day or two. One restaurant I went to with some friends was in Riverside - the Jumbo Bowl. If you're in the Inland Empire and you're reading this, you have to go there. It's a Thai place that has this great fried fish covered in a coconut curry sauce that I just went mad for.

Also good were some dishes that friends of mine made for me. One friend I stayed with in San Bernardino made Dutch pancakes for breakfast. These didn't seem like the same ones I ate in Amsterdam but perhaps they were a variation on the theme. It's a very eggy pancake. It tasted nothing like the humongous pancakes I had in the Netherlands but was still very rich. The corned beef hash and bacon also went nicely with it.

Then I stopped by another friend in Redlands for more food! I had no idea he would be making food. We looked at his recent photos from his vacation in Mexico and then he made some huevos motuleños, an egg dish from the very Mayan northern Yucatecan city of Motul. It is eggs with cheese, beans, ham - lunchmeat is actually normal to use - and peas. Canned peas, in fact, are preferred, but frozen or even fresh ones will probably work just fine. (That's the rare time you'll ever see that phrase.)

Amsterdam Trip Part Vier: More Bites from Amsterdam

I'm back, after 24 hours of foot, tram and plane travel and two transfers for a total of three plane trips through two continents, three economic zones (euro, Icelandic kronur and US dollar). I'm surprisingly well-rested. It seems much easier to get back on schedule when you're going to a later time zone than to an earlier one.

Again, the photos will be posted sometime in the next few days. First, just some brief notes about a few other places I ate and drank at this past week.

Haute Cuisine

The Getto Bar and Restaurant is a very funky, openly GLBT-friendly place you might even find in Hampden or Charles Village. The night before Gil headed out to Arnhem, we all went in for some dinner. This was where I spent the most money for any dish, and this was not one of the more expensive places. I followed up a forgettable witte bier (€4) with a fascinating plate of game: venison, wild boar and rabbit medallions with hearty yet tender mixed vegetables (€17). It tasted pretty good, but one thing annoyed me: if I am going to order something as different as wild boar and venison, I would at least like to be able to tell them apart. All three meats tasted exactly the same to me. That's not my fault. I think they did something wrong. Very tasty and creative, but not worth €17 (for comparison's sake, that's roughly US$25). I forget what the others ordered, but they liked them. In addition to food, Gil got a very good, home-brewed rosé cherry beer (which I tasted, of course). Jim and I did go back on our last night in town for more of those home-brewed rosé cherry beers

Bars

In addition to the Getto, I stopped by a few bars, both gay and not, including a few good ones on Zeedijk (including the Queen's Head, which has a beautiful view of the canals by the Red Light District and where I got to see a hilarious Celine Dion impersonator) and Kerkstraat (a famous part of gay Amsterdam, including the Spijker Bar, where I ran into someone who, after trading genealogical info, apparently came from the same village that my great-great grandfather came from in Northern Ireland). I visited a regular old straight bar on Kerkstraat but I'm frustrated that I can't remember its name. But it's across from a gay bookstore and next to a gay sauna. Very gay area, Kerkstraat. But I must mention it because it was my first introduction to Hoegaarden, a delicious witte bier that I have to find at the Wine Source when I go next. I drank it wherever I could find it. If I can find it.

More Dutch

The Roode Leeuw (Red Lion), on Damrak - one of the major streets downtown that leads to the historic Dam - is in the beautiful Hotel Amsterdam (much bigger, much more expensive, and probably much better than my cruddy excuse for a hotel). We all ate here before Gil's trip to the little city of Arnhem. Their offerings were quite expensive, but we were enticed by the relatively inexpensive items on their lunch menu, including sandwiches. First I got a delicious tomato soup (€3), a common item on many Dutch menus that I saw. It was creamy and not so salty. It did strike me that, maybe, it was from a package, but since the Dutch don't oversweeten their syrups, sweets and sodas, maybe they don't oversalt their soups. Next I got a grilled mozzarella, basil and tomato sandwich - a classic panino, they just didn't call it that - for €6. I got no dessert - I wanted to save my euros for other things. But the other guys got creme brulée. I would have as well, were it not for the €8 price tag. I reasoned: as much as I love it, would I ever spend $12 for creme brulée? No. Gil did stuff a spoonful in my mouth. It was good, but not worth $12.

One thing I regret never getting to try is that common Dutch street food, salted raw herring. Last Thursday I saw the stand, all the way up to Holy Saturday, that day before Easter. I kept on putting it off. Then Easter Sunday hits and it's closed. Then it's closed Easter Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday! I never got to try it.

Argentinian

The Dutch seem to love Argentinian steak. Argentinian, Uruguayan, Brazilian - anything from South America, but specifically Argentinian. The problem with these places is their price: steak ain't cheap, no matter where you eat it. And at the typical price of €16 - €25 per steak, it was quickly ignored as a viable dinner option. But on our last night in town, Jim and I were lured into La Pampa Argentinian Grill Restaurant on Paleisstraat, again near the Dam. Their €15 complete dinners lured us in. I got a tasty if small Argentinian chorizo for my first of three courses, with a forgettable veggie garnish. The main course was a real medium-rare Argentinian beefsteak smothered in a peppercorn sauce, with frites (fries, or chips in UK English). Good steak, good sauce, pretty variable quality fries (back to those in a minute). Dessert was an okay double combo of chocolate and orange ice cream. Add one Cola Light (as Diet Cokes are called in much of Europe) for €4.50 (that is almost $7 for 200 mL of soda), Jim's two teas for €2.50 each and a basket of the softest hot bread I have ever had (no more crusty bread ever!!!) at €3.50, and we were looking at about €43 worth of food, drink, tax and tip. Just imagine if we had ordered the not-so-special steak.

One thing I did do was finally try fries with the typical Dutch frites sous (fries sauce), which is part of the mayonnaise family. Whole stands and small stores selling mostly just frites with mayo and a hundred other sauce choices are extremely common all over the Netherlands. Since I never got into those, I figured I'd try it here. I was nauseated at the idea, but it was actually much better than I thought it'd be. In fact, I even liked fries in frites sous. Then I went back to ketchup, which they also had. Peanut satay sauce is also a widely available topping for frites.

Amsterdam Trip Part Drie: Little Bites Here and There

I've had very little time to report in, but two things are for certain. One: it's very difficult to not find a different cuisine to sample every night. Two: it's fairly easy to spend €15 to €20 (that's $23 to $30) on a meal. At least I get a free breakfast. Unfortunately, it's godawful, so I just go to the local Albert Heijn supermarket and buy a croissant for €0.50.

Again, I have no access to my photos at this point. Yep, stupid hotel's wireless just is untappable with my computer. So photos will come later. I must say that, apart from the hotel kitchen, everything I´ve eaten has been quite good. To wit, a few cuisines and their attached restaurants:

Dutch - already addressed this in my previous post. But I am desperately looking around for stroopwaffels to bring back. Man, I love those things. You can get them for a little more money at Trader Joe's for about $5 (at Albert Heijn they are €1.50, or around $2.25). Lovely things. Also bought some syrup, which is far less sweet and far more molasses-y than our own. Also bought some sambal oelek, a very hot spice which is...

Indonesian - My friends and I all had some nasi goreng and Bojo, as well as a few other things. RE: Indonesian food is like Chinese food in the US. It. Is. Everywhere. That's due to Dutch colonialism in Indonesia. I had a very hot mackerel. Jim had lamb satay. I can´t recall what Gil had. I have to ask him. Total cost for me was about €15.

Surinamese - Most Americans have never heard of Suriname. And though I tried to find a purely Surinamese restuarant in Amsterdam, all I could find was a Surinamese-Chinese one. That´s the Wok to Walk, a popular franchise here. I got the Balinese bami with pork for about €5.

Italian - O Sole Mio is pretty close to Bojo, and for that matter it´s close to a few good eet-huisen. I got the pizza napoletana (anchovies, tomato sauce and mozzarella) for about €11. €4 more and I was in tiramisú heaven.

Sweets - Australian is not an Australian place. Instead, it has waffles, crepes and lots and lots of chocolate. My crepe with nutella, chocolate sauce and whipped cream was €4. The crepe was not soft at all, but that turned out to be a good thing, as I needed it to be hard so everything would not fall out.

Irish - Hoopman's is one of many, many Irish pubs in Amsterdam, again near the street with the aforementioned O Sole Mio and Bojo. I had a hearty salmon chowder for lunch today, their Galway Bay Chowder, for €10. Very good idea, considering the ridiculous amounts of snow, little styrofoam ball-sized pellets of hail, and more snow that we have been getting here. No problem, though: it's supposed to get much sunnier on the day I leave. Wat yammer.

Middle Eastern - Crystal on Leidestraat, one of the main thoroughfares through the city, serves up a mean hummus and falafel platter. My friends got lamb shaorma and something else - I forget what exactly. Mine cost about €11.

Indian - Bollywood ain't just the biggest movie industry in the world, it's also a cozy two-story restaurant across from Bojo. Most of their entrées run about €20, but we each got the chicken table meal for €14: pappadam, chicken soup (the only part I wasn't too crazy about - lots of grains of chicken), chicken curry, the tastiest and tenderest chicken tandoori I have had in a very long time, and naan.

Chinese - Two Chinese places to talk about, both on Zeedijk near the Red Light District. Nam Kee has been mentioned in various travel guides, and no wonder: they get you in very quick if they can, and will seat you sometimes with someone at a partially full table if there is nowhere else to put you. It´s Chinese but serves many Vietnamese and Indonesian dishes. In fact, many Chinese offerings had typically Indonesian names, such as the Chinese lumpia (spring rolls, €3), which were tasty if greasy. I ordered the nasi goreng, another Indonesian favorite, for €11. Heeeeeel lekker. Jim got the salt and pepper squid (€12). I don´t know what Gil got, because he went off to the small town of Arnhem to visit a friend. That´s the last I´m seeing of him this trip.
The second Chinese place, which all three of us went to a few days ago, was the Good Fortune Dim Sum restaurant. Many good pieces of dim sum there, and the proprietress and waitresses were able to talk to us and others in English, Dutch and several other languages. She commended me on my at least attempting to talk to her in Dutch, even if my friends gave me a ribbing for it. Total cost: €60, or €20 each.

Not sure if I will be checking in again tomorrow or before my flight. I will try. But the photos will be going up later this week, after I´m back in the US. I haven´t had any time to comment, by the way, but thanks to all of you who have given me suggestions and tips and input. I´m still looking for some Belgian chocolate, but it´ll have to be obtained here in Amsterdam. A train ticket to Antwerp, the nearest Belgian city is €58! YIKES!

Amsterdam Trip Part Twee: Dutch food - goed, of niet so goed?

Pictures to follow...



I haven't gotten to a working internet connection since Thursday. It's now Easter Sunday morning (Happy Easter, or Goede Passdag) and I am surprised that anything is open right now.


I have no way to get the pictures off my card at this internet kiosk, and some of the places I hve eaten I only remember by name if I see their photo in my camera. So I will just wait on writing about them (long story short: fascinating and fast stir fry at this Surinamese-Chinese noodle franchise, excellent Indonesian food, not so great Dutch, delicious Middle Eastern, and a pancake in the Hague that is to die for). Let me mention at least the Dutch food I have had:


The Hotel Old Quarter has been, well, interesting. Not in the best way either. Loud and loutish tourists from Germany, the UK and - yes! - the US have either kept me up at night or woken me up in the morning. The plus side? They have free breakfast. The minus side? It's not very good. But if you pay €5 more you get a real English breakfast (the proprietor is English I think. Lots of English ex-pats here).

One frigid night my friend Jim (not a fan of being out to begin with) begged me that if we went back to the hotel, which we had just left, he'd buy me dinner there. I was all up for that! I ordered a traditional Dutch dish, called hutspot. This is a potato mash with shreds of carrot and onion mixed in, and a large meatball covered with gravy in the middle. I don't know if it's supposed to be good, but theirs certainly was not. It was like a big Salisbury Steak meatball, only hard. The potatoes also left something to be desired. At least the dessert pancake with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream was better. They had the most wonderful ice cream. It's the only good thing they serve there.

In fact, I had to go all the way to the Hague to find good Dutch food. At the Babbelen Brasserij I got this filling and very tasty pannekoeke met spek en kaas (pancake with bacon and cheese), with powdered sugar and syrup. Dutch syrup is not super sweet like in the US. In fact, it's the main part of their delicious syrup waffle cookies. I must buy some of each to bring back.

Time at the kiosk is almost out. I'll write soon... With photos!

The vacation starts tomorrow...

Well it's finally here. The passport is xeroxed - twice, the clothes are packed, the dishes are cleaned up and the mail is... uhhhm, oh shit, I forgot to stop the mail.

Anyway, in 24 hours I will be in Boston, roaming around the city while I wait for my connecting to Reykjavik, which then takes me to Amsterdam around 11AM Thursday morning, Nederlander time. A few things I'm hoping to see and try:

1. My first lobster roll in Boston or, barring that, some "wicked" New England seafood. Certainly it's not as good as the Chesapeake's, but whose is? :) But I'm still looking forward to it.
2. Will anyone in Reykjavik's Keflavik Airport be able to talk to me in English?
3. Trying real Dutch foods like pannekoeken with some other stuff (bacon? raisins? cheese? Apparently these are heel Nederlands things to put in your pancakes).
4. The supermarkets, where I will be getting most of my food, due to the continued slide of the dollar into the proverbial gutter.
5. Some good Indonesian food (again, easy to find in the supermarkets). It's as easy to find as Chinese is here. Nasi goreng, anyone?
   
6. Surinamese cuisine - I have little clue what it is, except the word roti keeps popping in my head.

That's it for now, except that I am going to start copyrighting these posts, just as any of you who writes a blog (hopefully) may be doing already. I thought it was understood, but since the previous one (I still have no idea how to contact the bastards) I have to threaten legal action (direct quotes that give credit to me are A-OK). Malnurtured Snay also gave me the suggestion that I go to Wordpress, which apparently will allow me to choose who links back to me or not, but that still only solves part of the problem.