There are a few things all Dutch people miss dearly when they live abroad. And non-Dutch people find most of these things disgusting. What are they? ‘
Drop’ you will of course find on top of the list. This black salty type of candy is usually called liquorice abroad, but that doesn’t exactly mean the same thing. You have to taste various types of ‘drop’ to understand the concept.
Another seriously missed Dutch product is ‘maatjes’. These are raw, very fresh young herrings that you eat while you hold them up by their tail. A true art and an incredible, unforgettable taste!
And then there is ‘snert’. A very thick pea soup that you eat as a full meal with rye bread. You should only eat pea soup when it’s cold outside; definitely not in the summer. The best way to eat ‘snert’ is after a few hours of skating on natural ice. Go home, take off your cold clothes, and slowly heat up the pea soup you prepared the day before. Because then ‘snert’ is at its best and tastiest: after you allowed it to thicken for 24 hours. You should be able to stand a spoon upright in the snert.
Be a true Dutchman and learn to appreciate ‘drop’, ‘maatjes’ and ‘snert’. And most importantly: tell others how much you like it. Integration guaranteed!
Ingredients
3 litres of water
300 grams of dried green peas
200 grams of dried split peas
500 grams of pork ribs (‘ribbetjes’)
1 pig leg (‘varkenspoot’)
250 grams of pork chops (‘schouderkarbonades)
salt
1 celeriac
2 big bundles of stalk celery
3 - 4 leeks
1 or 2 smoked sausages (‘rookworsten’)
Preparation
Allow the peas and split peas to soak for at least 12 hours in 3 litres of water. Do not throw away the soaking water, but cook the peas in it together with all the meat. Gradually bring the water to the boil and keep the soup for about 2 hours just below the cooking point. Regularly skim the surface of the soup.
Add the salt, the washed, chopped leeks and celeriac, and allow the soup to stew for another hour on low heat. Use the skimmer to take the meat from the soup. Remove all the bones and cut the meat in pieces. Crush the peas with a wooden spoon against the wall of the pan. Put the pieces of meat back in the soup. Let it stew a while longer and stir regularly to avoid a crust on the bottom of the pan.
When the soup is nearly finished and nicely smooth, you generously stir in the finely chopped stalk celery. You have now cooked your first traditional snert. As we said before, leave it for 24 hours in a cold place to thicken before you eat it.
Before serving, you swell the smoked sausages in a separate pan with water. Do not boil them! When the sausages are done, you cut them in slides and add these to the soup.
Serve the snert with buttered rye bread, dressed with ‘katenspek’ (a type of bacon, available at all supermarkets in the charcuterie division).
You will love it and once you have left the Netherlands, you will yearn for snert every winter. As a true Dutchman.