MataHari

there's beef bitterballen, veal bitterballen and shrimp ones...think you may be confused with frinkandellen, those things are a bit dubious

littlejimmy

I like Frikadellen...well the German version at least. What about Kroketten?

Mustard soup is nice, I'll give you that.

MataHari

kroketten are made with the same ingredients as bitterballen, just a different shape

Miss Anne Thrope

You could substitute any two items of "Dutch cuisine" in that sentence and it would be pretty accurate I think....

MataHari

really?

Patsy Stoned

If you chose your cut carefully.... tenderloin or loin chop cuts, then pork is almost as healthy and low fat as skinless chicken breast

PORK
Average per 100g: 123 calories, 4g fat. Health rating: ****
Technically a red meat, lean pork is almost as low in fat as chicken. Escalopes contain 1.7 % fat compared with 1.1 % in chicken breasts. However, streaky spare ribs are much fattier at 13.5 pc. Pork has a lower proportion of artery-clogging saturates than lamb or beef but is not as high in the unsaturated type as chicken. Its zinc and iron content is intermediate between poultry and red meat.

CHICKEN
Average per 100g: 106 calories, 1.1g fat Health rating: ***
Cooked light meat is the lowest in fat, but grilled breast with the skin has triple the fat content. On the upside, the fat in chicken meat and skin is far less saturated than in red meats, and supplies a better proportion of healthier monounsaturates and polyunsaturates. The dark meat is a much better source of zinc and iron than white but supplies only about half the quantity of red meat.

seven seas

Both sides: Get over pork.

It's so tedious hearing about how great / bad it is.

Just get over it.

Miss Anne Thrope

Oh come on. I love the Netherlands but of all its great contributions to humanity (and I'm sure I'll think of one if you give me a minute............. Johann Cruyff, Dennis Bergkamp - there's two!), cuisine is not among them. Most - make that all - Dutch people I know (which is hundreds) would heartily agree.

Being Irish I would say exactly the same about Irish food (and dancing - why do Brits and Yanks like that so much??). And the less said about British food, the better. Any wonder our countries have basically supplanted our dull and stodgy indigeneous diets with far more interesting and healthy foreign foods.

littlejimmy

A Dutch man I sat next to on the plane to Amsterdam the other night was full of praise for British food. Not really sure what to make of that.

Meow

Two words: Bacon sandwich

Meow

Done well British food is good.

Roast dinners, shepherd's pie, bangers & mash, pork pies, toad in the hole, kippers, great cheeses, good puddings and many more dishes. Like anything, done badly it's terrible, but there has been a resurgence in good British cooking over the last 20 years which is why it is rated by many people.

Miss Anne Thrope

Done well any food can be good - but part of the tradition in our islands was not doing it well: over-cooking, boiling everything, lack of consideration for provenance and handling, under-seasoning, etc. It is the foreign influences on technique and preparation and care for ingredients that have enabled these basic dishes (and I don't agree with your full list) to transcend their humble origins. That gallery of exceptions can still stand nowhere near their French or Italian or Spanish or Greek equivalents in range or quality.

Bahtatboy

British food is great. Unfortunately, many British cooks are appalling.

Meow

But that must be the same everywhere. Not every cook in say, Italy or France is good.


One of the issues is Britain is that many people are more concerned about the cost than about good quality food. If you buy a supermarket chicken for GBP 4, then it is going to be poor quality and could never compare to a Bresse chicken. Ditto, cheap sausages are horrible and full of rubbish, whereas one made with prime meat and spices is good.

The quality ingredients are there, for those who are willing (or able) to pay, but I am sure I have read that the Brits spend less on food as a proportion of household expenditure than the French, who generally seem to have a better appreciation of quality.

Spugsy

I'm going to the H Hotel tonight for tapas opening, and they now have a pork licence.....get in!