Chef Joost
Aardappelschotel met Gehakt
A plain name for a quietly clever dish: fresh mince, sweet fried onion, nutmeg, and mashed potato baked until the top goes golden and the table goes silent.
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Rodekoolstamppot
Created by
Red cabbage, apple, clove, and potato meet in one honest winter mash, the colour of a stormy Dutch evening and the taste of frugality made generous.
Main Dishes
Dutch
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
One Pot
20 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr 5 min total
Yield4 servings
There are dishes that arrive with trumpets, and there are dishes that wait for a Tuesday in January, when the light leaves early and the cupboard asks to be taken seriously. Rodekoolstamppot is the second kind. In my grandmother's second notebook, the red cabbage page was stained purple at the corner, which tells you more about its importance than any neat handwriting could.
The name is plain because the dish is plainspoken. Rode kool is red cabbage, stamppot is the mashed pot, from stampen, to pound or mash, and that is already enough etymology for one supper. But let me tell you a secret: the clove in this humble pot belongs to the same spice world as speculaas. The Dutch did not reserve the VOC cargo for feast-day biscuits. A frugal kitchen put clove into cabbage because one nail-shaped spice could make winter taste less like storage.
The method is the lesson. The cabbage must soften first with apple, vinegar, and clove, until its raw edge turns sweet and dark. Only then do the potatoes join, so they cook in the purple liquor and carry the flavour into the mash. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple: one pot, a wooden spoon, and enough patience for the cabbage to become itself.
Rode kool met appeltjes, red cabbage with apples, appears across nineteenth and early twentieth-century Dutch household cookbooks as a winter vegetable dish built from stored cabbage, orchard fruit, vinegar, sugar, and warm spices. Clove entered Dutch domestic cooking through the seventeenth-century spice trade with the Moluccas, moving from luxury cargo into everyday dishes such as stewed cabbage, hachee, and speculaas. Making it as stamppot reflects the Dutch habit of folding a vegetable side into potatoes, turning thrift into a complete weeknight meal.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
red cabbage
Quantity
1 small, about 800g
finely shredded
floury potatoes
Quantity
1kg
peeled and cut into large chunks
tart apples
Quantity
2
peeled, cored, and diced
onion
Quantity
1 large
finely sliced
butter or neutral oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
whole cloves
Quantity
3
bay leaf
Quantity
1
apple cider vinegar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
dark brown sugar or basterdsuiker
Quantity
1 tablespoon
water
Quantity
150ml
fine salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
mustard (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
extra butter or good rapeseed oil (optional)
Quantity
to finish
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| red cabbagefinely shredded | 1 small, about 800g |
| floury potatoespeeled and cut into large chunks | 1kg |
| tart applespeeled, cored, and diced | 2 |
| onionfinely sliced | 1 large |
| butter or neutral oil | 2 tablespoons |
| whole cloves | 3 |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| apple cider vinegar | 2 tablespoons |
| dark brown sugar or basterdsuiker | 1 tablespoon |
| water | 150ml |
| fine salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| mustard (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| extra butter or good rapeseed oil (optional) | to finish |
Equipment Needed
- •Large heavy-bottomed pot with lid, 4-liter or larger
- •Potato masher
- •Sharp knife or mandoline for shredding cabbage
Instructions
- 1
Soften the onion
Set a large heavy pot over medium heat and warm the butter or oil. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until it turns soft and translucent. Do not brown it; this is a winter mash, not a fried onion argument.
- 2
Stew the cabbage
Add the shredded red cabbage, apples, cloves, bay leaf, vinegar, sugar, 150ml water, and 1 teaspoon salt. Turn everything through the pot until the cabbage begins to glisten and collapse. Cover and cook gently for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the cabbage has lost its raw crunch and the apples are beginning to soften.
Count the cloves going in, and count them coming out. They give warmth, but biting one whole is like being corrected by a very small schoolmaster. - 3
Add the potatoes
Lay the potato chunks on top of the cabbage, cover the pot again, and cook for 20 to 25 minutes more. Keep the heat low enough that the bottom does not catch. The potatoes should become tender from the scented purple liquor below; if the pot looks dry before they are done, add a small splash of water.
- 4
Mash the pot
Remove the bay leaf and all three cloves. Mash the potatoes down into the cabbage with a potato masher, leaving some texture rather than beating it smooth. A good stamppot should look like a field after honest work, not like puree from a hotel kitchen.
- 5
Season and serve
Taste and season with black pepper, more salt if needed, and mustard if you want a sharper edge. Finish with a knob of butter or a thread of rapeseed oil for gloss. Serve straight from the pot in deep bowls, with the purple mash holding together softly on the spoon.
Chef Tips
- •Use a floury potato such as Eigenheimer, Doré, or a good mashing potato. Waxy potatoes stay separate and sulky, and stamppot needs potatoes willing to surrender.
- •Choose a firm tart apple, not a soft dessert apple. Goudreinet is the Dutch old friend here; Granny Smith or Braeburn will do the work if that is what your market gives you.
- •This is naturally easy to make vegan: use oil in the pot and finish with rapeseed oil instead of butter. Accommodation is the tradition, and the cabbage will not complain.
- •Red cabbage is best in the cold months. The tide sets the menu, and so does the calendar; in high summer, save this recipe for when cabbage has its proper winter sweetness.
Advance Preparation
- •The cabbage can be shredded and the potatoes peeled up to one day ahead; keep the potatoes covered in cold water and drain well before cooking.
- •The finished stamppot keeps three days covered in the refrigerator. Reheat gently in a pot with a splash of water, stirring often so the potato does not stick.
- •It freezes acceptably, though the potato softens after thawing. Reheat slowly and refresh with a little butter or oil at the end.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 500g)
Calories
295 calories
Total Fat
6 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
15 mg
Sodium
610 mg
Total Carbohydrates
59 g
Dietary Fiber
9 g
Sugars
20 g
Protein
6 g
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