How a Dutch Meal Is Built

The Dutch lunch is a spread, not a dish — bread and a parade of toppings.

• Jonge & belegen kaas — young and aged Gouda, sliced thin
• Hagelslag — chocolate sprinkles for the sweet slice
• Boiled egg & ham — the savoury half of the board
• Karnemelk — a glass of cold buttermilk

Stamppot is a canvas: a well of gravy and something smoked or pickled.

• Rookworst — smoked sausage, sliced into the well
• Jus — a pool of dark gravy in the centre
• Piccalilli or zuur — sharp pickles to cut the richness
• Speklapjes — crisped pork belly for kale stamppot

Slow pots want something to catch the sauce and something sweet against it.

• Boiled potatoes — or a mound of plain rice for zuurvlees
• Rode kool met appel — red cabbage stewed with apple
• Appelmoes — apple sauce, the eternal Dutch side
• Zoervleisj on fries — Limburg-style, over frites

A bowl of snert is a meal — but the trimmings make it Dutch.

• Roggebrood met spek — rye bread with a slab of bacon
• Katenspek — smoked cured bacon on the side
• Mustard — a dab of coarse mustard on the rye

Drinks-hour needs mustard, cheese, and something cold in a small glass.

• Mosterd — coarse mustard for dipping bitterballen
• Oude kaas & worst — aged cheese cubes and sausage
• Jenever — a tulip glass of gin, filled to the brim

Herring and its kin want sharpness, onion, and bread beneath.

• Uitjes & augurk — chopped raw onion and pickle
• Wit brood — a soft white roll for a broodje haring
• Knoflooksaus — garlic sauce for kibbeling

A Dutch board runs from young to old, with sweet and sharp foils.

• Roggebrood — dark rye under the aged cheese
• Mustard & syrup — mosterd for old, stroop for young
• Stroopwafel — to close, with coffee

Coffee-time (koffie met wat lekkers) is its own small ceremony.

• Koffie — strong filter coffee, one biscuit alongside
• Slagroom — whipped cream for poffertjes and tompouce
• Roomboter — good butter on the warm koek

The Indo table is many small dishes around a mound of rice.

• Nasi or white rice — the still centre of the spread
• Sambal & atjar — chile paste and pickled vegetables
• Kroepoek — prawn crackers for crunch
• Serundeng — toasted spiced coconut to scatter