Chef Joost
Leverpastei (Dutch Liver Pâté)
Before pâté sounded grand, the Dutch had leverpastei: frugal liver made rich, smooth, and respectable with pork fat, warm spice, and a slice of rye.
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A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Chef Joost
Amsterdamse Uien
The little yellow onion on the Amsterdam borrel board looks modest, until vinegar, turmeric, and patience turn it into the sharp bite that wakes cheese, herring, and sausage.
Chef Joost
Amsterdamse Ossenworst
The name means ox sausage, but the real story is Amsterdam itself: cattle trade, Jewish butchers, VOC spices, and raw beef sliced thin with onion.
Chef Joost
Kaasstengels (Dutch Cheese Straws)
The name is almost too modest: cheese sticks, yes, but with aged Gouda, buttered pastry, and the whole Dutch art of making a birthday table disappear one handful at a time.
Chef Joost
Likkepot
The name means lick-pot, and that is nearly the whole instruction: soft leverworst, onion, mustard, and herbs stirred into the frugal Dutch spread nobody bothers to pretend is elegant.
Chef Joost
Berenklauw
The bear's claw of the northern snackbar: a seasoned gehaktbal, Dutch meatball, cut into thick discs, skewered with onion, fried until the edges catch, then dragged through peanut sauce.
Chef Joost
Goudse en Leidse Kaasplank
The heart of the Dutch borrelplank: sweet young Gouda, deep aged Gouda, and cumin-studded Leidse, cut with the kaasschaaf and served without ceremony.
Chef Joost
Komkommer Schuitjes
Little cucumber boats on the Dutch birthday table, carrying ham-and-egg salad through the heavy weather of cheese cubes, bitterballen, and aunties asking if you’ve grown.
Chef Joost
Gevulde Eieren (Dutch Stuffed Eggs)
The name says it plainly: filled eggs, carried to every Dutch birthday table with mustard, mayonnaise, a little kerrie, and the cheerful modesty of a dish that always disappears first.
Chef Joost
Frikandel Speciaal
The snack-bar staaf, or meat rod, that made postwar thrift taste reckless: smooth meat, clean spice, hot oil, and the open back filled speciaal with mayo, curry, and raw onion.
Chef Joost
Kaassoufflé (Dutch Fried Cheese Pastry)
The name borrows French grandeur and then walks straight into the Dutch snack bar: a square of Gouda in crumbed pastry, crisp at the edges, molten enough to demand patience.
Chef Joost
Vlammetjes
The name means little flames, and this late-night borrel snack earns it: crisp pastry, spiced minced meat, sambal heat, and the Dutch habit of turning fire into finger food.
Chef Joost
Leverworst (Dutch Liver Sausage)
The name is almost rude in its honesty: liver, sausage, bread, mustard, and the old Dutch thrift that knew the best stories often sat at the cheap end of the table.
Chef Joost
Vleeskroket (Dutch Beef Croquette)
The Dutch took a French croquette, filled it with thrifty beef ragout, and built a whole snackbar culture around the little crisp cylinder eaten with mustard.
Chef Joost
Ham-MonChou Rolletjes
The little ham roll of the Dutch birthday table: cream cheese, augurk, and a prikker, a cocktail stick, proving modern recipes can become family memory before anyone writes them down.
Chef Joost
Mexicano (Dutch Snackbar Snack)
The snackbar's spicy outsider is Dutch to its bones: flat, ribbed, paprika-hot minced meat, fried until crisp and dragged through curry sauce.
Chef Joost
Garnalenkroket (Dutch Shrimp Croquette)
A North Sea croquette for the good borrel, where tiny grey shrimp vanish into a pale ragout, return in every bite, and prove that Dutch frying can be delicate.
Chef Joost
Boeren-Leidse Komijnekaas
A lean farmhouse cheese from the Leiden pastures, freckled with cumin, stamped with city keys, and built for ships, cellars, and the Dutch genius for making thrift taste deliberate.
Chef Joost
Bitterballen
The name points to the drink, not the mood: bitterballen are crisp little balls of beef ragout made for the borrel table, mustard beside them, fingers slightly burned by impatience.
Chef Joost
Brabants Worstenbroodje
South of the rivers, a soft bread roll hiding seasoned minced meat is breakfast, borrel, and winter table all at once: Brabant's quiet answer to anyone who mistakes Dutch food for plain.
Chef Joost
Filet Américain
The 'American' that belongs to the Low Countries: raw lean beef chopped fine, sharpened with mustard and capers, and spread on toast before anyone can pretend the Dutch table is bland.
Chef Joost
Saucijzenbroodje
The bakery's borrel staple, crisp puff pastry around mace-scented meat, proves the Dutch birthday table knows exactly when to be practical and a little luxurious.
Chef Joost
Eierbal (Groningen Egg Ball)
A whole egg in beef ragout, crumbed and fried until the crust gives under your teeth, Groningen's snackbar secret proves northern thrift knows exactly how to make one egg feel like supper.
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