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.
Culinary Explorer
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Kip in Mosterdsaus
Created by
Chicken in mustard sauce looks like a weeknight shortcut, but the real story is in the jar: coarse Groninger mustard, cream, and one honest pan.
Main Dishes
Dutch
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Quick Meal
10 min
Active Time
30 min cook•40 min total
Yield4 servings
In my grandmother's second notebook, the grand dishes have careful titles and the weeknight ones have practical little names. Kip in mosterdsaus, chicken in mustard sauce. No poetry. No ceremony. But let me tell you a secret: Dutch home cooking often hides its intelligence in plain clothes, and this dish is one of those quiet conspiracies.
The name already tells you the whole method. Kip is browned first, because pale chicken in cream is a sad little sermon, and mosterdsaus needs the brown bits at the bottom of the pan to become more than cream with ideas. The mustard should be Groninger mosterd, the coarse northern kind, with seeds that pop under the teeth and a vinegar bite that cuts through richness the way a clean knife cuts butter.
There is an older word hiding in that jar. Mustard comes by way of French from the Latin mustum ardens, burning must, because crushed mustard seed was once mixed with young grape must until it bit back. History and cookery, they cannot be separated, even on a Tuesday evening. Here the old fire is tamed with cream, onion, and a little stock, not silenced. Hou het altijd simpel: brown the chicken properly, soften the onion slowly, stir in the mustard off the fiercest heat, and let the sauce thicken around the meat until it coats the spoon.
Mustard has been made in the Low Countries since the medieval period, and Groningen became especially known for coarse mustard ground from whole seeds, a style still central to northern dishes such as Groninger mosterdsoep. Chicken was once a more occasional meat in Dutch households, but twentieth-century poultry farming made dishes like kip in mosterdsaus practical weeknight fare. The dish is modern in its everyday use, but its backbone is much older: a northern mustard tradition that gives cream sauce its bite.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
chicken thighs or small chicken breasts
Quantity
4 pieces, about 700g total
fine salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
butter
Quantity
2 tablespoons
neutral oil
Quantity
1 tablespoon
onion
Quantity
1 medium
finely chopped
garlic
Quantity
1 clove
finely grated or minced
dry white wine or chicken stock
Quantity
150ml
chicken stock
Quantity
200ml
cream
Quantity
150ml
Groninger mustard or other coarse Dutch mustard
Quantity
2 tablespoons
smooth mustard (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
honey or appelstroop (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
flat-leaf parsley (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| chicken thighs or small chicken breasts | 4 pieces, about 700g total |
| fine salt | 1 teaspoon |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| butter | 2 tablespoons |
| neutral oil | 1 tablespoon |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 medium |
| garlicfinely grated or minced | 1 clove |
| dry white wine or chicken stock | 150ml |
| chicken stock | 200ml |
| cream | 150ml |
| Groninger mustard or other coarse Dutch mustard | 2 tablespoons |
| smooth mustard (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| honey or appelstroop (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| flat-leaf parsley (optional)chopped | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy frying pan or braadpan with lid, 28cm
- •Tongs
- •Wooden spoon or flat spatula
Instructions
- 1
Season the chicken
Pat the chicken dry, then season it all over with the salt and a good grinding of black pepper. Give it ten minutes on the board if you have them. Dry skin and dry surface brown properly; wet chicken only sighs in the pan.
- 2
Brown it well
Set a wide heavy frying pan or braadpan over medium-high heat and add the butter and oil. When the butter foams and settles, lay in the chicken and brown it for 4 to 5 minutes per side, until the surface is deep golden and the pan has good brown bits on the bottom. Lift the chicken to a plate. It is not cooked through yet, and that is exactly right.
Do not crowd the pan. If the pieces touch too much, they stew instead of brown, and the sauce loses the savoury base it needs. - 3
Soften the onion
Lower the heat to medium. Add the onion to the same pan and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, scraping gently as it softens, until it turns translucent and sweet at the edges. Add the garlic for the last minute. Garlic should perfume the pan, not announce a house fire.
- 4
Build the sauce
Pour in the wine or the first measure of stock and scrape the bottom of the pan until the browned bits dissolve into the liquid. Add the chicken stock and simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in the cream, then lower the heat before whisking in the Groninger mustard and the optional smooth mustard. Mustard becomes harsh if bullied over fierce heat, so let it speak clearly, not shout.
- 5
Finish gently
Return the chicken and any juices to the pan. Simmer gently, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes for thighs or 8 to 10 minutes for small breasts, turning once, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce coats the back of a spoon. If the sauce tastes too sharp, stir in the honey or appelstroop. If it tastes sleepy, add another half teaspoon of mustard.
- 6
Serve the pan
Taste for salt and pepper, scatter over the parsley if using, and bring the pan to the table. Serve with boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, or broad egg noodles, something honest enough to catch the sauce. I prefer to keep it a bit more relaxed, in the Dutch way.
Chef Tips
- •Use Groninger mustard if you can find it. Its coarse seeds and vinegar edge are the point of the dish; Dijon makes a smoother, more French sauce, good but no longer the same northern conversation.
- •Chicken thighs are more forgiving than breasts. If you use breasts, choose small ones and stop cooking as soon as the centre reaches 74C, because cream sauce cannot rescue dry meat.
- •Serve this with boiled potatoes or a soft mash. Rice works, yes, but potatoes understand mustard sauce better, and I am not above taking sides.
Advance Preparation
- •The chicken can be salted up to 8 hours ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator; pat it dry again before browning.
- •The finished dish keeps 2 days refrigerated. Reheat gently over low heat with a splash of stock, keeping it below a hard boil so the cream stays smooth.
- •Do not freeze the sauce if you can avoid it; cream and mustard can separate after thawing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 270g)
Calories
460 calories
Total Fat
30 g
Saturated Fat
14 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
15 g
Cholesterol
205 mg
Sodium
1050 mg
Total Carbohydrates
7 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
38 g
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