Chef Joost
Appelpannenkoek
The apple pannenkoek is supper pretending to be breakfast: a plate-wide Dutch pancake, tart apple softened into the batter, and cinnamon sugar doing honest work.
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Uitsmijter
Created by
The dish whose name means bouncer is Dutch plain-speaking at its best: bread, ham, cheese, and soft fried eggs served when hunger needs no ceremony.
Breakfast & Brunch
Dutch
Weeknight
Quick Meal
Comfort Food
5 min
Active Time
8 min cook•13 min total
Yield2 servings
The name already tells you this is not a delicate little breakfast. Uitsmijter means bouncer, the fellow at the door who helps the evening end, for obvious reasons usually without consulting the philosophers. The old cafe story says this was the plate you could still get late, when the kitchen was nearly closed and the customers were nearly being thrown out. Bread, ham, cheese, eggs. A final kindness before the door.
But let me tell you a secret: the uitsmijter is not just emergency food. It belongs to the Dutch broodmaaltijd, the bread meal, where lunch and supper can be honest, quick, and still completely respectable. In my grandmother's second notebook, the egg dishes are written without drama, because nobody in that kitchen needed persuading that a soft yolk running into buttered bread was sufficient argument.
The cooking asks for restraint. Fry the eggs gently so the whites set without turning rubbery, warm the ham, let the cheese soften, and keep the yolks loose. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple. You are not building a tower. You are making a plate that a tired person can trust.
The Dutch word uitsmijter comes from uitsmijten, to throw out, and also means a doorman or bouncer; the dish name is commonly linked to cafe and lunchroom service, where a filling egg plate could be made quickly near closing time. By the twentieth century it had become standard fare in Dutch cafes, station restaurants, and home kitchens, usually served open-faced on bread with ham, cheese, or both. Its place in the broodmaaltijd, the Dutch bread meal, explains why it is often lunch or a quick supper rather than only breakfast.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
sturdy white or brown bread
Quantity
4 slices
butter
Quantity
as needed
for the bread and pan
cooked ham
Quantity
4 slices
young Gouda cheese
Quantity
4 slices
large eggs
Quantity
4
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
pickles (augurken) (optional)
Quantity
2 small
sliced
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| sturdy white or brown bread | 4 slices |
| butterfor the bread and pan | as needed |
| cooked ham | 4 slices |
| young Gouda cheese | 4 slices |
| large eggs | 4 |
| salt and freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| pickles (augurken) (optional)sliced | 2 small |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide nonstick or well-seasoned frying pan
- •Thin spatula
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the bread
Butter the bread lightly and lay two slices on each plate. If the bread is very soft, toast it just enough to give it backbone; the yolk is coming, and the bread must be ready to catch it.
- 2
Warm ham and cheese
Lay the ham over the bread, then the Gouda. If you like the cheese properly softened, slide the plates under a low grill for a minute or set the cheese on the warm ham in the pan. Don't brown it into a crust. An uitsmijter wants melted edges, not theatre.
- 3
Fry the eggs
Melt a little butter in a wide frying pan over medium-low heat. Crack in the eggs and cook gently until the whites are set and the yolks are still soft, about three to four minutes. Salt and pepper them in the pan. If the edges are shouting and spitting, the heat is too high; lower it and let the eggs behave.
For neater eggs, crack each one into a cup first and slide it into the pan. The cafe cook knows this trick, and so may you. - 4
Assemble and serve
Lift two eggs onto each prepared plate, yolks facing up, and serve at once with sliced augurken if you want their sharpness beside the richness. Cut through the yolk at the table and let it run into the bread. That is the sauce. That is the point.
Chef Tips
- •Use bread with some strength: casino bread, boerenbrood, or a good brown loaf. Thin supermarket slices collapse under yolk and call it fate.
- •Young Gouda melts softly and tastes right here. Old Gouda is beautiful, but it can turn oily and stubborn in this dish.
- •If you skip the ham, you still have a fine kaas-uitsmijter, a cheese uitsmijter. Four centuries of Dutch cooks fed meatless days before us; accommodation is the tradition.
Advance Preparation
- •There is little to prepare ahead, which is the virtue of the dish. Slice the bread, ham, cheese, and pickles before you heat the pan.
- •Cook the eggs only at the last moment. A waiting uitsmijter becomes a tired one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 290g)
Calories
705 calories
Total Fat
43 g
Saturated Fat
22 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
17 g
Cholesterol
485 mg
Sodium
1990 mg
Total Carbohydrates
38 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
43 g
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