A couple of weeks ago the news came out that the Rijksmuseum renovation, originally planned to last from 2008 to 2006, will not be finished until 2012, possibly even 2013. Thankfully the masterpieces, such as the Nightwatch by Rembrandt, are still on display in the newly furnished Philips Wing. If your favorite paintings aren’t counted among the masterpieces, well, you’ll have to wait a couple of years and be content to stare at a digital image from the Rijksmuseum online collection.

For the gastronomically inclined under us there’s better news: we can use the Rijksmuseum Cookbook to still our hunger for art. It offers us not only beautiful paintings from the Dutch Masters, depicting all kinds of delicious food, it also provides us with details about life in the Golden Age and recipes from top chefs in The Netherlands who were inspired by the paintings.

The book also offers us insight in the daily routine of a typical well-off Dutch household in the Golden Age, ranging from the shopping expeditions to the tasks of the household servants. The very same servants who couldn’t be trusted: “After all, hadn’t everyone seen maids who paraded about in clothing they could never afford with their salaries? Then one knew that they were either a ‘thief or a harlot’. And their thievery was not limited to the pantry; when sent out for shopping, they cheated you as well: they purloined change, bought an ounce less cheese than you’d asked for, loitered at the ‘comestibles market’, and on top of that waste their own time ‘chattering away’ with the bakery maids.” A tough job to keep them in place, indeed.

The inspiration of the recipes from the chefs ranges from the obviously Dutch (Baked flat Zeeland oysters and Asparagus Mousse) to the somewhat far-fetched (Tabbouleh with Dutch Shrimp, mint, tomatoes, coriander and parsley). The chefs don’t really talk about their inspirations in the mini-interviews, and that is a shame: it would be interesting to discover how they were inspired by the paintings, and why they came up with certain combinations. Still, the recipes are undeniably mouth-watering, and that is probably enough for most readers.

The eating habits of the common people aren’t discussed in depth, but I like to imagine that the following recipe would have been very popular with them. It’s cheap to make, and very filling. The name ‘Blote billetjes in het groen’ means something along the lines of ‘Bare buttocks in the grass’, which is a bit cheeky (pun intended). The stew is usually eaten in very cold weather, so save this recipe for a cold, cold night!

Blote Billetjes in ‘t Groen

Ingredients

• 250 gr. white beans, dried
• 500 gr. salted green beans, soaked about 24 hrs.
• 1 kilo potatoes, for mashing
• 20 gr. butter
• 1 Rookworst (Emulsified smoked sausage, but any kind of emulsified sausage will do)
• 200 ml. milk

Soak the white beans for at least a night and boil them for about 1 1/2 hours, until they are done. If you use white beans from a can or jar, you can skip this step entirely. Peel the potatoes and cook them till they are done (15-20 minutes), together with the green beans. In the meantime, cook the sausage (Rookworst needs about 15 minutes in hot water, make sure it doesn’t boil).  Drain the potatoes and beans and mash them together with the milk and butter. Carefully stir the drained white beans into the mash,  and season. I usually don’t put any salt in the stew, because the green beans are very salty, even after soaking. Serve stew with the sausage, and enjoy!

The Rijksmuseum Cookbook by Bert Natter