From the Pantry Bookshelf
A packet of dried porcini can set your mind on an Italian supper before you have even decided what to cook. But give the mushroom its Dutch name, eekhoorntjesbrood, and another connection comes into view. The ingredient belongs in a conversation about food in the Netherlands, too.
That was our starting point in Lekker Hollands, a book from the Pantry library. Its introduction to eekhoorntjesbrood draws attention to the mushroom's presence in the Netherlands, particularly the east. It is a small detail with a useful effect: an ingredient that feels like a European discovery can also bring you a little closer to Dutch food.
A familiar ingredient across borders
Dutch mycological sources support the wider picture. The NDFF Verspreidingsatlas records Boletus edulis, or gewoon eekhoorntjesbrood, in the Netherlands and describes it as widespread across Europe. The Dutch Mycological Society also documents its relationship with trees including oak and beech. Those connections stretch beyond the national names on a menu. NDFF Verspreidingsatlas, Dutch Mycological Society.
That does not make every bag of porcini Dutch-grown. A food's name and its place of purchase tell a different story from its origin; check the pack or ask the seller if provenance matters to you. What the Dutch name offers is another way into the ingredient, rather than a promise about where a particular mushroom was collected.
For anyone cooking Dutch favourites abroad, this is a welcome bit of flexibility. A familiar food connection may be sitting on a shelf under a name you first met in another cuisine.
Choose the form for the meal
Fresh and dried mushrooms suggest different starting points in the kitchen. With fresh porcini, you might want the pieces themselves to be the focus: their texture, their shape and the pleasure of a generous mushroom supper. Dried porcini invite you to think about the flavour running through the rest of a dish.
For a cupboard starting point, Pantry carries Royal Funghi dried porcini mushrooms. Read the preparation instructions before planning the meal: dried mushrooms vary, and the packet is the place to check soaking and cooking requirements.
Then decide how prominent you want that woodland flavour to be. A mushroom-led dish can stay fairly simple; a spoonful of mushroom flavour in a sauce can play a quieter supporting role. You do not need to turn every porcini purchase into the same supper.
Three directions for dinner
Here are three Pantry serving ideas to explore, rather than a fixed traditional recipe:
- A Dutch-leaning potato supper. Bring cooked mushrooms together with potatoes and a little mustard in a sauce. The mustard gives you a bright point against the earthy flavours. Keep it restrained so the mushrooms still have room.
- A bowl of beans. Use prepared porcini in a simmered white-bean dish, with parsley for a fresh finish. Serve bread alongside for the sauce. This is an easy direction when you want the meal to centre on ingredients already in the cupboard.
- A softer grain dish. Let prepared porcini bring depth to barley or rice. Cascina Belvedere Risotto Funghi Porcini, a mix of rice and porcini in the Pantry range, is another starting point; follow its pack instructions. Choose a mild accompaniment, then taste before adding a strongly flavoured cheese or another dominant ingredient.
Each takes the same shopping discovery somewhere slightly different. Choose according to what is already in your kitchen and whether you want mushrooms to lead the meal or support it.
Keep the name in mind
The next time you see porcini on a shelf or eekhoorntjesbrood in a Dutch food book, you have a connection to carry between them. That is one of the pleasures of a European pantry: learning another name can make a familiar ingredient feel newly useful.
Start with the mushrooms available to you, follow their preparation guidance, and pick one supper direction. There is plenty to discover in an ordinary evening meal.
From our bookshelf: Yolanda van der Jagt (recipes) and Job Franken (texts), Lekker Hollands, introductory note to the eekhoorntjesbrood dish. Additional botanical context is linked above. Serving ideas are Pantry's own suggestions.