Dutch Mustard Soup (Groninger Mosterdsoep)
Yield: 2 servings
Active: 15 min
Total: 40 min
Heat: 🌶1/5
Significance of the Dish
Mustard. It is probably one of the most beloved condiments in the Netherlands. I remember enjoying it with different fried foods known as borrelhapjes, paired with different meats, spread onto sandwiches, as well as in sauces. It always helped to elevate the flavor of whatever it was being paired with. Mustard is a versatile ingredient, and depending on what you mix it with, it can have a spicy, tangy, and sharp kick. Maybe that is why so many people in the Netherlands adore the ingredient, despite it sometimes having a pungent or funky smell.
It would be impossible to visit the country without stumbling upon not one, but an array of different mustards, even if you were there visiting just for a week. My favorite way the Dutch use mustard is by turning it into a rich-tasting soup. The flavor of the soup is determined by the type of mustard and stock you choose for the recipe, while the addition of pork—in this case, a form of bacon—results in a meaty fattiness that pairs well with the mustard. I also like to add in a bit of fresh tarragon. The anise or licorice-like and peppery notes of tarragon help to round off the dish as a whole.
Ingredient Guidance
- Stock: Because the stock has such a fundamental impact on the overall flavor of this dish, I highly recommend making your own. I normally collect the trimmings of my vegetables from whenever I cook and keep them in a Ziplock bag in my freezer so that I can make vegetable stock for just such a recipe. You can also use a chicken stock for this dish.
- Mustard: Also essential for the flavor of this dish. This recipe comes from the northern province of Groningen in the Netherlands; therefore, I normally use mustard from the same region. Groninger Mustard from Marne is the most commercially available, but you can play around with the type you use. It also works with Dijon, for example.
Ingredients
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 500ml vegetable stock
- 165ml cream
- 100g thick-cut bacon
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 3 tbsp mustard from Groningen (or coarse grain mustard)
- 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2-3 sprigs of tarragon
- 2-3 sprigs of thyme
- 1 bay leaf
Mise en Place
- Make a vegetable or chicken stock.
- Start by finely dicing the onion and slicing the garlic.
- Cut the bacon into small cubes roughly 1 cm in size.
- Remove the thyme and tarragon leaves from their stems and give the leaves a rough chop.
- Dissolve the cornstarch in a few tablespoons of cold water.
Methods & Procedures
- Render Bacon — Heat a pot on medium heat and fry the bacon. Remove it from the pan and reserve it for later.
- Sweat Aromatics — Add the butter to the same pot and allow it to melt before adding the onion. Add a few pinches of salt and sweat the onions. Once the onions start to turn translucent, add in the garlic, bay leaf, and mustard seeds. (I add the mustard seeds for extra texture if the bottled mustard is not grainy enough).
- Deglaze — Continue sweating the aromatics and deglaze the pan with the stock before the onions and garlic turn golden in color. We want them sweated, not seared.
- Simmer — Once the stock comes to a simmer, mix in the mustard and the cream and bring it back to a simmer. Let it cook for about 5 minutes before adding in the tarragon and thyme. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Blend and Thicken — Remove the bay leaf and blend the soup base with an immersion blender. Bring the soup back to a simmer and mix in the cornstarch slurry. Once the soup has simmered and thickened to a nice consistency, rectify the seasoning with salt and add the bacon back into the soup.
Pairing
Katenspek — This is a type of smoked bacon that is used in Dutch and German cuisine. The bacon is normally boiled before being smoked and is made from the pork belly or leg meat. The katenspek is normally served on the side on buttered rye bread with soups in Dutch cuisine, so it would also pair quite well with this one. Although, I would forgo the bacon inside the soup in that case.
Variations
Heartier version: There are many variations to this dish. Some add potatoes to make the dish heartier. You can also use leeks instead of, or with, the onions, as that would be the more traditional way of making the soup. If you choose to add the potatoes, you can omit the cornstarch from the recipe as the potatoes will bring enough starch to the soup to help thicken it.
Meat variations: You can also play around with different meats, like replacing the bacon with ham hock or some other kind of meat that would go well in a soup.
Storage and Reheating
The soup can be frozen for 3 months or kept in the fridge for 3 days. It needs to be gently reheated on the stove.
Co-founder of Snout & Seek. Born and raised in Sri Lanka, Arnold's passion for food stems from both his Dutch and Sri Lankan roots. A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa, Arnold's career in the culinary industry has brought him from the Netherlands to Canada, where he now teaches at a cooking school.
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