Stoemp
Belgian mash with vegetables crushed through it rather than blended in, so it stays coarse and flecked. A side dish that eats like a main with a sausage on top.
Photograph credit: Carbonnade flamande accompagnée de stoemp by avlxyz · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
How to Make Stoemp
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Put the potatoes and carrots in a large pan, cover with cold water, add the tablespoon of salt, and bring to a boil.
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Simmer 12 minutes, then add the leeks and cook a further 8 to 10 minutes, until everything is completely tender.
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Drain thoroughly and return the pan to a low heat for 1 minute, shaking, to steam off the surface water.
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Add the butter and let it melt into the hot vegetables.
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Now crush everything with a potato masher, using about a dozen firm strokes. Stop while it is still visibly uneven, with recognisable pieces of carrot and leek — this is stoemp, not purée.
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Fold in the warm cream, salt, white pepper and nutmeg with a spoon rather than the masher.
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Fold through the parsley and serve, with a fried sausage on top if you like.
Related guide: Ingredient substitutions.
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Small Things That Help
- A masher, and not many strokes. Over-mashed stoemp is just mashed potato with bits in it.
- Warm the cream. Cold cream chills the pot and you end up overworking it to bring it back.
- It takes any vegetable — sprouts, spinach, celeriac — on the same timing principle.
Swaps and Variations
- In a sauce, full-fat crème fraîche can usually take the place of the double cream; single cream is thinner and more likely to split if it boils, so keep it below a simmer.
What to Serve with Stoemp
- A grilled sausage
- Belgian beer
- A sharp mustard
Leftovers and Storage
Refrigerated for 3 days. Reheat in a pan with a splash of milk, or fry slices in butter.
Stoemp Nutrition
No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.
Vegetarian when served without the pork sausages.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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