The Hirshon Dutch East Indies-Style Split Pea Soup – Erwtensoep

My Citizens SUPREME! I just visited the magnificent edifice dedicated to human knowledge that is the Boston Public Library – in particular to view its acclaimed map collection! While there, I was dazzled by a variant of the cartographic art below mapping the Dutch East Indies – and with characteristic aplomb, the Sultan of Spice was inspired to create an East Indies-enhanced version of the acclaimed Dutch pea soup known as erwtensoep!

To provide proper perspective on how the Dutch created the world’s first true multinational corporation to exploit the spices (and sadly, the people) of the region, we must first understand the historical complexity of the United Dutch East India Company – and a most checkered history it is! You can’t appreciate My version of East Indies-inspired erwtensoep without this perspective!

I found the following synopsis from the Western Australian Museum website to be most comprehensive and easily-digested:

VOC – United Dutch East India Company

Spices and the riches of Asia

In medieval Europe and as recently as the 16th and 17th centuries, spices we take for granted today—cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper and mace—were scarce and extremely valuable. Control of the spice trade made nations rich and sparked wars.

Used in medicine to relieve the symptoms of rheumatism, gout and colic for example, spices helped to preserve cooked food, added flavour to meat and alcoholic drinks, and were believed to increase sexual activity. European demand for the products of Asia extended to metals, works of art, furniture, textiles and carpets. These goods made successful European traders very wealthy.

Secret spice islands

Spices had to be sourced from remote and distant places such as the islands of present-day eastern Indonesia. The Indonesian archipelago boasted two main spice centres—the Moluccas (the Maluku Islands) as well as Java and Sumatra. The Moluccas consist of more than 1,000 islands, only a few of which produced cloves and nutmeg, while Java and Sumatra were sources of pepper.

By the time the Dutch arrived in the late 1500s, the region’s spice trade already had a history dating back to ancient times. The merchants, perhaps Persian or Arab traders, who introduced cloves to Europe around the 2nd century, did not know the original source of the spice, and this remained true until about the 12th century.

The overland monopoly in the supply of spices to Europe via the eastern Mediterranean was broken in 1497 when the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope and sailed to India. Portugal developed and maintained a stranglehold on the spice trade during the 16th century.

The creation of the Republic of the United Netherlands and the VOC

The 1579 Union of Utrecht and Union off Arras were both attempts to unite the patchwork of the low country provinces in their struggle for independence or autonomy from Spanish/Hapsburg rule. The Union of Utrecht can be considered the beginning of the Republic of the United Netherlands which consisted of the seven northern provinces: Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, Overijssel, Friesland and Groningen.

Their war of independence (the Eighty Years War) was not formally concluded until 1648. It was in some ways a commercial competition, as well as a military and naval war, against Spain and Portugal which were then combined under King Phillip II of Spain.

The mariners and merchants of the region that would become the Republic of the Netherlands, and the southern provinces which remained with the Hapsburg Empire, had long been the most efficient and successful in Europe, owning more shipping than any other region.

…wherever profit leads us, to every sea and shore; for love of gain the wide world’s harbours we explore …

Dutch poet Joost van den Vondel, 1639

In 1599 the eerste shipvaart—the first (Dutch) fleet to the Indies set sail, attempting to break the Portuguese monopoly in the spice trade, using information gained by espionage. It was not very successful financially, bringing back only a small cargo of spices, but it showed what might be done in the future.

A second fleet was much more successful, and at the beginning of the 17th century many small squadrons and larger fleets were equipped for voyages to the Indies by newly-formed companies. In late December 1601 a fleet of five Dutch ships drove away from Bantam, Java, a fleet of thirty Portuguese ships. It was a turning point in history.

The VOC monopoly

In 1602, to put an end to fierce competition between proliferating Dutch companies that were breaking into the East Indies spice trade and had forced an increase in the purchase price of spices and a glut in Europe, the companies were amalgamated by government fiat as the United Dutch East India Company or Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC).

The VOC was granted a monopoly in all sea-borne trade with Asia by way of the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan. By the mid-1600s, the VOC boasted some 150 merchant ships and 50,000 employees, a private army of 10,000 soldiers and trading posts from the Persian Gulf to Japan.

It was, in effect, a ‘state outside the state’ with the power to wage war, make treaties with Asian rulers, punish and execute criminals, create new colonies and strike its own coins.

The VOC became a trading colossus, the world’s first multinational company. Its dominance was such that between 1602 and 1796 its ships made nearly 5,000 voyages from the Netherlands to Asia. During the 17th century the rest of Europe combined did not come close, sending out only a fraction of the number of ships and people.

The English fleet of the Honourable East India Company was a distant second to the VOC, returning with just one-fifth the tonnage of goods though it was more successful in the 18th century.

Heeren Seventien

Consisting of six companies called chambers (kamer), the VOC operated from the cities of Amsterdam, Middelburg, Enkhuizen, Hoorn, Delft and Rotterdam. This organisation was administered by a board of seventeen directors called Heeren Seventien (The Lordship Seventeen) who had their head office in Amsterdam.

After the monopoly was granted by patent, only the VOC could send ships from the Netherlands to conduct trade in the octrooi gebied (the trade zone under the patent) of Asia. In March 1602 the newly-formed VOC took over the fleets of the amalgamated companies that were at sea and in the Indies, and the Heeren Seventien wasted no time in sending new fleets to the East Indies and India.

As directors their income was fixed at 1% of the expenditure and outfitting, and 1% of the profits from the sale of the retourgoederen (the return wares), but in 1622 the 1% of outfitting expenditure was rescinded and in 1647 they accepted a fixed salary. High profits were possible but there were risks: not only the dangers of war with other European nations, piracy, disease and shipwreck, but also swings in demand and supply and maladministration.

The VOC in Indonesia

Merchants of one of the pre-VOC Dutch East Indies companies first attempted in 1602 to impose a monopoly agreement on the people of the Banda Islands where virtually all nutmeg was grown. In 1605 the Portuguese at Amboina (now Ambon) surrendered their castle to the VOC fleet of Steven van der Haghen.

Ambon was the VOC’s headquarters until in 1619, the VOC Governor-General, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, returned from Ambon with a fleet and soldiers to relieve the VOC post at Sunda Kelapa, Java, which was besieged by Jayakerta (and had been renamed Batavia by the defending soldiers). Coen sacked and destroyed Jayakerta (now Jakarta) and established new headquarters at Batavia.

Under Coen’s administration, increasingly harsh trade restrictions were imposed on the Banda islands, and in 1622 breaches of the nutmeg and mace trade monopoly were used as the excuse to massacre and evict most of the population. They were replaced by slaves and indentured labour. In the mid-1600s, the VOC began importing slaves from West Africa to meet its labour needs.

The centres of clove production were the neighbouring volcanic islands of Ternate and Tidore, and Ambon. With the support of South Sulawesi kingdoms, Ternate and Tidore tried to resist the Dutch imposition of monopoly. During the 1650s a series of brutal VOC campaigns defeated Ternate and its allies, though Ternate did not formally accept VOC control until 1667.

By the end of the century the demand for the spices of the Moluccas was in decline and all the VOC trade centres in the region were running at a loss.

The VOC were not interested in conquering large areas of land. Where an Indonesian kingdom opposed VOC trade monopoly, the VOC always tried to ally with that kingdom’s enemies hoping to replace the hostile regime with a more compliant ruler.

In Java the VOC tried to avoid conflict with the Mataram Empire which controlled much of the island, despite capricious and despotic by Mataram’s rajas. When the Empire seemed to collapse into civil war, the VOC supported the crown-prince, and from then on remained involved in propping up Mataram by military intervention, at considerable expense.

The first international corporation

The VOC issued shares which sometimes paid as much as 40% dividends. VOC shareholders could sell their shares, giving rise to ‘share trading’.

In Asia, the VOC managed settlements including fortifications, harbours, offices and warehouses, as well as accommodation. The operations in Asia were run by a VOC Governor-General and Council, which reported directly to the Heeren Seventien in Amsterdam. The VOC was dominant in the lucrative trade between Europe and the East Indies.

The decline of the VOC

Between about 1635 and 1690 the VOC returned profits which fuelled the Dutch economy during its ‘golden age’. However, the organisation of the VOC as six separate chambers made for complicated book-keeping and administration.

After 1602 the VOC never issued new shares although the scale of its operations increased enormously. It relied on short-term loans when more capital was required. Warfare sometimes constrained and delayed voyaging and trade, while costs such as running Batavia continued to deplete funds. During the 18th century European competitors were increasingly successful.

Becoming inextricably enmeshed in the Javanese wars of succession proved very costly and almost bankrupted the company in the mid-18th century.

In the fourth Anglo-Dutch war (1780 to 1784) the British Royal Navy undertook a series of operations against VOC settlements and trade in Asia, but fought only one battle against the Dutch navy in European waters. With trade almost completely halted the VOC fell into crippling debt and required much government support to stagger on after the war.

In 1795 the French invaded the Dutch Republic and set up a puppet government.

In 1796, the board of VOC directors were forced to resign and the management was handed over to a Comité tot de zaken van de Oost-Indische handel en bezittingen (Committee for Affairs relating to East India Trade and Possessions). The VOC charter, the legal foundation of the enterprise, was revoked on New Year’s Day 1800—ending two centuries of what had been the worlds largest corporation.

…quite the storied and sordid history indeed!

Now that you have a proper understanding of the history of the Dutch in the region, it will suddenly dawn upon you with pellucid clarity why I have modified this classically hearty Dutch recipe with the benison of the spices of the East!

The history of Dutch pea soup (colloquially known as ‘snert’) is eruditely elucidated in this text from culturetrip.com:

In order to endure the unforgiving Dutch winter, people in the Netherlands turn to their homeland’s cuisine for warmth and comfort. For centuries, Dutch kitchens have been cooking up a variety of hearty meals that are deliberately designed to stave off chills and reinvigorate dampened spirits.

Although stamppot is undoubtedly the most famous dish to emerge from this ongoing battle against the season’s cold weather, another, equally cherished meal, called snert, regularly appears on Dutch tables during the winter months of the year.

Due to its robust, lumpy consistency, this delicious split-pea soup bears a striking resemblance to a bowl of thick, green porridge. While there is no definitive recipe for the soup, it always contains an ample helping of split-peas alongside other optional, seasonal vegetables, such as celeriac, carrots, onions, or leeks.

This indiscriminate approach towards preparation gives snert its distinctive texture – a quality that many Dutch people deliberately ameliorate by allowing their stews to thicken overnight. In fact, it is often said that snert is only truly ready when a teaspoon can stand upright in its centre and remain stable for at least a few seconds.

Snert is typically served with smoked or cured meat and a large slice of Frisian-style rye bread. Cooks often choose to throw meat into their broth whilst the snert is still on the hob, and it is common to see chunks of bacon, sausage or pig tail floating on the soup’s surface.

Until relatively recently most people in the Netherlands lived in rural communities and it is extremely likely that snert was invented by farmers or agrarian households. When this happened exactly isn’t particularly clear, as the Dutch have been cultivating split-peas for a millennium.

Considering the crop’s high nutritional value, pervasiveness and low cost, it is somewhat unsurprising that it became a staple of Dutch cuisine, and many other countries around the world have similar, albeit less dense, varieties of split-pea soup.

If you are looking for snert on menus whilst in the Netherlands, make sure to check for its alternative local name, erwtensoep.

To make a proper erwtensoep, it is imperative it be both hearty and laden with porcine goodness – in this case, from pork chops or pork shoulder and my addition of slab bacon. To complete the erwtensoep trifecta, it is IMPERATIVE to also include some form of sausage – ideally, the acclaimed Dutch rookwurst, which may be purchased here. Alternatively, use a good kielbasa (my preference outside rookwurst) or even natural casing hot dogs. Erwtensoep demands no less!

In place of salt, I FAR prefer to use the acclaimed seasoning blend known as Knorr Aromat, which has a distinct savor, reminiscent of bouillon powder and complements the other spices I have conjured appropriately. You can buy it from here.

As per My original conceit to add flavor complexity whilst honoring the Dutch history in the East Indies, I prefer to use Javanese long pepper in place of black pepper in this erwtensoep – buy it from here. Dried green peas of the highest quality are – of course – de rigeur! I am partial to these, available on Amazon.

I have also added a highly-optional hit of the southeast Asian spice blend used to flavor nasi goreng rice to really elevate My erwtensoep to the next level – the recipe for it is below.

My Citizens of TFD Nation – never underestimate the creative spark when it comes to recipe development! Especially when inspired by a sense of coming full circle with history and the remembrance of how human dignity must ALWAYS trump crass capitalistic exploitation of the oppressed!

East Indies-inspired erwtensoep for the win!

Battle on – the Generalissimo

The Hirshon Dutch East Indies-Style Split Pea Soup – Erwtensoep

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• Author: The Generalissimo

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 14 oz. Pork Shoulder or Pork Chop
• 7 oz. slab bacon
• 14 oz. dried green split peas
• 1 Dutch Sausage (Rookworst) or 3 natural casing top-quality Hot Dogs or Hillshire Farms kielbasa to taste
• 1/2 gallon beef stock
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 leek
• 3 peeled carrots
• 2 peeled Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1/2 peeled celeriac (celery root)
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves
• Knorr Aromat and freshly-ground Long Pepper (TFD Change, original was Kosher salt and black pepper)
• a scant 1/8 tsp. Hickory liquid smoke (optional)
• *** HIGHLY OPTIONAL: 3 tsp. nasi goreng spice blend, made from:
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. dried ginger
• 1/2 tsp. Kashmiri chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 tsp. freshly-ground coriander seeds
• 1/4 tsp. microplaned lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp. turmeric
• 1/4 tsp. freshly-ground cumin
• ***
• Garnish:
• celery leaves, chopped to taste
• curly parsley, chopped to taste

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Instructions

1. Cut 2 carrots, celeriac and potatoes into small cubes and reserve.
2. Cut off the top green part of the leek and clean the leaves. Cut the white part of the leek into slices – save the white part for later use. Take 1 carrot and cut it in half. Tie up the carrot and green part of the leek together with cooking twine. Attach the bay leaves to the peeled onion by sticking it with the cloves.
3. Add the beef stock to a large pot. Add the green leek, the carrot, the onion, bay leaves and cloves, the pork, the bacon and the split peas.
4. Cover the pot with a lid and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 ½ hours, skimming the foam off from time to time.
5. When the soup is done simmering, remove the vegetables and discard them. Take out the meat, dice into cubes and reserve. Give the soup a good stir, so it will break apart the peas.
6. Now add in the cubed potatoes, carrots and celeriac, as well as the cut meat with the white part of the leek. Bring to a boil once again, reduce to a simmer, then cover with a slightly-offset lid and let simmer for another 45 minutes.
7. After 45 minutes, add the dutch sausage (or hot dogs or kielbasa) to the soup, replace offset lid and let it cook for 15 minutes.
8. Remove the sausage from the soup and cut it up and add it back to the soup. Season soup to taste with optional hickory liquid smoke, Aromat and freshly-ground long pepper to taste, plus the highly-optional nasi goreng spice blend.
9. Remove from the heat, let it cool and put it overnight in the fridge to experience a more flavorful and thicker soup. Ideally, the Soup by the next day should be so thick a spoon stands up straight in the pot by itself!
10. Reheat, garnish with minced celery leaves and minced curly parsley and serve immediately.