Limburg dishes that you must taste before you go home
In Limburg everything is slightly different: the landscape, the language, but also the food. On the menus you will find typical dishes that you will not find anywhere else, such as sour meat and pasties. Get acquainted with some typical Limburg dishes, so that you know exactly what to choose during your next holiday or city trip.
Unknown makes unloved and that would be a shame in the case of some typical Limburg dishes. If you go for the full Limburg experience, you cannot avoid immersing yourself in the Limburg cuisine. That is anything but a punishment! The name may scare off some dishes, such as pickled meat or rabbit, but wait until you've tasted it… Order before you go home anyway!
Limburg sour meat
The absolute number one of typical Limburg dishes that you must have tasted before you go home is undisputed: sour meat. As a non-Limburger, the name might scare you off, but it is also sour meat and not sour meat. If the stress still doesn't help, the traditional main ingredient won't either. That is horse meat. In the past this was tough poor man's meat from old horses, where the preparation in the acid made the meat nice and tender again.
Fortunately, there was plenty of homemade apple syrup and gingerbread (Limburgs for gingerbread) to make things sweet again. Other seasonings include bay leaf, pepper and cloves. Zuurvlees is therefore a meat stew with sweet and sour sauce and it is on every proper Limburg menu. Nowadays beef is often used instead of horse meat. Be sure to order!
Make it yourself? Visit Zuid-Limburg has the recipe for sour meat ready for you.
Limburg asparagus in a classic way
Asparagus grows abundantly in the poor sandy soils of North Limburg. You recognize the fragile and fuzzy blades of the asparagus plant as soon as you see them. The stems grow underground. Since they do not come to light, they remain white. If they come above ground, they will turn green: the green asparagus (it is the same plant).
Limburg is known for its white asparagus, not for nothing called the white gold. You can prepare it in all kinds of ways: in a soup, with salmon, in a quiche, but there is only one classic way. That is a bundle of straight (AA = top quality) white asparagus in the middle of your plate. Surrounded by a slice of ham and a boiled egg (poached is even better). Finally, a large spoonful of Hollandaise sauce and often young potatoes are served with it.
Enjoying at home already? Click here for more asparagus recipes.
Creamy mushroom soup
Limburg has a very romantic past with mushrooms. In the past, mushrooms were grown on a large scale in the marl caves of South Limburg. It is humid and always constant in temperature. North Limburg has since taken over mushroom cultivation on a huge scale. In addition to mushrooms,
All kinds of mushrooms are grown in Limburg, some of which are oyster mushrooms even on coffee grounds. Together, these different varieties, such as shiitake and portobello mushrooms, are delicious in a soup. Limburg cuisine is not very low in calories, so expect a hearty soup with quite a bit of cream.
Rabbit in the pickle
This typical Limburg dish must sound very strange to a tourist. Still, the name is a true reflection of the dish. Rabbit in the pickle (knien in ‘t zoer) is not much different than a rabbit in the pickle, with some extra seasonings.
The dish can be compared with sour meat, only rabbit legs are very tender and that makes this dish very different. In Limburg kneeling in the sun is often eaten during the Christmas season, which shows how anchored it is in Limburg traditions. So taste it anyway!
Limburg pie
Patties are small round tubs of butter puff pastry with a lid on top. You get them – at least in Limburg – in the supermarket. The lid is cut out and then they are generously filled with chicken ragout or mushroom ragout. The ragout should flow over the plate and the lid goes back on top. It kind of looks like an overcooked pan.
In Limburg, this hearty dish is often on the lunch menu. It's usually served with chips, so make sure you're hungry in advance… This dish is often eaten on a Sunday or an 'easy' cooking day, but traditionally on Holy Eve (24 December) after you get home from Christmas. Actually, this can be on the table all year round!
You can even taste a real Limburg pasty here!
Lentil flan
The Limburg flan who does not know it? It is pre-eminently the most famous Limburg delicacy. Antje van de Statie sold pies to travelers at the Weert train station, so the spread of the pie is thanks to her. The traditional flan is made from a yeast dough, so it is certainly not to be confused with a pie. The flan is very diverse due to the different fillings. The lentil flan used to be very popular because it had a longer shelf life than other flans, the lentil flan is still widely eaten. Did you know that the lentil pie does not contain any lentils at all, the big difference with the traditional pie is the use of biscuit dough instead of the well-known yeast dough. Lentil flan often contains a filling of fruit or jam. The lentil pie is also popularly called toert.
Would you like to bake your own lentil pie? Here is the recipe for lentil pie.