A "COMMENT" on my post about Dutch Stamppot from Karin who writes, http://dutchfood.about.com/ saying that in the Netherlands Mettwurst is a dried sausage and would not be served with Stamppot sent me on an adventure to discover what Metwurst is in Western Michigan. I started on the Northwest side of Grand Rapids at 20th Century Market on Bridge Street where they have been making homemade sausages since 1907. http://www.20thcenturymarket.com/
This Metwurst is homemade at the meat market. Tom, owner of 20th Century, told me that the Dutch buy his Metwurst to make pea soup.
20th Century's Metwurst is a smoked sausage made with coarse ground meat.
To me, it has a taste of cloves in it. It is moist and not a dry sausage.
From the Westside of Grand Rapids I headed to the Southwest side of Grandville where the VanderVeen's, http://www.thedutchstore.com/ , is located. Their Mettwurst, spelled with two TT, is made by Tolman's Meat in Hudsonville, Michigan. This is the Mettwurst that is used by the First United Methodist Church in Holland, Michigan when they serve their Dutch dinners. It is served on the side with Stamppot or steamed and served in a bun for a quick snack rather than a dinner.
It is a smoked sausage.
It is made with finer ground meat than 20th Century's and to me, has a sweet taste. I did not pick up any particular spice taste.
From Grandville, I headed to Holland, Michigan to Montello Meat Market on Michigan St. They do not make their own Mettwurst, although they do make homemade sausages, but sell Kowalski sausage made in a Polish area of Detroit. The informative clerk told me that Dutch people buy it to serve with their "mash' of potatoes and that green stuff (kale).
This is also a smoked sausage.
It is the lightest colored one.
It is made with finely ground meats. It has a frankfurter flavor with an after taste of allspice or cloves. Casing was tough and needs to be removed before serving.
The three Mettwurst or Metwurst sausages from Western Michigan. All were very tasty. Enjoy!!!
Hi Julie,
ReplyDeleteSeems that I spoke too soon. Some research reveals that metworst was actually traditionally eaten with stamppot.
But the Dutch (here in the Netherlands, at least) no longer do so. We eat rookworst (a soft, smoked sausage) with our stamppot and enjoy dried metworst as a snack, as one would salami or any other dried sausage. I like it with cheese and olives.
Funny that this tradition remains there, but not here in the Netherlands, but it also may just be a semantic thing. The softer variety with the frankfurter flavour looks like our rookworst and I suspect tastes quite a bit like it too, but I don't have taste-o-vision on my laptop. ;-) The one with cloves sounds like Groninger metworst, a hard sausage variety from the Dutch province of Groningen.
Nice topic!
Karin
We grew up in Holland, MI and have lived in Georgia for 30 years. Our trips back to Holland always include a shopping trip for metworst at Family Fare or Montello Meats. We freeze it and take it home in a cooler. It is the only meat we like in pea soup, so we always try to have it in our freezer.We treat our friends to our version on Dutch pea soup and they love it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Missouri, I had a huge cooler for the back of the station wagon which I filled with sausages from Western Michigan. I also had grocery sacks of whole green peas which is what my family used to make Dutch Pea Soup. By the time I filled the car with goodies from home there was barely room for the kids and dogs.
ReplyDeleteHi, there!
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify, the diffrence between Metworst (Yes, it's spelled like that, 'Mettwurst' is german) and Rookworst is exactly as the names imply. Metworst is an air-dried sausage while rookworst (Smoked sausage) is smoked. The sausages above are are all under the category of smoked sausages (Rookworst) not droge vorst (Dried sausage) which category metworst falls under. A true metworst is air dried and created from bacon free pork.
Hope that clarifies a bit, and sorry for the many corrections =)
- Dutch Sausage Maker.