Is it? or is it not?!

     So I've been cooking for Institute twice a week.....on Wednesday in Utrecht and on Friday in Den Bosch.   As you who know me can imagine, after a few weeks I was out of menu ideas!  Stomppot is a traditional Dutch dish that I thought I could do without too much stress.  It is basically mashed up potatoes with other vegetables mixed in, served with meat. I had talked to Sister Hill about it and she had told me about several kinds of stomppot, all of which sounded yummy.
       When I mentioned at institute I was going to cook it a discussion ensued about what kind and the consensus was that the only kind worth making was Hutspot.  So I carefully searched the internet for recipes, chose one and prepared it, complete with rook worst, which all the recipes said you served with it.
I thought it looked wonderful!  We took it to institute in Utrecht on Wednesday.  I took off the lid of the crock pot with a flourish.  Noel (the only Dutch kid there) took one look and said "that isn't stomppot!"  "What do you mean?" I asked.  He said, "you don't mash the potatoes with milk and butter, the carrots are too big, and my  mom serves it with the meat mixed in, never with rookworst."

 Noel gave me step by step instructions which I followed exactly when I made it a day later for institute in Den Bosch.  I meticulously chopped carrots into tiny pieces, slow cooked the meat for 3 hours until it shredded.  I didn't add any milk and just smashed up the potatoes so they were chunky and stirred in the carrots, onions and meat.

We took it to institute in Den Bosch.  I took off the crock pot lid with a flourish.  The Dutch kids took one look and Timo said, "that isn't stomppot!"  "What?" I cried.  "I made it exactly like I was told!"  Timo said, "my mom mashes it with milk and butter and we always have it with rook worst, never with the meat mixed in."  "Ahhh" I said with a some dismay, "that's how I made it Wednesday!"

We concluded that a true stomppot was whatever their mothers did!  They were all thrilled I had tried to make a Dutch dish and assured me that even tho it wasn't like their mother's stomppot, it was tasty and they ate it all up!