Uitsmijter
A classic Dutch lunch, standard in cafés and bars, Amsterdam's brown cafés included. The name means bouncer — supposedly from food served at the end of late parties before the guests were shown the door. The recipe is simple but has two Dutch details. The eggs fry together in one pan, their whites joining into a single sheet slid onto the bread. And the cheese goes under the eggs, to melt from their heat.
Your own work in that: 3 min.
- Bread 3 min
- Eggs 8 min
- Serving 3 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneButter the bread and lay on ham
Butter the slices and set two per plate, edges touching. Lay the ham on top. The slices sit side by side because the eggs will slide on as one sheet.
Ingredients: 4 pcs bread · 30 g butter · 120 g cooked ham · 100 g Gouda
Two slices side by side — the eggs go on as one sheet.Lay the cheese on the ham
Cover the ham with thin slices of Gouda, over the whole surface. Cheese under the egg melts from its heat within a minute. Thick slices will not melt and stay cold.
Ingredients: 4 pcs bread · 30 g butter · 120 g cooked ham · 100 g Gouda
Heat the butter until foaming
Heat 10 g of butter in a 24 cm pan over medium heat until it foams. The foam is the water in the butter boiling off; once it foams, the temperature is right. Browned butter is already too hot for eggs.
Ingredients: 6 pcs eggs · 20 g butter · 1 pinch salt · 1 pinch black pepper
Crack three eggs in together
Crack three eggs side by side so their whites touch and fuse into one sheet. Season with salt and pepper. This is how Dutch cafés do it, though eggs fried separately work too. Three eggs make one serving: fry the second batch the same way in the remaining butter.
Ingredients: 6 pcs eggs · 20 g butter · 1 pinch salt · 1 pinch black pepper
Three eggs together — the whites fuse into one sheet.Cover for a minute
Fry 2 minutes, then cover with a lid for one. The steam sets the white around the yolks while the yolks stay runny. Uncovered, the white near the yolk stays raw and slippery.
Ingredients: 6 pcs eggs · 20 g butter · 1 pinch salt · 1 pinch black pepper
Slide the eggs onto the bread
Slide the sheet of eggs whole onto the prepared slices, yolks up. If needed, divide it in two with a spatula. The cheese beneath starts melting at once. Fry the second batch of eggs (steps 3–5) and slide it onto the second plate.
Ingredients: 6 pcs eggs · 20 g butter · 1 pinch salt · 1 pinch black pepper
Slid on in one sheet — the cheese begins to melt.Season and add the sides
Scatter with chives and freshly ground pepper and set the gherkins and tomato slices alongside. In the Netherlands uitsmijter is eaten with knife and fork, cutting the yolk so it runs over the bread.
Ingredients: 4 pcs gherkins · 1 pcs tomato · 1 tbsp chives
Serve at once
Serve immediately, while the cheese is melted and the yolks runny. With coffee or a glass of cold milk — in the Netherlands milk with lunch surprises no one.
Ingredients: 4 pcs gherkins · 1 pcs tomato · 1 tbsp chives
Before you start
Young Gouda, not aged
Young Gouda melts quickly and softly, while aged is hard, salty and melts less well. Without Gouda, use Edam or another mild yellow cheese — just keep the slices thin.
Roast beef and bacon versions
In Dutch cafés you will most often find versions with ham (ham), cheese (kaas), ham and cheese (ham-kaas), roast beef (rosbief), sometimes bacon (spek). This recipe is uitsmijter ham-kaas.
The bread can be toasted
Traditionally the bread is not toasted, but lightly crisped in a dry pan it copes better with runny yolk and does not go soggy. A matter of taste.
