A versatile tool and Dutch staple

It's a place best known for tulips, wooden shoes and windmills, but the Netherlands has given us much more. For example, it was the Dutch who invented Wi-Fi, gabled architecture and contemporary ice skates, not to mention the foundations of modern oil painting.

On a recent trip to Holland, I similarly discovered that, from a culinary standpoint, the Dutch have contributed much more than herring to world cuisine. Now the fact is many Dutch people are almost apologetic about the conventional nature of their national cuisine, a cooking style that, as "The Oxford Companion to Food" observes, places nutritional value far ahead of "palatability and pleasure." (No wonder Dutch restaurants are hardly as ubiquitous around the world as, say, French, Italian and Chinese ones.) Nonetheless, we have the Netherlands to thank for a number of major culinary discoveries, among them cocoa powder, gin and, some contend, the doughnut.

However, what may be the most notable triumph of the Dutch when it comes to the culinary arts is not a particular food or preparation, but a device that should be in every kitchen: Holland's eponymous cooking utensil, the Dutch oven.

A Dutch oven is a thick-walled pot with a tightfitting lid, typically made of cast iron. It can be as simple as what we would call a camping oven, constructed of bare metal, complete with legs with which to set it over a fire and a ridged lid to facilitate the placing of hot coals on the top. Paul Revere reportedly had a hand in the design.

Or it can be a considerably more genteel version with an enamel coating, which might come in myriad colors, with no legs and meant for the stovetop or baking oven. The French company Le Creuset pioneered this gourmet high-end version, initially dubbing it a French oven. The name never quite took hold, at least not in this country, but the brand is nonetheless often considered the standard Dutch oven of the industry, unless, that is, you have seen the Alsatian Staub brand, called a cocotte, which for my money (and it takes a considerable amount of money to acquire one) may be the most gorgeous cooking vessel imaginable.

On a recent visit to the Netherlands, Tom Harte discovered the country's iconic cooking implement, the Dutch oven, ranks right up there with the iconic windmill. (TOM HARTE)

All of these utensils are indebted to Abraham Darby, an Englishman who in the late 1600s traveled to the Netherlands to inspect the country's superior foundry technology and learned how to make cast metal cooking vessels in the Dutch fashion, which he popularized around the world.

No doubt the popularity of the Dutch oven is owed to the fact that it can be used to cook virtually anything, even breads and desserts. However, to me its best application may well be the preparation of another Dutch culinary emblem, that wintertime staple, split pea soup or erwtensoep. Thick enough to hold a spoon upright, it gives a whole new meaning to the concept of a Dutch treat.

Dutch Oven Split Pea Soup

This authentic recipe, with its myriad spices, hearkens back to the 1600s, when Holland was a major spice trader. The recipe is adapted from one by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of public radio's "The Splendid Table."

• 1 large leek (white part only), thinly sliced
• 6 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 3 onions, diced
• 2 smoked ham hocks
• Salt and pepper
• 3 red-skinned potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 1/2 cups dried split peas, preferably yellow
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground allspice, divided
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 cans (14 ounces each) chicken broth
• 4 cups water

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add leeks, carrots, onions, ham hocks and salt and pepper to taste, and saute until onions begin to brown. Add potatoes, peas, cloves, 1 teaspoon allspice, ginger, thyme, garlic, broth and water. (Add more water if necessary to cover everything by an inch or two.) Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 2 1/2 hours, or until peas are tender and meat is falling off the bone. Remove ham hocks, shred meat and add back to pot. Stir in remaining butter and allspice and serve, with sour cream if desired.