What is a Dutch “bitterbal”?
Bitterballen maken van stamppot stap voor stap
A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch · Picked for people who know a little
A bitterbal is the round version of the Dutch kroket: a deep-fried, breadcrumb-coated, creamy ragout-filled bite that’s the country’s default borrel and pub snack. The name comes from bittertje, a 17th-century Dutch glass of bitter spirits the snack used to accompany. Today, bitterballen are inseparable from Dutch vrijdagmiddagborrels (Friday-afternoon office drinks), pub menus across the country, and any social setting where mosterd-and-deep-frying-oil is acceptable. Restaurant chefs increasingly experiment with vegetarian, beet, or oxtail bitterballen, but the standard veal-ragout original remains dominant. Van Dobben and Kwekkeboom lead the supermarket frozen-bitterbal market.
In this clip, a Dutch chef makes them from stamppot: “Ik ga namelijk bitterballen maken van stamppot. Andijviestamppot. Die ga ik gebruiken voor de balletjes.”
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Dutch borrelhap and pub menus (Van Dobben, Kwekkeboom, Cafe-restaurant De Plantage)
- ▸In Dutch food-history writing (Trouw, De Volkskrant, Foodlog)
- ▸In Dutch comedy about vrijdagmiddagborrels (Toren C, De Avondshow, LINDA.)
- ▸In Dutch supermarket and home-recipe content (Allerhande, Smulweb, Albert Heijn)