Bitterballen are an incredibly tasty beer snack that are here to shake up your snacking game. Because who doesn’t love salty beer snacks? Pretzels, chicken wings, dry ribs, mozza sticks… They’re all fantastic and wonderful and delicious.
But they’re also a little played out.
This bitterballen recipe from the Netherlands is going to change the way you snack.
After all, we’re needy creatures, we want variety.
A few years ago when we were visiting some family and friends in the Netherlands, we were introduced to this delightfully tasty snack. The crispy, deep-fried coating was familiar to us, but everything changed the moment I popped the first one into my mouth. Biting down, the salty crust broke open, revealing a rich, warm, soft and meaty filling. The flavour was simple and not overpowering, yet full of depth – it tasted like nothing I’d ever had before.
What are Bitterballen?
Bitterballen are in their most basic form, Dutch meatballs. It begins with a very thick beef stew, that, when chilled, is just solid enough to form into balls or patties for frying. While its main flavour comes from the garlic and mustard, it’s the toasted roux (essentially a fat and flour mix) and a hint of nutmeg that give it such depth.
This recipe is fairly easy to make, as long as you can make a basic stew you’ll be fine. The trickiest part is getting the thickness just right. If it’s too thick, the mixture may burn before the starch is cooked out, and if too thin, you won’t be able to shape them for breading.
Mustard is a key component here. While we’ll suggest using a good quality Dijon for the actual filling, you can use whatever you want for the dip. My go-to is almost always Colman’s hot mustard. I have a bit of an addiction to the stuff.
Now, crack open a beer and say goodbye to your waistline.
This version doesn’t use any specific cut or method of cooking the beef. You can use anything you want, as long as the final result is shredded and chopped. For example, this is a great way to use leftover roast beef. If you don’t have leftovers, you can take any piece of beef you have and roast, braise or stew it, before shredding it into tiny pieces.
Bitterballen
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Additional Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 3 hours5 minutes
Ingredients
For the Filling
1/2 cup butter
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 tsp thyme
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 pound cooked beef, shredded and chopped (see note below)
1L beef broth
1 tbsp mustard
1 tsp Lemon zest, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
For Breading and Serving
1 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup bread crumbs
Oil, as needed
Instructions
1. Heat butter in a sauce pot to medium heat.
2. Cook onions and carrots until soft and beginning to caramelize, 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and stir for another 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the 100 g flour small bits at a time to incorporate the fat, cook for 1-2 minutes stirring constantly, this should look like flaky pie crust. Continue cooking until the mixture begins to turn light brown.
4. Whisk in 1 cup of beef stock. Mix until there are no clumps of flour, adding stock as needed. Add shredded beef and the rest of the stock. Turn heat to med-low and simmer 30 minutes. Season to taste.
5. Stir in lemon zest and parsley, remove from heat, and cool. Transfer to a large bowl and place in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
6. Set up a breading station by filling three bowls with flour, beaten eggs and bread crumbs. As well, heat oil (around 2cm deep) in a saucepan or pot.
7. Once the mixture has set and is relatively solid, with a spoon or small ice cream scoop drop the mixture into the flour and form into small balls -- roughly 2-3cm in diameter.
8. Transfer the balls to the egg mixture and then coat in breadcrumbs (If the mixture is too soft, place it in the freezer for a few minutes.
9. Fry the balls in oil until golden brown on all sides.
10. Serve warm with your favourite mustard and a cold beer.
Mark is a multi-passionate creative with a fascination for getting the most out of the human experience. While he isn't chasing adventures around the globe as a travel journalist and photographer, he works as a freelance writer, private chef and web developer.
Bitterballen (plural of bitterbal) are a Dutch meat-based snack, made by making a very thick stew thickened with roux and beef stock and generously loaded with meat, refrigerating the stew until it firms, and then rolling the thick mixture into balls which then get breaded and fried.
Bitterballen are one of Holland's favorite snacks. In the early and mid-1900s, they were the housewife's perfect way to transform yesterday's meat leftovers into today's appetizer. Served shaped as a log (kroket) or in bite-size rounds, bitterballen were often served as an aperitif, or tapa, before lunch or dinner.
Loved by locals and tourists alike, bitterballen is a breaded meatball that's been deep fried - a bit like a croquette but sphere-shaped. The inside of a bitterballen is flavour-packed with a thick creamy roux and a generous amount of beef or veal ragu.
Bitterballen are perhaps the most popular beer snack in the Netherlands. Imagine crunchy breadcrumbs on the outside, and a soft, juicy meat ragù on the inside.
The difference between bitterballen and kroketten is the shape and only the shape. These Dutch delicacies are delicious as a snack, light lunch or eaten whenever the craving takes hold of you. Homemade bitterballen/kroketten are a mission to make BUT it is worth every ounce of energy that goes into the making!
Traditional Dutch food is meat and potato or fish based for dinner and bread and cheese based for everything else. Beef stew and stamppot are two of the more common, hearty Dutch meals. Raw herring and other North Sea fishes are commonly consumed as well.
Pork remains the most popular meat in the Netherlands, with an annual share of 36.5 kilograms per person, followed by poultry (22.1 kg), beef (15.4 kg), veal (1.3 kg) and goat meat (1.2 kg).
The Dutch eat relatively early starting from 5 to 7 p.m., families mostly eat together around the dinner table. A typical Dutch dinner meal consists of potatoes, meat and vegetables, served with gravy. Dinner is often followed by a dessert in the form of yogurt or coffee.
This one is pretty simple to answer – the Dutch do not have a tipping culture as strongly-ingrained as much of the English-speaking world. In a bar, restaurant, or private boat tour in Amsterdam, provided the service was good, a tip of around 10% is appreciated but not automatically expected.
A typical Dutch lunch consists of an individual portion of cold meals, such as sandwiches filled with slices of meat and Dutch cheese or sweet assortments, accompanied by milk or juice. It looks more like a second breakfast; easy to prepare, easy to pack and easy to finish.
The Dutch certainly have a strong bond with milk and all kinds of dairy products. It is supposed to be healthy, there is massive production with all the cows around, but it is also cultural as a sign of a certain frugality to drink it while eating broodjes and the like.
A smaller, rounder version of croquettes, bitterballen often contains meat ragout and are often served on a plate alongside tasty fried finger foods, called bittergarnituur, plus mustard for dipping, cubes of Gouda, and perhaps some small egg rolls or other fatty fried companions.
Bitterballen are actually Dutch meatballs, a very popular snack served at bars along with beer. Sometimes they are shaped as logs or sometimes as balls. If I were to describe what they taste like, the closet I can come up with is deep fried mushrooms, is your mouth watering yet?
The 'kroket' (croquette) is a deep fried roll with meat ragout inside, covered in breadcrumbs. The original Dutch croquette is made from beef or veal, but there are many different flavors like chicken satay, shrimps, goulash or even a vegetarian version.
The name has nothing to do with a bitter taste. A bitterbal is called that because it used to be served with the drink 'bitter'. A bitter here is genever (gin), or another strong alcoholic herbal drink.
Introduction: My name is Dean Jakubowski Ret, I am a enthusiastic, friendly, homely, handsome, zealous, brainy, elegant person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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