Creamy on the inside, crispy on the outside: the bitterbal. Three years ago, the brown fruit became an official cultural heritage, but to what do we owe its name?
The bitterbal
Few parties and terrace days go by without a delicious bitterbal. In fact, it is such a familiar snack that it has become a cultural heritage. It is a small fried ragout ball of about three to five centimeters in diameter and weighing about twenty grams. It is also sometimes called the small version of a croquette, although many people think this is wrong: after all, the bitterbal was there before.
Important combinations
The bitterbal is often served with mustard and plays a popular role in the ‘bitter garnish’. A butter garnish naturally contains mini frikandels, chicken nuggets, bitterballen and bamiballs, but can also contain cheese sticks, spring rolls, chicken skewers, meatballs and cheese souflés. The snack is often eaten while enjoying an alcoholic drink, such as a beer, glass of wine or traditionally a glass of gin.
The bitter
In the past, people felt the need to have a small bite to eat when they were having a drink. A lot of gin was drunk. This is a drink made from barley, rye and corn, but nowadays there are also other methods. The addition of juniper berries gives jenever its authentic taste, which is especially noticeable in old jenever. Numerous nicknames have now been coined for the alcoholic drink gin, such as ‘een boreeltje’, ‘jandoedel’, ‘jajem’, ‘picketanussie’ and ‘bittertje’.
What gives the bitterbal its name?
You may have already made the connection: while having a drink or drinking gin, people tended to have a small snack. This had to be a snack that went well with the taste of gin. Ultimately, the spherical crispy-on-the-inside, creamy-on-the-outside snack was adopted as the regular snack for this alcoholic snack. Because gin was also called a ‘bittertje’, the mini croquette (dare we say that?) was given the name ‘bitterbal’. ‘A pikketanussie with a bitterball’ is something that was often said in the past. Now it would be better to say ‘a vase with a portion of bitterballen’, which indicates that we can no longer get enough of a single golden snack with our golden drink.
