Yup… it’s been a while… but yesterday we ate BITTERBALLEN. Not just any bitterballen… oven cooked bitterballen!
Huh? I know, me too! I didn’t even know they existed until a couple of weeks ago when we spotted them in Albert Heijn. We just got a new oven, you see. (How I have lived without one for 8 MONTHS is beyond me… but I did!)
So, we were perusing the pizza aisle in AH (The Dutchie’s favourite food groups are chicken and pizza!!!) and when we spotted them, of course, we HAD to try them for ourselves!
OVEN bitterballen… what the heck!?
I get the fact that they’ve already been deep-fried. I’m not trying to be healthy or something… bitterballen are a treat and that’s the way they’re staying! The reason that oven bitterballen excite me is because we don’t own a deep fryer. I just won’t allow one in the house! (Otherwise we’d both be the size of a house!!! His 3rd favourite food group is vlammetjes!)
So, let’s give these bad boys a whirl!
My precious little balls of heaven.
It says to cook them at 220-250° for 8-12 minutes. Which we did, but they still weren’t flaming hot in the centre and the outside wasn’t crispy enough, so we ramped it up to 250° for another few minutes and that did the trick! We could hear the sizzle!
And… the final result!
Dee-lish!!
They tasted fab! Just like you’d get from any kroeg (pub), but in the comfort of your own home. I’m going to give them a well-deserved 7/10. The coating wasn’t quite as crunchy / crispy as you’d get from only deep-frying and the filling was good, but not spectacular.
However you just can’t beat that feeling of going into a pub and being served bitterballen alongside your borrel. It’s much more gezellig! I would buy them again – but only for a party or something – what else would Bitterballenbruid serve!?! 😉
Would you try oven bitterballen? Or have you already? If so, what did you think?
Hayley x
Thanks for the review. I saw the ad and thought of trying them – now I know it will work!
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Ohh I’ll definitely give them a go when I move to the NL… I’m not entirely sure if I want a deep frier in the house but I too love bitterballen 😀
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no worries just have a deep frier! it is the same with a hottub. once you have it, you’ll never use it! my parents had a built in deep frier in their kitchen for about 15 years and a hottub and we rarely used both! and to be honest bitterballen from the deepfrier are better! I had the oven bitterballen yesterday and they were ok…but I’ll stick with the once in de kroeg!
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They’ve been sold out since the first mention of them. The other snacks tho are nice too 😉
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Good to hear it actually works! I’m sure I’ve tried ovenbitterballen once, but the husband keeps saying we never had these. So we’ll probably try these. We had oven fries once, but that wasn’t a success. We also haven’t got a dreep frier because of the same reason as you: we’d eat waaaay to much.
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I love bitterballen just as much as the next person, but I’ve always wondered (since I was a wee lad living in the Dutch Caribbean) what the filling consists of. The kind I’ve always eaten were ‘runner’ (beef) but the inside looked more like a wet creamy slurry kind of reminiscent of watery mashed potatoes with some very tiny chunks (leave it to the frugal Dutch) of what could possibly have passed for (some kind of) beef. Anybody know?
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Wikipedia to the rescue! 🙂 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitterballen
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We use our deep fryer once a week for hubby’s homemade french fries. No bitterballen as the breadcrumbs pollute the oil. so the oven ones might be just perfect for us. We have a ‘snackbar’ just around the corner but fortunately it closes at 11.00 = 23.00 hihi
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Correction: ‘runder’, not ‘runner’
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Had them last week for lunch (yup for lunch) and I liked them. Nice as a substitute for once in while.
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So that is what those things are! I’ve been on business trips to Arnhem lot’s of times and every time they have tried to convince me to try one of these strange balls for lunch:)
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Ovenbitterballen is a no for me, they just taste like fries that you make in the oven. Deepfryer (is dat een frituurpan?) taste crispier. Home made bitterballen are the best, because you know what you put into them.
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I like oven chips 😉 Ja, een deepfryer is een frituurpan. Homemade bitterballen… Yes!!! I still have to try that, but I don’t own a frituurpan, which could pose a problem…
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just take an old cooking pot, fill it with oil and let it cook untill 180 o C.when you take a wooden spoon and dip the handle in the oil for a moment and when the surface makes bubbles it is about the right temperature. 😉
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I was just two weeks ago in Holland (Where I’m from, but do not live) If I’d only knew, I surely would have given them a try! Thanks for the tip, I know what I am going to look for next time 🙂
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