Dutch Snackbar: Eierbal

It is treat night and we are getting chips from the local snack bar. From frikandel to kroket, I have gradually been exploring the huge variety on offer from the local Dutch snack bar and reporting back my findings. This time I tried an ‘Eierbal’.

Literally translated ‘Eierbal’ means egg ball, and that is exactly what you get. I would liken it to a British Scotch egg. In the centre you have a hard-boiled egg (shell removed) surrounded by ragout (the same stuff you get in a kroket) coated in breadcrumbs and then fried in oil.

The main difference is in the ragout. In the eierbal I tried, the ragout has a lot of seasonings in it, making it taste very different to the Scotch egg I am use to back in the UK. It is also more common for the snack bar to make the eierballen themselves, rather than buying them in as they often do with frikandel and other snacks. So the taste can vary from snack bar to snack bar.

Eierballen are also a lot more popular in the north and east of the Netherlands, having first being served in Groningen in the 50’s. In 2015, the largest eierbal in the world was fried and eaten by three students and the help of snack bar Friet van Piet. It used an ostrich egg at the centre and was 44 cm in diameter!

On September 9^th in Groningen, an Eierbal Festival is planned at EM2 from 12-22:00 hrs. The festival will not only have lots of eierballen but also Groninger musicians, workshops, mini-lectures, and a Grunneger market.

Dutch Snackbar: Eierbal

Also in the series – Dutch snack bar top 10 dishes:

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