Holland's favorite snack

January 24, 2013 1:39 PM

"Bitterballen are one of Holland's favorite snacks … this deep-fried, crispy, bite-sized ball of meaty gravy is to be eaten with a good, savory mustard." A traditional way to make use of leftovers, recipes for bitterballen are many and diverse. But one thing that (presumably) has never been done before happened this past Monday on Dutch TV, when two presenters cooked up some bitterballen in human fat. (A little more info on the show here.)
posted by jbickers (40 comments total)

when two presenters cooked up some bitterballen in human fat

Why, as a civilization, have we run out of interesting things to do so badly such that we have turned to comedic cannibalism? WHY.

FOR SERIOUS WHY
posted by elizardbits at 1:41 PM on January 24 [10 favorites]

Bitterballen in human fat agaaain? Moooooom!
posted by facetious at 1:43 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

tastes like chicken long pig?
posted by juv3nal at 1:43 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

Between this post and the previous, I think I need to get back to work now...
posted by blurker at 1:44 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

NO.
posted by You Guys Like 2 Party? at 1:45 PM on January 24

What else are we gonna eat?
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:48 PM on January 24

TACOS

AS THE LORD INTENDED
posted by elizardbits at 1:49 PM on January 24 [7 favorites]

We're the Affront, aren't we? Dammit. I was so hoping to find out we're the Zetetic Elench.

But no, we're the goddamn Affront.
posted by aramaic at 1:50 PM on January 24 [9 favorites]

Hey, gross.
posted by boo_radley at 1:51 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

when two presenters cooked up some bitterballen in human fat

FOR SERIOUS WHY


I'm holding out for Snickers bars.
posted by Pudhoho at 1:52 PM on January 24

Butcher, butcher, do you have bitter ballen?

I don't know, I've never tasted them.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:55 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

I can do without the human fat, thank you, but oh my god do those things look good otherwise. Exactly the kind of thing that I would love.
posted by dlugoczaj at 1:55 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

I starting out wanting some right away! But thank you so much for the diet aid because I will never eat these.
posted by theredpen at 1:58 PM on January 24

Still better than that frikadel the German cannibal ate a couple of years ago.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:59 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

We're the Affront, aren't we? Dammit. I was so hoping to find out we're the Zetetic Elench.

But no, we're the goddamn Affront.

No, you're not.
posted by Shohobohaum Za at 1:59 PM on January 24 [2 favorites]

Cannibalism is gross. It's really, really gross. I really just don't see how this is funny or cool or pleasingly ironic, or any such thing.

I guess I have out-dated sensibilities formed largely in the pre-internet age, but I think that if you do disgusting things it makes you disgusting. I do have unusually permissive sensibilities, actually...but I've got to say that I think this is f*cked up.
posted by Fists O'Fury at 2:07 PM on January 24 [3 favorites]

I hear it's a traditional Schweddy family recipe. My mouth is watering just thinking about them.
posted by Nomyte at 2:08 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

I find this FPP distasteful.
posted by HuronBob at 2:13 PM on January 24

Honestly though if I was stuck on a desert island with someone else I would let them fatten up on gross awful seafood before hungrily devouring them so I don't really have much of a leg to stand on.

gnaw on, maybe
posted by elizardbits at 2:13 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

"The Rise and Fall of Western Civilization"

deep-fried, crispy, bite-sized
ball of meaty gravy
eaten with a good, savory mustard

on TV
two presenters
cooked some
in human fat
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:20 PM on January 24 [7 favorites]

Hello again, lunch.
posted by Splunge at 2:28 PM on January 24

Ugh. You had me all ready to favorite this and make bitterballen, which are so amazing, and then you just have me throw up in my mouth.

This post is flagged as the worst. Blerg.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 2:38 PM on January 24

Bitterballen sounds like one of those foreign words for which there is no direct English equivalent. Bitterballen; spite sex after a breakup.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:51 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

See, when sex was forbidden comedians like this would make jokes about sex that everybody else thought were funny and we were all happy.

Now sex is not forbidden and we have to confront the fact that some comedians were never funny in the first place, they just wanted to do forbidden things and get paid for it.
posted by jamjam at 2:54 PM on January 24

To make it even more disgusting to the Dutch audience, tell them the human fat came from a German.
posted by rocket88 at 2:59 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

The more info link is not in english, but I'm assuming liposuct means liposuction and that's where they got the fat.

Yeah, anyways, that's pretty unpleasant. I'm going back to my tofu and broccoli, thanks.
posted by windykites at 2:59 PM on January 24

Also done in Denmark, 2006:

"To fry in his own fat is literally what Marco Evaristti has done in his latest art-piece, called Polpette al grasso di Marco. After having undergone a minor liposuction, Evaristti has used his own fat in the preparation of a meal of meatballs. This delicacy has afterwards been conserved in labelled cans and are presented in a context giving a caricature of commercials. As well liposuction as preparation of the meal was documented along with Evaristtis own consumption of the meal, with musical accompaniment by fluxus artist Henning Christiansen."
posted by iviken at 3:10 PM on January 24 [2 favorites]

Just no.
posted by arcticseal at 3:12 PM on January 24

I have never eaten this, but merely reading the first sentence of this post caused my saliva glands to suddenly explode
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:32 PM on January 24

I'm ignoring the second half of this FPP to focus on how badly I want these things. DOes anyone know of a place in NY where I might be able to find these?
posted by Navelgazer at 3:35 PM on January 24

Same guys, same show as in the uterine contractions simulation post the other day.

As for cannibalism, they already did that in more of a straight-up fashion:

So I've now impaled a piece of your buttock fat on my fork. My immediate impression is that it resembles a car tyre.

posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:54 PM on January 24

Hm, I like the notion that when men are exposed to the physical hardships of everyday female life, it deranges them so badly that they turn to cannibalism. This is far more entertaining than the more obvious conclusion to be drawn, namely that Dutch people are enormous weirdos.
posted by elizardbits at 4:06 PM on January 24 [3 favorites]

To make it even more disgusting to the Dutch audience, tell them the human fat came from a German.

I think that would be less disgusting than using fat produced by natives-- say what you will about the Germans but at least they don't deep-fry their gravy in human fat.
posted by elsp at 4:12 PM on January 24

Damn, elizardbits. Labor is an everyday female hardship?
posted by Navelgazer at 4:16 PM on January 24

Erryday I'm huff-huff-puffin'.
posted by zombieflanders at 5:32 PM on January 24

Cannibalism is gross. It's really, really gross.

How do you think our ancestors made it through tough times, prayer? The proper knowledge of how to break down a dead human body into an edible format is the sole bit of info that will help humanity whether the next extinction level event. These demonstrations are useful bits of knowledge for when the shit really hits the fan.
posted by Renoroc at 6:01 PM on January 24

That is the worst fucking bait and switch ever.
posted by looli at 6:28 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

Dutch people are enormous weirdos.

Which is what we like to think of ourselves, that we're weird and happening and hit, a little bit kooky, a little zany, but usually we come across like Colin Hunt when we try.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:25 PM on January 24 [1 favorite]

I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.


So we deep fry snacks in human fat.
posted by GuyZero at 12:14 AM on January 25

(Previously on Metafilter: "Eat Me".)
posted by iviken at 4:38 AM on January 25