Groningen egg snack takes it to the next level: province grants subsidy for real ‘egg snack machine’
After a night out in Groningen, dare to order a frikandel or kapsalon. No, when the disco lights go out in the far north, everyone reaches for egg snacks. This piece of Groningen heritage is about to take a professional turn. A company is going to develop a machine to automate the production of egg snacks. The province of Groningen supports this initiative: it has granted a subsidy of no less than 45,000 euros to the company that will make the machine.
In Groningen, they also call it an ‘aaierbaal’. It is a hard-boiled egg that you dip in ragout, then bread and deep-fry. Have you never seen the snack on the menu at your local snack bar? That’s possible, because the egg snack is genuinely only available in Groningen. Or in Venlo. There, they simply call it a ‘frietei’. Who came first—the egg snack or the frietei—is something we’ll never fully agree on. What we consider more important: it’s incredibly delicious.
Making egg snacks is no piece of cake
You can’t just make egg snacks. It’s an art in itself. Until now, the balls have always been shaped by hand. It requires extreme precision: the egg has to be positioned perfectly in the centre, the ragout and breadcrumbs have to be neatly applied around the egg in exactly the right quantities, and the ball has to be fried just right. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. And don’t even get me started on the different shapes and sizes of eggs. One egg is not like another; the manual work has to be adjusted accordingly. Think it’s a piece of cake? Then you’re missing the point.
Across the border
That could be done differently, thought sausage company Uildriks from Hoogezand. A machine should take the manual work out of the process, making it possible to produce more egg snacks faster. As a result, the egg snack might well cross the Groningen provincial border. Because no, the egg snack is not only popular in Groningen. Or in Venlo, as a frietei. The snack is delicious, easy to eat out of hand, and still immensely popular after (almost) 75 years.
Fresh balls
A machine like this can produce the egg snacks fresh on the spot. That freshness is important, because freezing them makes no sense, according to Jan Peter van der Zee of Uildriks in an interview with RTV Noord. ‘Then it’s just like rubber, completely unappetising.’ By packaging the egg snacks correctly after production, they will at least keep for longer. That means they can still easily make the long journey outside Groningen.
The province of Groningen is therefore supporting the machine’s development with a substantial subsidy. The first egg snacks should roll off the production line in a few months. Van der Zee could not tell RTV Noord exactly how many egg snacks the machine will produce. I hope it’s a lot, and that we’ll soon be able to order them at our local snack bar too. I want egg snacks after a night out as well!
Also read:
- Poffert is Groningen’s most delicious secret: you’ll want to try this
- Greasy: trains in Friesland and Groningen run on frying oil
- Oui oui: the French baguette is now a cultural world heritage item
Sources: NOS and RTV Noord
