These are the best oliebollen in the Netherlands: Nico is the third winner of the oliebollen test
How lucky: the best oliebollen in the Netherlands come from our neighborhood! Oliebollen stall Nico Sterrenbergat the Koemarkt in Schiedam, won the prize in 2019, 2021 and in 2022. Today it was announced that he will receive a 10 for his bulbs for the third time, making him again the winner of the oil globe test is. Time to give this overjoyed baker a call.
Nico: “I even had a stomach ache this week. Do you know what it is? I also won last year, of course, and if you’re high, you can fall low. That is such a stress dude, unbelievable.”
Proud parents
“I heard earlier this week that I had won. I received a certificate and a bunch of flowers. Well, then of course you’re happy, aren’t you. It is a real family business: my father Nico took over the stall from my grandfather Lodewijk. I went to my parents with the certificate to tell the news. I gave the bunch of flowers to my mother. They’re happy! Last year my father walked around with the newspaper all day long: ‘Yes, that’s my son! That’s my son!’”
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Customers all over the country
Since Nico was chosen as the best donut baker in the Netherlands, it has been busy at his stall. “Last year I had the girls behind the counter ask: ‘Where is this oliebol going?’ That was so much fun, you don’t want to know! They went in all directions, from Groningen to Limburg. Recently I had a large order from someone from Nijkerk, just because I was the best in the Netherlands last year. We now see all the new customers that it brought in back then.”
No is not an answer
The fourteen pans are therefore continuously simmering and it often gets late, do you want to sell ‘no’? Nico doesn’t like that. “I can’t tell people that they don’t get anything, can I? No, I don’t. Everyone should have happy holidays, and as an oil globe baker you are obliged to contribute. That’s how I see it, that’s our job: to make sure everyone is happy. That also applies to myself, by the way. You have to enjoy your work, otherwise you have to quit.”
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Tasty tasty
“If oliebollen didn’t run in the family, I probably would have become a confectioner. I am obsessed with everything related to food. At Christmas I also cook a whole dinner at home. Have fun with everyone. And it doesn’t have to be all that difficult. I just like the craft: that you can make something very special with just a few ingredients. I study with confectioners and pastry chefs and taste a lot, do you want to keep up with the times. Of course I had a basis from my father and mother, and that in turn from their parents, but as a species you still have to tinker with that.”
The genesis of the Oreo oliebol
In the stall you will find no fewer than 25 different flavors of oliebollen. The classic flavours, such as the oliebol, currant bun and berlinerbol – with homemade pudding – are still the runners, as are the apple turnovers and apple fritters. But Nico also baked bubblegum buns, crème brûlée buns, Nutella buns and Oreo buns with white chocolate and biscuit pieces. “I was always eating those cookies, very tasty. Once when we accidentally got white chocolate, I thought: what are we going to do with that? But while I was eating my sandwich, I thought: I put a cookie in the dough, fold it, and we have an Oreo donut. And now you see them all over the Netherlands, don’t you?”
A little famous
Nico is now so well known in Schiedam that he can hardly walk normally on the street. It even adorns the coloring page of the shopkeepers association. “But the advantage is: cap off, chef’s suit off, and I’m recognized a lot less. No, of course I like it when they shout: ‘Hey, donut baker!’ Little craziness, little laughter; that is part of life. Otherwise it’s just so boring.”
Nico Sterrenberg’s oliebollen stall will be on the Koemarkt in Schiedam until 1 January. The stall will be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on December 30, and from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. on December 31. love the Facebook page keep an eye out for updates and fun promotions. on the website of the oliebollen test find the jury report.