Hague Bluff

Haagse bluf

4 egg whites
400 ml red currant or rasberry thick juice
125 grams sugar
6 biscuits

Beat the egg whites with the sugar till stiff. Slowly add the juice while still beating the conconction. Then divide the Bluff into six dessert bowls, stick in a biscuit and serve at once.

The name of the dessert is quite obvious: a lot made from little. The appearance of a rich dish is said to be ‘typical’ for the people in the city of The Hague in earlier centuries, where pretense of affluence or social status often outweighed a family's real means or income. In this same vein came about the popular expression ‘houten ham’ (wooden ham), a prop used for the dinner table, while the family - again? - had a meatless meal. The need for such appearances (bluffs) also was influenced by the fact that the Dutch kept their curtains open in the evenings allowing passers-by to look in, a custom still the norm in the Netherlands.