Cuisine in Brussels and Wallonia
The cuisine in Brussels and Wallonia is the cuisine of the mainly francophone regions within the state of Belgium .
General
There are clear French influences in the cooking tradition of the francophone regions of Belgium. Despite its distance from the coast, Brussels is also known for dishes based on fish and seafood. Game dishes are common in the Ardennes . While the kitchen of private households is rather hearty and rustic, the upscale cuisine of the restaurants, especially in Brussels and Wallonia, is strongly influenced by French cuisine , with which it is often equated in terms of quality, while the usual serving quantity is often compared with that in Germany becomes. Many supermarkets have a large selection of delicatessen items. Brussels in particular, which is the seat of many European institutions, is home to many high-class gourmet restaurants that have been awarded by various gastronomic guides. Other locations for high-class restaurants are the cities of Namur and Liège . Moules fries are considered a national dish of the francophone regions of Belgium . These are mussels with french fries. Brussels cuisine is also shaped by the cooking cultures of the large immigrant groups, for example from Africa or the Middle East.
Food
Typical dishes
- Lapin à la Gueuze : Rabbit braised in beer. Gueuze is a naturally fermented Belgian beer from the Brussels region.
- Lapin aux Pruneaux : Rabbit with dried plums from the Liege area .
- Vol au Vent : Chicken fricassee with puff pastry.
- Rognons de veaux à la Liégoise : Veal kidneys in Liège style, with juniper berries and juniper brandy (called Genièvre or Péquet).
- Boulets à la liégoise : Meatballs the Liège style, with a sweet and sour sauce based on Liège syrup , onions and vinegar.
- Faisan à la brabançonne : Brabant-style pheasant with chicory .
- Salade Liégeoise : after the city of Liege named salad of potatoes, fine beans , garlic and optional Ardennes ham .
- Gratin au chicons : sometimes also baked chicory wrapped in ham.
- Moules fries : Mussels cooked in vegetables and in their own brew, as a side dish with french fries.
- Moules parquées : raw mussels, served like oysters with lemon or with shallot sauce.
- Moules à l'escargot : mussels baked with garlic and herb butter, usually served by the dozen in the mussel shells
- Filet américain : Beef tartare, seasoned with capers, shallots, Worcestershire sauce, mayonnaise, salt and pepper; often as a side dish of french fries.
- Tomatoes crevettes fries : Tomatoes filled with North Sea prawns and mayonnaise, with French fries as a side dish.
- Dame blanche : Vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce and whipped cream.
- Rice Flatbread : A thin yeast dough base filled with rice pudding.
- Craquelin : A yeast dough with kneaded sugar.
- Cramique : A yeast dough baked in a loaf shape, with kneaded sugar and raisins.
French fries
French fries are very popular and are often served in a so-called friterie or a fritkot , as a corresponding snack is called in Bruxellois, the Brussels dialect or patois . It is a makeshift construction strategically placed in busy places in Belgian cities, but it is also a special type of restaurant that mainly serves fried dishes. French fries are rarely prepared at home. There is a tradition of bringing french fries that you eat at home directly from the Fritkot "around the corner".
cheese
As in France, people in Brussels and Wallonia like to serve cheese after dinner. These are, for example, dessert cheese, Herve , Abbaye de Floreffe, Maredsous , Abbaye d'Orval , goat cheese or buttermilk cheese.
beer
Another specialty is beer in Brussels and Wallonia. Although Belgium is quite a small country, there are over 500 types of beer available in a wide range of styles. Food with typical Belgian abbey beers is very popular. Among the abbey beers, the six Trappist beers produced by or under the supervision of Trappist monks play a special role. In Wallonia and Brussels, for example, these are Chimay , Orval and Rochefort . There are a variety of specialty beers such as Kriek (cherry beer), Gueuze , Framboise (raspberry beer ), Faro or Lambic .
confectionery
chocolate
Belgian chocolate is known all over the world. It owes its reputation to a tradition that stems from strict manufacturing legislation. So - even since a European directive that allows the use of 5% vegetable fats apart from cocoa butter - most artisanal chocolate manufacturers remain true to the principle of “100% cocoa butter”. To defend this quality, a quality mark called "ambao" was created.
The pralines are one of the most famous Belgian specialties . They were supposedly invented in 1912 by Jean Neuhaus. Today there are hundreds of different varieties. They are even sorted into families: there are the manons, those with fresh cream, the pralines with brittle , marzipan , liqueur and the so-called truffles . In order to maintain their delicate freshness, special packaging was patented under the name “Ballotin”.
Cuberdon
The Cuberdon is a jelly-like candy that is often referred to as "Neuzeke" (nose) because of some resemblance to a nose in Flanders.
