Belgian national dishes. What to try in Belgium

Traditional Belgian cuisine is in many ways reminiscent of Germany, which affects, first of all, the selection of products for preparing main courses. However, the cuisine performed by Belgian chefs is much tastier - sharper and brighter. And the portions are at least three times larger.

Belgian cuisine is delicious, hearty and very homely. You'll like it!

Basic dishes of Belgian cuisine

The main product of Belgian cuisine is pork, but veal, beef, poultry, and game are often used (one of the most famous dishes is rabbit in beer). Great attention is paid to the preparation of fish dishes, various vegetables, potatoes (including the legendary french fries, of which it is the ancestor), lactic acid products and eggs.

Unlike German and Austrian, Belgian cuisine uses a lot of different spices: pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, mustard.

The most traditional and original dishes of Belgian cuisine:

• buds with juniper berries;
• the famous Flemish carbonades brewed with excellent Belgian beer;
• bean salad with bacon slices in vinegar sauce;
• rice milk porridge sprinkled with burnt sugar;
• fresh eel with clams, and to it - chicory salad, stewed vegetables;
• Belgian mussels.

Traditional Belgian menu

Hits of Belgian cuisine - mussels in sauce, french fries and beer!

As first courses, native Belgians prefer mashed soups seasoned with Belgian cheese. By the way, just as tasty as French cheeses, but a little cheaper. Broths are popular and especially fish soup.

For the second, it is customary to serve fried meat in large portions with a side dish of vegetables. By the way, small cities are famous for large volumes rather than.

Lunch traditionally ends with black coffee (tea is not held in high esteem in this part of Europe, this is not England). And dinner, as you probably guessed, - beer!

Belgian cuisine uses many components borrowed from the standards of the national cuisines of France and Germany. It actively uses seafood, meat, vegetables, cheese, butter, cream, wine and beer, but this does not mean at all that the Belgians have not come up with their own dishes. Let's consider them in more detail.

Variety of appetizers and scarcity of first courses

Citizens of Belgium love to eat well, which confirms the abundance of various restaurants in this country (both very expensive and accessible to the general public), but you can hardly find cheap eateries and bistros there. Perhaps due to the fact that the traditional Belgian dishes on hastily you won't cook.

On the run, you can only eat fried potatoes in tents called frit coats, where crispy potatoes are packaged in a paper cone and seasoned with mayonnaise or sauce of the buyer's choice. In butcher shops you can buy so-called “guns” are crispy buns stuffed with cheese, sausages and ham. They can also be ordered in small cafes, but on the condition that along with the “gun” the visitor also orders some of the drinks.

In most restaurants, Belgian chefs will provide tourists with a huge selection of traditional snacks, among which most often there will be shrimp with tomatoes seasoned with la tomato-crevette mayonnaise; a variety of sandwiches with slices of white cheese; croquettes of parmesan cheese and raw shrimp; light snacks of pickled vegetables and potatoes, and the pride of Belgian culinary specialists - savory cheeses"maroy", "le fromage de brussels" and "le herve".

The first courses in Belgian taverns are most often represented by mushroom soups (mainly from champignons), various fish soups and oysters boiled with celery.

Second courses and side dishes

From the second courses in any institution, tourists will be offered different kinds fried steaks with amazing sauces, to which you can order "frites" - slices of potatoes fried until golden brown.

Popular with travelers is the "Flemish carbonate" - tenderloin or boiled pork fried in beer with prunes. If possible, be sure to taste and "jambon d'ardenne" - ham in Ardennes; "flamish"- chicken stewed with grapes; rabbit in beer; salted pies; meat with mustard and honey in fruit sauce.

From fish dishes and seafood, gourmets recommend tasting such dishes national cuisine Belgium, like eels baked with vegetables and herbs, trout stuffed with slices of lard and smoked ham, or fried mussels. Raw mussel dishes are also served at the table, but this is already a matter of taste.

After (and during) savoring such delicious meals there will be a problem, what to drink them with. The national Belgian drink is beer, of which there are more than a thousand varieties in this country. Belgian cuisine also uses its own high-quality wine, which, in terms of taste, is not inferior to the wines of France and Italy, but the latter are still more “promoted”. Both wine and beer are sold in all restaurants and cafes without any restrictions. Stronger drinks in selected restaurants can only be purchased at the bar.

Belgian desserts

Almost every Belgian city is famous for its sweet dishes served as a dessert.

• In Malmedy, you should definitely try creamy meringues;
• in Ghent - enjoy the taste of small dry cakes "gentse-mokken";
• in Dinana prepares the best sweet biscuits in the country;
• and in Bruges you have to make the hard choice between goffer waffles, caramel biscuits or macaroons.
• Do not forget about the local chocolate, which is considered one of the most delicious in the world. They should not only enjoy, but also bring as a gift to their friends, relatives and acquaintances.

We cook ourselves

Flemish carbonade

The national cuisine of Belgium can also come to the apartments of many Russians, if the hostesses have the desire and opportunity to cook something from traditional Belgian dishes. Relatives and friends can be pleasantly surprised and pleased with the Flemish carbonade, for which you will need (all calculations are given for one serving):

150 grams of beef tenderloin;

150 grams of beer;

50 grams of rye bread;

10 grams of margarine or butter;

10 grams of carrots;

Bulb;

celery or parsley root;

Sugar, vinegar, mustard, bay leaf, cumin, salt - to taste.

1. To prepare this dish, the meat must be cut into pieces across the grain, beaten lightly and fried in oil.
2. In the same frying pan, chopped carrots and parsley (celery) are brought to readiness, adding at the very end the onion cut into rings.
3. Then the meat and vegetables are laid in layers in the pan, covered with thick slices of bread (removing the crust from it), smeared with mustard, seasonings are added and poured with beer.
4. Bring to readiness over low heat, pouring beer if necessary. Served at the table with boiled potatoes.

Brussels medallions will also seem like an original dish to the guests, for the preparation of which you need:

200 grams of pork or beef liver;

120 grams of celery root;

10 grams of butter;

5 grams of flour;

5 grams of lemon juice;

Half an egg;

Crushed crackers;

Pepper and salt to taste.

1. Celery root must be peeled, washed and cut into slices, then fried until golden brown in a frying pan with the addition of oil.
2. The liver is cut into slices, rolled in flour, dipped in a beaten egg, breaded in crushed breadcrumbs and quickly fried on both sides in a pan.
3. Pour the liver with lemon juice, sprinkle with pepper and salt, then spread on slices of fried celery and serve.

Belgian dishes are not as common in restaurants around the world as, for example, French ones, but it is rather difficult to explain. Belgium is a state recognized by the world community of gourmets, it has the largest number of restaurants in the world with a Michelin star per inhabitant. Belgian cuisine has absorbed a lot from French cuisine, but retained its own national identity and authenticity.

In this small country, each region has its own unique signature dish, which can only be prepared correctly and tasty here. The coastal regions are more likely than others to boast a variety of seafood dishes, and the southern forest regions - game dishes. The restaurant of Belgian cuisine will delight its visitors with the generosity of the Germans and the skill of the French, so visiting it will not leave anyone indifferent.

Real Belgian cuisine follows recipes very strictly. Everyone knows the incredible Belgian waffles, delicious pralines, tender and which have been made for many years according to certain unchanged recipes. High-quality Belgian beer is also valued in the world, the taste of which can be easily recognized by its incredible bouquet of various aromas.

History of origin and development

Historically, the formation of Belgian cuisine began already at the moment when people began to inhabit the territory of modern Belgium, that is, more than 20 thousand years ago.

Like all ancient people, the forefathers of the Belgians were engaged in hunting, fishing, cattle breeding and agriculture, eating everything that they managed to catch, catch or grow in the course of such activities.

The heyday of Belgian cuisine is considered to be the reign of Julius Caesar. At that time, active trade with the Roman Empire began to develop, which led to the spread in the territory of modern Belgium and. The recipes of Belgian cuisine were already very diverse in those days - the inhabitants of the region perfectly cooked various types of meat and fish dishes, knew the secrets of delicious dairy products, had all kinds of cereals, knew how to bake delicious bread, cook and.

France and Germany are not in vain mentioned in all sources where it is customary to characterize Belgian cuisine. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Germans and Franks came to the lands that today belong to modern Belgium. World-famous culinary innovators already then abandoned some of the traditions in the matter of cooking and began to introduce their own. After the emergence of the Christian religion in this territory, people learned what fasting means and how it is necessary to adjust their own diet during this period. Also, Belgian cuisine first got acquainted with the rules for decorating dishes and table setting. It was from that moment that the locals had an ingrained rule that Belgian cuisine recipes would not be considered as such if the dishes were tasty, but not beautifully presented. In the future, this will be the beginning of a whole new stage in the formation of national Belgian cuisine as such.

First cookbooks with Belgian dishes were published in the 5th-6th centuries. Desserts began to occupy a special place in the national culinary tradition of Belgium. In parallel with these processes, and appeared on the territory of modern Belgium, which were brought to these lands from America, but at first they did not perceive it as a full-fledged nutritious root crop and preferred to feed livestock with it. Gradually, by the 19th century, people began to eat potatoes, however, at first, they were the lowest classes - the poor.

France again began to interfere in the formation of Belgian cuisine in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it widely glorified expensive seafood, which began to be cooked in the territory of modern Belgium. , as well as such overseas fruits as, melon and all kinds of sauces began to be in extraordinary demand, despite the high price of such products. That time is considered the most important in the formation of real Belgian cuisine and the opening of national restaurants.

After independence in 1830, Belgium began to actively develop its culinary authenticity. Gourmet dishes, the best restaurants, incredible products - all this has led to the fact that Belgian cuisine is constantly gaining more and more fans around the world. Brussels chefs were famous in different countries the fact that they could masterfully combine the culinary traditions of France - a recognized country in matters of culinary art - with Walloon, Flemish and their own, inherent exclusively in the Belgian culinary tradition. Thus, new dishes arose, the taste of which, together with the exquisite presentation, attracted all the gourmets of the world to the country.

Dishes Features

The best culinary traditions of France, the Netherlands and Germany are smoothly combined in each dish according to the recipes of Belgian cuisine. Originality is considered a feature of national cuisine. After all, the Belgians modernize any traditional dish that belongs to the cuisines of the peoples of the world, adding to it something that gives the food a new sound. For example, beer in Belgium is necessarily brewed using, or spices, and each type of foamy drink is served in a unique glass goblet intended only for it. By the way, it was also invented in Belgium to fill traditional chocolate with all sorts of the most delicate praline fillings, and to complement French fries, traditional for the Belgians (and not Americans, as everyone for some reason thinks) -.

Belgium is the birthplace of not only french fries, but also. Hot Belgian chocolate in many establishments is brewed exclusively by hand, so as not to violate the recipe. This country even has a chocolate museum, which does not surprise those who have had the opportunity to enjoy a real Belgian dessert at least once in their lives.

Traditional Belgian breakfast

Traditional Belgian waffles, chocolate and incredible flavored french fries are best tasted in a Belgian restaurant. However, the chefs of this country often share tips with their fans on how to implement best ideas national Belgian cuisine on their own. On the Internet you can find many examples of Belgian dishes with recipes and photos that are perfect for a delicious homemade breakfast.

For breakfast in Belgium, by analogy with France, which, as we have already found out, had a very strong influence on Belgian cuisine, it is customary to eat bread, jams, pastas and drink it all with coffee or juices. However, Belgian waffles remain the most common dish that the inhabitants of this country prefer to eat for breakfast.

Belgian waffles were recognized all over the world in 1958. To date, there are 2 types of this incredible dessert - Liege and Brussels waffles. Liege waffles are firm, round or oval, baked with undissolved caramelized sugar particles in the dough. This type of waffle is very satisfying. Brussels waffles are soft, light, airy, usually served as warm rectangular pieces.

For homemade Brussels waffles, a special machine is useful - a waffle iron. The main ingredients of Belgian waffles are:

• 3 eggs;
• 50 grams of sugar;
• 100 grams of flour;
• a teaspoon of baking powder;
• 50 grams;
• a pinch of salt;
• honey and fruits - for decoration when serving.

Waffles are prepared as follows. First you need to separate from . Proteins are whipped with sugar, and the yolks are rubbed with melted and chilled butter. Flour is sifted into a mixture of yolks and butter, salt and a little baking powder are added. Everything is thoroughly mixed, after which it is carefully combined with the protein mass.

Lubricate the surfaces of the waffle iron with butter and pour the dough into them. You can serve waffles with any decorations, but the Belgians recommend trying honey or fruit waffles - according to the chefs of this country, this serving emphasizes the taste and sophistication of baking.

It is also customary to eat more dense food for breakfast in Belgium. Try the Belgian poached egg sandwiches, which require 4 eggs, 4 slices and ham, a tablespoon of wine vinegar, 4 slices of bread, 2 tomatoes and butter.

First, poached eggs are prepared. Water is boiled in a saucepan, salted and acidified with vinegar, and then a pre-broken egg is added to it. The egg is boiled in such water for about a minute, it is taken out with a slotted spoon on a plate and dried.

Then toasts are prepared, laid out on a dish, smeared with butter and covered with slices of ham and a poached egg. In parallel with this, the bacon is fried in a pan, laid out on the same dish and supplemented with fresh tomatoes. Belgian traditional sandwiches are ready.

For lovers of large portions of food, you can also offer to cook a Belgian omelet with. And although omelettes are true dishes french cuisine, in Belgium they have their own, unique recipes anywhere in the world.

For the Belgian omelette you will need:

• 50 grams of champignons;
• 10 grams of butter;
• 2 eggs;
• 10 grams of flour;
• 20 milliliters of soda;
• 20 grams of ham;
• 10 grams chopped;
• salt and pepper.

Mushrooms and parsley must be very finely chopped, crushed with pepper and stewed in butter for 10 minutes. The dough for an omelette is made from flour, soda, egg yolks, salt, beaten separately proteins and mushrooms. An omelette is fried in a pan, where mushrooms and parsley were previously prepared, on both sides. Before serving, the Belgian omelet is sprinkled with finely chopped ham.

Benefits of Belgian cuisine

National Belgian food is considered one of the most useful and high-calorie foods in the world. All dishes are prepared exclusively from local products on a seasonal basis, that is, the Belgians and guests of the country usually have the freshest food on the table, which has not been frozen, not transported and has undergone only elementary processing, retaining all the benefits that it contains from nature. Most food for cooking is grown in Belgium itself, and this is far from the last country in terms of living standards in the world.

The only significant disadvantage for many gourmets is big number fatty and fried foods on the tables of the Belgians. AT modern world people strive to lead a correct lifestyle and not abuse such food. But the inhabitants of Belgium themselves have never been embarrassed by this fact, since they all have the desire and opportunity to lead an active lifestyle, play sports and wisely spend all the calories acquired at a meal. According to statistics, the average life expectancy of the Belgians exceeds the age of 80 years, the nation is considered one of the healthiest in the world. According to the inhabitants of Belgium themselves, this is actively promoted by food that people always cook and eat with great love.

Belgian cuisine has absorbed the best culinary traditions of neighboring countries - Germany, the Netherlands and France. At the same time, regional gastronomy is strikingly different from each other. In the north (Flanders) they prefer seafood and vegetables, in the south (Wallonia) - pork, beef, game. Truly culinary masterpieces of the Belgians are waffles, chocolate and beer. It was here that pralines were invented more than a hundred years ago - chocolate sweets with filling, which became famous all over the world. The main types of waffles are Brussels and Liege, which differ in shape and hardness. Belgian beer is rightfully equal to German beer and is considered the national drink. His hallmark is the addition of unexpected ingredients such as spices, fruits, honey and rice.

Let's take a closer look at Belgian cuisine...

In Belgium, two completely coexist different cultures, but the Belgians are united by one important feature - the ability to live well and eat deliciously. Both the Welsh and the Flemings willingly admit that they have an excellent appetite and appreciate both simple and gourmet dishes. Even the usual Belgian "snack", on the one hand, seems to be uncomplicated, and on the other hand, it is very refined. No wonder this northern neighbor of France is today the heart of the European community, and restaurants in Brussels are slightly inferior in rating to the famous Parisian ones, if they are inferior at all ...

Therefore, fried potatoes with mussels with a glass of beer, a sandwich with coffee or the most delicate boiled pork with a glass of gin (the usual menu of Belgian Quico eateries) are just a light warm-up here. Take a look, for example, at the Liege (Liège is a large city in Belgium; by Belgian standards) Christmas table - it is bursting with food: there are blood sausages, and a pressed pork head, and pig ears, and legs. Exactly like in the Flemish still lifes of the seventeenth century, which brought to us plentiful tables with fish, game, bread and fruit. And it seems that even since the Renaissance, huge restaurant portions have not decreased at all here, they lead to respectful awe of eaters with a timid heart and a weak stomach.

Yes, the Belgians love to eat hearty and tasty, and they have succeeded a lot in this difficult task. In Brussels alone, there are about one hundred and twenty lanes, streets, squares, etc., named after favorite products - Cheese Market Street, Oyster Boulevard, Grain Square, Butter Lane, etc. Add to this more than three thousand restaurants, add an innumerable number of eateries, pastry shops, stalls and counters - you will understand everything yourself. From the Michelin stars in this city dazzles in the eyes: for a million citizens there are two three-star, three two-star and fifteen one-star establishments of the highest level. Local chefs stick to the classics strictly, because the Belgians do not like newfangled experiments (think Hercule Poirot) or artificially high prices. And they vote in the simplest way - with their feet. If the restaurant is tasteless, the owner will go bankrupt in no time. How else? Too many competitors!

The two main population groups in Belgium are the Flemings, looking towards their neighbors in the North, the Dutch, and the Walloons, historically gravitating towards their beloved France. But if you consider that Italians, Germans and Jews still live in this multinational country, and, moreover, they all add something of their own to the common cauldron, then one can imagine the abundant multicolor of Belgian cuisine.

Here is an example of a Walloon festive meal: pea soup with smoked ham; mushrooms baked in a pot with a delicate flour aroma, hare saddle / cwènes di gattes with potatoes and lingonberries; thrushes with juniper berries and sage leaves... After all this, the most delicate Belgian Herve cheese / Herve will follow with a resemblance to our black rye bread and indispensable local beer, and this gastronomic show will end with either an apple in dough / rombosse, or a rice tart with meringues / doreye and a cup of hot coffee.

In turn, the Flemings gave the country and the world the famous "cookies" / couque - spicy cupcakes with raisins. They are eaten in the morning (or for tea) warm, cut in half and smeared with butter; they say that the most delicious ones are baked in the resort town of Dinant, a city on the river Meuse in southern Belgium (Namur). The Flemings also own the glory of the Flemish carbonade / carbonade à la Flamande - this is how they call weighty beef kusmans stewed in strong Belgian dark beer. Let's mention the king of the local holiday table- a pheasant: in front of you on a plate, a ruddy fried pheasant leg puffs with heat, overlaid with cabbages of Brussels sprouts, and flaunts stewed potatoes, the most correct Flemish variety.

In Flanders they prefer thick sauces(butter, cream, yolks) and, of course, they respect fish (the sea is nearby). The king here is the eel, which is cooked different ways: the most famous "eel in the green" / French. anguille au vert, flam. paling in’t groen, even pate is made from this fish. Belgians love whiting "in an envelope" and herring in the most diverse form. Seafood is no less loved in Belgium, and the most important of them are mussels, which can be found right in the shells, for example, in vegetable soup- looks extremely picturesque. On a traditional Belgian table, next to the mussels, as a rule, there is a plate of frits (the Belgian version of french fries) - in the most reputable reference books, this “sweet couple” is located on the top step of the podium of the country's most specialties.
In Limburg, which has long been proud of its favorite cheese (remember Pushkin, “between the living Limburg cheese”), almost everything is cooked in red wine; in the Ardennes they prefer their favorite ham, brown sauce and pates, which are surprisingly suitable for game dishes, and they know how to cook dried pears with melt-in-your-mouth bacon notably. However, what can we say about the provinces, if in the country every city is certainly its own gastronomic burrow. Even in international restaurant terminology, French terms for Belgian dishes have become entrenched: “Antwerp” / à l'anversoise - with a side dish of young hop shoots stewed in butter or cream, “Brussels style" / à la bruxelloise - with a side dish of poached Brussels sprouts and fried witloof endive (more on that later), as well as “in Liege” / à la liégeoise - with juniper cones and gin.

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However, in addition to regional, local and even homemade family dishes, Belgian cuisine is also famous for its classic dishes, for example: “oshpo” / hotch-potch, wonderful soup “waterzoi” / waterzooi or “vogels-zonder-kop” / vogel zonder kop - literally “birds without heads”, but in fact - small rolls of beef. The famous Ardennes ham, which the Blgians are so proud of, was delivered to the markets of Lugdun (modern Lyon) even in the era of the Roman Empire. The Brabantian "tart al-jot" / wall is also famous. tarte al djote is a specialty of the city of Nivelles (Brabant province): tarte with chard/djote, full-fat cheese and butter. In 1980, the whole "Brotherhood of Tart al-Jot" / Confrérîye dèl Târte al Djote was created to protect and promote the gastronomic heritage of Nivelles, mentioned in the documents of 1218!

The vicissitudes of historical fate have also left their mark on traditional Belgian cuisine. For example, "escabeche" / escabèche from fish or "Visean goose" / à l'instar de Visé, which is first stewed, then cut into pieces, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried, and served with a sauce of cream and garlic - clearly inspired by the Spanish cuisine of the 16th century (recall that from 1556 to 1713 the territory of Belgium was under Spanish rule). As for the famous Ardennes ham, according to legend, back in the days of the Roman Empire, it was sold with might and main in the markets of Lukdun (modern Lyon); the famous Flemish pastry "cook" / couque, which, for example, in Verviers is made from gingerbread dough, is a distant echo of the Gallo-Roman bakeries. But after all, trade has always been one of the main activities of the inhabitants of Belgium. Back in the 13th century, butter was brought into the country from Norway, grapes and honey from Portugal, cheeses from England, sugar and cumin from Morocco. By the way, almost all recipes for traditional Belgian dishes have been preserved since the Middle Ages.
Dessert here is also not offended by attention. For example, pastries: pies, tarts and cakes, waffles from Brussels and Namur, brioches from Liege Verviers, cramik muffins / cramiques with raisins, speculos curly gingerbread / speculoos, cloves cookies from Ghent. Connoisseurs also revere Belgian chocolate, which is still made by hand in small private pastry shops today. And the chocolate of the famous Pierre Marcolini is considered the most promoted and prestigious. By the way, it relatively recently broke into the market, taking the highest position there. Visit one of the Brussels shops of Marcolini, which is located in the Sablon district (literally: "on the sands"), at Grand Sablon, 39. There, in the capital, at Grand Place, 13, there is also a unique chocolate museum.

No wonder the world's leading firms order "chocolate presentations" from Antwerp confectioners. It was here that the works of monumental chocolate sculpture that struck everyone were made: an 800-kilogram Korsa car (for the Opel company) and a life-size koala bear (for the 150th anniversary of the Antwerp Zoo). Belgian chocolate is relatively cheap, for example, Swiss. And each Belgian consumes about 8 kg of chocolate per year, which, to the best of his ability, contributes to the growth of the GNP (gross national product) of his country.

The Belgians are not indifferent to vegetables - their abundance in the markets is literally amazing: all varieties and types of celery, the most exotic onions, potatoes, kohlrabi and the entire large cabbage family, including, of course, Brussels sprouts; beans, tomatoes, radishes, peas, asparagus, sorrel, parsnips and turnips, carrots, alfalfa sprouts and, of course, a variety of mushrooms. The main March delicacy is the young shoots of spring hops, especially appreciated in the best restaurants. Connoisseurs even prefer them to the asparagus known since the sixteenth century from the city of Mechelen (Dutch. Mechelen, z.-flam. Mecheln) in the province of Antwerp.
However, endive (witloof) is still considered a vegetable hallmark of Belgium. With it we will begin our more detailed culinary journey across this country. But more on that in future articles...