The Utimate Comfort Food: Belgium

by Jenny

Foodie Friday ~ Belgium

Honestly, I picked Belgium because I thought waffles sounded good this week. My hope was shattered when I found out that what we think of as Belgian waffles is not really Belgian waffles. Through our research, we found out that waffles vary with each region of Belgium and there's probably as many varieties as Red Robin burgers. Belgium has a lot of French and Flemish (Dutch) influence with some German as well. We selected the Liege waffle coming from the area of, you guessed it, Liege. They're also known as gaufres de chasse (hunting waffles) and are a richer, denser, sweeter waffle with sugary crystals that caramelize when cooked. My hope was restored when reading up on these. And they were A-Mazing. It's not a batter you scoop and drop on the waffle maker, it's a dough that you let rise and form into balls, then you cook the dough balls. They are rich, sweet, and it's hard to stop eating them. I would definitely call these a comfort food. They kids all loved them and we've already made a second batch.... Here's the recipe we ended up following The Best Waffle You'll Ever Eat. We decided to use this as a dessert and made some homemade whipped cream, and then add a few more recipes...

With the weather we've had lately nothing hits the spot like a warm hearty stew. And this stew was a perfect warming comfort food. It is made with Belgian ale and sweet onions so it has a sweet and savory combination. Here's the recipe for this delicious stew Carbonnade Beef and Beer_Stew.

With our stew and waffles, there was another dish we found we couldn't do without for Belgian food. Fries. I know, we all thought they were French fries but they are thought to have originated in Belgium. They seem very popular there in Belgium and they use a variety of sauces to dip-mayonnaise, ketchup, aioli, tartar sauce, curry ketchup...the list went on. We made a very garlicky aioli to dip our deep fried fries.

Belgian carrots topped off our recipes to cook for the day. They are sliced carrots with heavy cream, dried parsley, and nutmeg. Here's the recipe.

We had to have some Belgian beer and chocolate to finish everything off. A very rich and flavorful meal of foods that are sure to be the ultimate comfort foods- international style!