In the streets of Brussels, everything looks delicious!

Waffles, speculoos or shrimp croquettes, there is something for everyone.

The culinary columnist of Europe 1, Marion Sauveur, returns to the emblematic Belgian dishes and gives you the best recipes to reproduce them at home. 

In Belgium, we taste the best fries.

But not only.

Having gone for a walk in the streets of Brussels, Marion Sauveur returns to Europe 1 with four gourmet and emblematic recipes of the Belgian capital.

Savory and sweet, there is something for everyone! 

The gray shrimp croquette

The essential is the croquette with gray shrimps caught in the North Sea.

It is an elongated fried dumpling with a core made of shrimp bechamel sauce.

Crispy on the outside and smooth on the inside.

To achieve them, you have to be patient, but this is how to go about it.

For twelve gray shrimp croquettes

Ingredients

  • 500 g peeled gray shrimps

  • 50g butter

  • 50 g flour

  • 30 cl of whole milk

  • 20 cl of white wine

  • 1 carrot

  • 1 leek

  • 1 pinch of nutmeg

  • 1 bouquet garni

  • 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

  • 1 egg

  • 50 g of liquid cream

  • Breadcrumbs

  • Salt pepper

The steps of the recipe

1. Melt the butter and add the flour, cook for a few minutes.

It's your redhead.

2. In another saucepan, simmer the milk with the shrimp carcasses, chopped vegetables, white wine, lemon juice, nutmeg, pepper, salt and the bouquet garni.

3. Strain the milk and whisk with the roux.

Add your shrimp.

4. Place in a dish, film on contact and leave in the fridge for at least one night.

5. The next day, shape the croquettes.

Dip them in the flour, egg white and breadcrumbs.

Put them back in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

6. Heat the frying bath to 160 degrees minimum: sear them for 8 minutes (they must be golden).

7. Serve with lemon wedges and salted fried curly parsley.

The waffles 

In Belgium, one dessert is king: the waffle.

But beware, each city has its own recipe!

So do not confuse waffles from Liège and Brussels.

The bruxelloise dough is liquid (like pancake dough), with baking powder, while the Liègeoise contains baker's yeast.

It needs time to rest and it is malleable, like brioche dough.

Another notable difference is that the sugar is not incorporated into the Liège dough but added to the cooking to caramelize.

Brussels waffle

Ingredients

  • 1 kg of flour

  • 350 g melted butter

  • 500g sugar

  • 1 pinch of salt

  • 10 g of baking powder

  • 6 eggs

  • 1 liter of milk

  • 500 g of water

The steps of the recipe

1. Combine sugar, melted butter and salt.

2. Add the eggs and mix.

3. Add the flour and baking powder.

Mix.

4. Add the milk and then the water.

Mix.

5. Bake the waffles.

Liège waffle

Ingredients

  • 1 kg of flour

  • 400g butter

  • 400 g milk

  • 4 eggs

  • 45 g baker's yeast

  • 300g granulated sugar

The steps of the recipe

1. Mix the milk and the yeast.

2. Add sugar and eggs.

3. Add the flour.

4. Add the butter.

5. Finish by adding the granulated sugar.

6. Form dough balls and let stand 30 min.

7. Bake the waffles.

Speculoos

In Belgium, you must also absolutely taste the speculoos.

This crunchy cookie, with a brown color and a good taste of spices, can be nibbled on almost endlessly.

And it can be twenty centimeters for the most beautiful pieces!

Its name is taken from the Latin word "specula" which means "mirror" according to Alexandre Helson of Maison Dandoy, the reference address in Brussels.

"When we make it, we type the cookie dough into famous wooden molds which will represent a whole series of figurines from Brussels folklore in general. When we extract the dough from the wooden mold we have a mirror effect", adds he does.

A strong technique is therefore required to press the dough to the bottom of the mold.

But with the recipe below, you can still make these cookies at home.

The speculoos

Ingredients

  • 1 kg of flour

  • 300 g butter

  • 600 g dark candy brown sugar

  • 100 g of water

  • 1 pinch of salt

  • 1 tablespoon of baking soda

  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

  • 1 pinch of cloves

The steps of the recipe

1. Combine brown sugar, butter, salt and spices until you obtain a cream.

2. Gradually add water while mixing.

The dough must be well diluted.

3. Add the flour and baking powder.

Mix gradually: but it should not be kneaded too long to prevent it from becoming too elastic.

4. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, cut it with cookie cutters.

5. Place the baking sheet in the hot oven at 180 degrees.

Leave to cook for about 10 minutes.