Cuisine

Belgian

Fries are a twice-cooked craft here, and mussels are a pot of wine, shallot and time. Moules-frites is that pairing: mussels steamed open in a thin sauce, eaten with chips that should stay crisp enough to dip. The sauce might be white wine and celery, or cream, or beer; the mussels must be closed going in and open coming out. Belgian waffles, as sold to the world, are two families — a lighter Brussels waffle and a denser, pearl-sugar Liège waffle that caramelises on the iron. Both are bakery-and-street food.

The fryer argument with France is a national sport; the useful cooking fact is the double fry and the potato variety. Mussels from the North Sea and the Scheldt made a cheap protein that restaurants later plated with frites. Waffle irons are older than the tourist stands in Brussels. Liège pearl-sugar waffles are a distinct dough, not a batter poured the same way as a Brussels waffle. Beer, butter and endive are the wider savoury pantry. Belgian cooking is not French food with more chips. It is a fryer-and-pot kitchen with a serious waffle split.

Chips: dry the potato, fry once to cook, fry again to crisp. Mussels: clean, debeard, high heat, lid on, discard any that stay shut. Waffles: decide which dough you are making before you heat the iron. Liège waffles should have pockets of burnt-sugar crunch. Moules-frites is a contrast of steamed shellfish and fried potato, not a cream bath. Belgian food overlaps Dutch frying and French sauce technique.