What “Belgian Chocolate” Actually Guarantees
Belgium has a serious claim to being the best place in the world to buy a box of chocolates, and the words “Belgian chocolate” carry a premium accordingly.…
Author: Flash Fry
Brussels Sprouts Really Are From Brussels, and They Really Did Taste Worse
Two things are commonly said about Brussels sprouts. The first is that the name is a historical accident with no real connection to the city. The second is…
The Last Horseback Shrimp Fishers in the World Are Belgian
Twice a week, outside the winter months, a handful of people in a small town on the Belgian coast put on yellow oilskins, ride heavy draft horses chest-deep…
Vol-au-Vent Means Two Different Things, and Belgium Means the Other One
Ask for a vol-au-vent in London and you will most likely be handed a small hollow puff pastry case, possibly with something piped into it, definitely as a…
Carbonade Flamande vs Boeuf Bourguignon: Beer Against Wine
These two dishes are so often described as versions of each other that the comparison has become a shorthand: carbonade is “the Belgian boeuf bourguignon”. It is a…
The Bloody Mary: Two Fathers, Four Names and a Disputed Birth
Most cocktails with a contested origin have one strong claim and a few opportunists. The Bloody Mary is unusual in having two serious claimants who were both, in…
Moules-Frites, and the Rule About Months With an R
There is an old rule that you should only eat shellfish in months containing the letter R, which rules out May, June, July and August. It is repeated…
Filet Américain vs Steak Tartare: What Actually Changes
Order steak tartare in Paris and you get a mound of hand-cut raw beef, a yolk on top, and a set of seasonings you are expected to mix…
Belgian Endive Is Grown in the Dark. That Is the Entire Trick.
Belgian endive is the only vegetable most people eat that has to be grown twice, and the second time it has to be grown somewhere it cannot see.…
Belgium Banned Spirits in Its Bars for Sixty-Five Years
For most of the twentieth century you could not order a gin in a Belgian bar. Not because of licensing hours, not because of a local rule, but…