• Leo on August 17, 2020

  This is a brilliant book. Gorgeous accessible recipes and family stories. It has been republished (UK?)as Taste of Belgium.

• FoodSleuth on January 08, 2015

  Mashed Potatoes with Carmelized Shallots p. 239 4/28/01: EXCELLENT - needed more cream.

• FoodSleuth on January 08, 2015

  Green Beans, Flemish Style p. 215 4/28/01: EXCELLENT - the whole family loved it

Notes about Recipes in this book

• My mother's potato salad (Moeders aardappel salade / La salade de pommes de terre de ma mère)

  • bching on September 03, 2024

    The dressing was very easy to make, although the salad was edible but not outstanding. I will probably not repeat it.

• Creamy cucumber salad with chervil (Romige komkommersalade met kervel / Salade de concombres au cerfeuil)

  • wester on April 30, 2018

    A good everyday salad. As written, too salty. Half would be plenty (and I don't mind a bit of salt). Creme fraîche would work here too.

• Autumn salad with celery root and Belgian endive (Herfstsalade / Salade d'automne)

  • wester on October 28, 2012

    This was pretty good, the celeriac combines well with the chicory. I'm not sure the other greens are really necessary. I added some toasted walnuts as well, which was good.

• Vineyard salad (Wijngaardsalade / Salade vigneronne)

  • anya_sf on October 13, 2021

    Delicious combination of ingredients, but way too much dressing, and the way the recipe is written, you can't simply add dressing as needed. Fortunately, I realized this before making the salad and just used 2 Tbsp oil, 1.5-2 Tbsp bacon fat (should have used 1 Tbsp to stay true to the original ratio), and 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, which seemed like an appropriate amount.

• Tomato soup with little meatballs (Tomatensoep met ballekes / Soupe aux tomates et quenelles de viande)

  • kemgcodice on August 14, 2020

    This is such a simple but delicious recipe. It has been a family favourite for years.

• Leek and potato soup (Preisoep/ Soupe aux poireaux)

  • TinyCitiKitchen on July 25, 2023

    There are lots of ways to do leek and potato soup. This is the way I like it: creamy but light

• Cream of white asparagus soup from Mechelen (Mechelse aspergesoep / Velouté aux asperges de Malines)

  • wkhull on October 14, 2018

    Did not have chervil, so substituted ~1/4 C chives. Also, did not peel asparagus. Still ended with a very creamy, smooth soup. Rich and singular tasting; wish it had more depth.

• Chervil soup (Kervelsoep / Potage au cerfeuil)

  • aoife on May 31, 2021

    Wonderful soup, very subtle aromatic flavour from the leek and chervil.

• Cream of spinach with sorrel (Spinazie soep met zuring / Crème d'épinards à l'oseille)

  • rmardel on June 12, 2023

    Excellent soup!. Simple yet rich in flavor. Will repeat. I added the sorrel in at the end of cooking and pureed it with the soup. I do think this added a tart complexity but I can also see this served with finely sliced sorrel as well. The soup makes a large batch, 8 to 9 cups, and as a solo household I wanted to freeze half of it, so I omitted the egg yolk, not being sure how freezing and defrosting would affect the texture. The soup was delicious without it, but I am sure it would be much more luxurious with the addition of egg, something to try for a party perhaps.

• Creamy lettuce soup (Romige slasoep / Crème de laitues)

  • bching on January 14, 2016

    I made this to use up too much lettuce from the CSA. It served the purpose, tasting a lot like cream of spinach soup.

• Celery root soup (Knolselderroomsoep / Potage aux deux céleris)

  • ashallen on December 05, 2019

    This is a nice soup with a gentle celery/celery root flavor. The celery flavor's definitely mellowed by the heavy cream - I might try substituting some milk/chicken stock for some of the cream next time to see if a bit more celery flavor comes through. Makes a generous quantity - I was glad I used an 8 quart pot. Freezes well.

• Cream of Brussels sprouts soup (Spruitjesroomsoep / Potage aux choux de Bruxelles)

  • wester on February 16, 2016

    A nice winter soup, but I would have liked to taste the sprouts more. I guess that would be a plus for some people, though.

• Herbed garlic bread, Belgian style

  • FVarin on November 17, 2013

    Delicious!

• Mussels with a Dijon mustard vinaigrette (Mosselen met vinaigrette / Moules vinaigrette)

  • wester on October 28, 2012

    Simple and very nice. I made the mayonnaise variation, but I think the vinaigrette would be even better.

• Chicken braised in Belgian beer (Kip met Rodenbach / Poulet à la bière Rodenbach)

  • Leo on June 30, 2024

    A simple but tasty chicken dish. Rodenbach hard to come by in darkest Cornwall so I used a local ale . I have used Duvel previously.

• Jeanne's roast chicken with apples, onions, and potatoes (Jeanne's geroosterde kip met appels, ajuintjes en aardappelen / La poule rôtie au four de Jeanne)

  • Leo on July 07, 2024

    Thoroughly enjoyed this. Really straightforward prep. Served with cabbage cooked in browned butter. Bread would have been good. I accidentally used a bit more liquid than stated which made a lovely gravy.i am thinking that kids might enjoy this perhaps without so much seasoning.

• Chicken with juniper berries (Kip met geneverbessen / Poule au genévrier)

  • stepharama1 on December 29, 2021

    Juniper flavor wasn't as pronounced as I'd hoped. Perhaps my juniper berries were old. Also I substituted brandy for the gin. Next time I will use gin in the hope that the juniper flavor will be stronger. However, the dish was quite a good dish, nonetheless. It was quick to make and had the plus of flambeing at the end which was fun and a bit of a throwback.

• Beef stewed in red wine with pearl onions and mushrooms (Gestoofd rundvlees op z'n Limburgs / Boeuf sauté à la Limbourgeoise)

  • Tirtzah2 on February 09, 2019

    I substituted beef chuck for beef round, but otherwise followed the recipe. Really good. It tasted even better after sitting 24 hours. Wait 24 hours before adjusting seasonings.

• Hutsepot, a hearty winter stew (Gentse hutsepot / Hochepot Gantois)

  • mcvl on September 16, 2012

    My Belgian great-grandmother made wonderful pies but wasn't otherwise much of a cook; boiled steak and canned peas with supermarket mayo, that was her speed. But if she had been a good cook, I'm sure she would have made something like this delicious hutsepot. I scaled it back for two persons by using only pot roast, bacon, turnips, celery, parsley, and chicken broth (rather than plain water, to make up for the lack of veal, lamb, a pig's foot, and sausages). It was homey and good, and I look forward to making the full-size version some time when I'm having a dozen people over to supper.

• Belgian spaghetti, student style (Gentse studenten spaghetti / Les spaghetti Bolognaise des étudiants)

  • wkhull on March 24, 2021

    This was chunky (which was awesome) but a little lacking in the flavor department. Store-bought spaghetti sauce would have gone a long way adding flavor to this dish.

• Flemish beef stew cooked in beer (Vlaamse stoverij / Les carbonades Flamandes)

  • wester on December 16, 2021

    This was highly appreciated by the whole family as very close to what you get in Belgium. I added a bit more vinegar than the recipe stated and I will probably increase it a bit more the next time, though I can see that depending on the kind of beer you use.

• My grandmother's herbed pork chops (Grootmoeder's varkenskoteletjes met paddestoelen en spek / Côtes de porc aux herbes de ma grand-mère)

  • wester on October 19, 2015

    I don't think my grandmother ever made pork chops this way, but I sort of feel she should have. Old-fashioned in a good way. However, the chops and the sauce did not interact much, they were basically two different dishes.

• Belgian meatballs braised in beer with endives (Gehaktballekes gestoofd met witloof en bier / Fricadelles aux endives à la bière Belge)

  • wester on September 21, 2012

    A good meatball recipe for everyday use.

• Brussels sprouts, Flemish style (Spruitjes op z'n Vlaams / Choux de Bruxelles à la Flamande)

  • wester on December 25, 2013

    I made the bacon variation of this. I find myself turning to this cookbook regularly for this kind of recipe; simple, sturdy, and well thought out.

• Cauliflower, Flemish style

  • wester on May 08, 2012

    Very simple cauliflower with browned butter and nutmeg. Good everyday food.

• Green beans, Flemish style (Prinsesseboontjes op z'n Vlaams / Haricot verts à la Flamande)

  • FoodSleuth on September 10, 2015

    Excellent! Mark & Emily really loved this one. 4/28/2001, p. 215-216

• Spinach with garlicky brown butter (Spinazie in bruine-botersaus / Epinards au beurre noisette)

  • wester on May 19, 2012

    Basic and good.

• Mashed potatoes with caramelized shallots (Stoemp met sjalotjes / Stoemp avec échalottes)

  • FoodSleuth on September 10, 2015

    Excellent! Needed much more cream - didn't have a ricer - that would have made it better still. Mark & Emily really loved these. 4/28/2001 p. 239

• Mashed potatoes with winter vegetables (Winterstoemp met savooiekool / Stoemp aux légumes d'hiver)

  • anya_sf on April 10, 2020

    The vegetables aren't actually mashed, but cooked until fairly soft, so they end up somewhat mashed when stirred together. I adapted this recipe to make approximately half the quantity using the ingredients I had on hand: 2 oz bacon, 1 onion, 1 leek, 3 carrots, 1 lb Brussels sprouts, 1.5 lbs russet potatoes, dried thyme and bay leaf, fresh parsley, and chicken broth (started with 2 cups, added about 1/2 cup more with the potatoes). This made a comforting side dish to braised balsamic chicken thighs on a cold evening.

• My mother's waffles (Moeders wafels / Les gaufres de ma mére)

  • rebeka_eveksv on January 31, 2026

    Surprisingly good! Perfect amount of sweetness that allows you to enjoy them plain or with a topping.

• Belgian bread pudding (Broodpudding / Pudding au pain)

  • wester on May 24, 2018

    In the end this turned out very good, but I'm subtracting a star for problems with the recipe. To start, ten slices of bread is a measure that depends a lot on what bread you use. A measure of volume or weight would have been very welcome. I took the pan it was to be baked in (and which she does supply a size for) and filled that half full. Second, the amount of milk given is both absurdly precise and totally wrong. 1,8 dl of milk just manages to wet the bread. I tripled it to arrive at the desired consistency. Third, the oven temperature was too high. After 10 mins, the sides were starting to get really brown and the inside was still really liquid. I lowered the temperature to 180C. With these adjustments, it was very good; as written, it would probably have been inedible.

• Chocolate mousse (Chocoladeschuim / Mousse au chocolat)

  • chawkins on November 24, 2015

    Light and airy and not too sweet. I'll skip the optional rum next time because I could not discern its presence, however I believe that coffee do enhance the chocolate flavor, so I'll still use coffee rather than just water.