| Liège gastronomy ((wa)Couh'nèdje di Lidge) | |
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| A Liège coffee | |
| Information | |
| Country | .svg/20px-Flag_of_Belgium_(civil).svg.png){kind=small} Belgium |
|---|---|
| Region | Province of Liège |
| Unmissable | * Liège balls * Remoudou cheese * Waffle De Liege * Rice pie |
| Location | |
 50 ° 37 ′ 55 ″ N 4 ° 37 ′ 12 ″ E | |
The Liège gastronomy is the testimony of the flavors, the know-how and the terroir of the province of Liège in the east of the Belgium.
Drinks
Beers
Belgium, with around 2,500 beers different, being "the land of beer", the province of Liège, with 16 breweries and more than 175 varieties of different beers, also contributes to this reputation. Most brewers use local produce in their produce, and of course there are dozens of traditional local food recipes where beer comes into play.
Beer is far from unknown in Pays d'Lîdge (“Pays de Liège” in Walloon). Already, Emperor Charlemagne, a child of Country, codified the quality of beer by imposing its manufacture by experts and its marketing under the control of the lords. Under Prince-Bishop Notger (end of Xe century), the region already had no less than 200 licensed breweries. Since 1373, the “brewing profession” has been one of the 32 professions in Liège and their patron saint is Saint Arnould. There were countless brewers in Liège, everyone had the right to brew their own beer, and it was said that "Children learn to suck beer with milk" it was such an ordinary drink.
- Bierebel – List of brewers in the province of Liège.
Curtius Bottle.
Glass and bottle of Jupiler.
1 L bottle of Brown Piedbœuf.
Val-Dieu blonde, brunette, triple and grand cru in 2019 clothing.
| Last name | Color | %* | cL** | Brewery | Commune | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Schteng | Brown | 6 | 33 | Grain d'Orge Brewery | Homburg | 3 Schteng means "3 stones" in local dialect |
| 44 | blonde hair | 5,5 | 33 | Gleize Brewery | Stoumont | |
| Beekeeping | blonde hair | 8 | 33 | Flo's craft and educational brewery | Blehen | honey flavored |
| Beautiful fiery | amber | 7,5 | 37,5 | Cosse Brewery | Grace-Hollogne | |
| Spade | blonde hair | 7,5 | 33 | Grain d'Orge Brewery | Homburg | brewed with strawberries Noire de Milmort. Only findable at Bêche farm |
| Bellevaux Black | black | 6,3 | 33 | Bellevaux brewery | Malmedy | unfiltered, unpasteurized, brewed in spring water |
| Bellevaux Raspberry | White | 4 | 33 | Bellevaux brewery | Malmedy | brewed with raspberries in spring water |
| Brice | blonde hair | 7,5 | 33 | Grain d'Orge Brewery | Homburg | |
| Botteress | blonde hair | 7,5 | 33 | Brasserie La Botteresse | Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse | |
| Scoundrel | White | 5,2 | 33 | Grain d'Orge Brewery | Homburg | wheat malt |
| Curtius | blonde hair | 7 | 37,5 | Principality microbrewery | Cork | 3 varieties of hops |
| Elven | amber | 7 | 33 | Elven Brewery | Sougné-Remouchamps | |
| Franchefleur | blonde hair | 6,5 | 33 | Grain d'Orge Brewery | Homburg | brewed with elderflower |
| Joup | Brown | 7,5 | 33 | Grain d'Orge Brewery | Homburg | |
| Jupiler | blonde hair | 5,2 | 33 (bottle) 33 and 50 (can) | AB InBev | Jupille-sur-Meuse | Probably the pils the most sold in the world. Here you are asking for a "jup" or a "scoundrel". During the 2018 FIFA World Cup it was brewed under the name of Belgium. |
| Legia | blonde hair | 5 | 33 | Brewery Brasse & You | Cork | Also available flavored with blackcurrant and mint with a concentration of 3.5% |
| Leopold 7 | blonde hair | 6,2 | 33 | Brasserie de Marsinne | Couthuin | |
| Lienne | blonde hair | 7 | 33 | Brewery of the Lienne | Lierneux | |
| Black lienne | black | 5,5 | 33 | Brewery of the Lienne | Lierneux | porter type beer |
| Brown piedbœuf | Brown | 1,1 | 33 (bottle) 100 (bottle) | AB InBev | Jupille-sur-Meuse | Table beer with added candy sugar. Brewed since 1853, it was even served in school canteens between 1945 and the 1980s. It also has the reputation, not denied by the medical profession, of promoting the rise of milk in pregnant women. |
| Pikplu | blonde hair | 7 | 33 | Flo's craft and educational brewery | Blehen | brewed with cherries and nettle |
| Poirette de Fontaine | Brown | 8,5 | 33 | Brasserie La Botteresse | Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse | pear syrup added at the end of production |
| Sauvajine | blonde hair | 7 | 33 | Flo's craft and educational brewery | Blehen | brewed with nettle |
| Blonde tripick | blonde hair | 6 | 33 (bottle) 75 (bottle) | Tripick | Boncelles | laureate of World Beer Award 2017 in the “lager” category. |
| Triple tripick | blonde hair | 8 | 33 (bottle) 75 (bottle) | Tripick | Boncelles | laureate of World Beer Award 2017 in the "strong" category. |
| Val Dieu | blonde hair | 6 | 33 | Val-Dieu Abbey | Aubel | 2 varieties of hops |
| Val Dieu | Brown | 8 | 33 | Val-Dieu Abbey | Aubel | refermented in bottle |
| Val Dieu Triple | amber | 9 | 33 | Val-Dieu Abbey | Aubel | unfiltered |
| Val Dieu Grand cru | Brown | 10,5 | 75 | Val-Dieu Abbey | Aubel | high fermentation, unfiltered and unpasteurized |
| Warsage | blonde hair | 6,5 | 33 | Warsage Brewery | Warsage | |
| Warsage | Brown | 9 | 33 | Warsage Brewery | Warsage | |
| Warsage Triple | amber | 8,5 | 33 | Warsage Brewery | Warsage | |
| * titration in degree of alcohol. ** capacity of an individual bottle. | ||||||
Cider and perry
The "Pays de Herve », That is to say the area between the Meuse and the Vesdre is a bocage country with many apple and pear trees with tall stems. The fruits are used, among other things, in the production of cider and perry thanks to the last cider house in the province and located in Aubel. Their products, containing between 0 and 7% alcohol by volume, are easily found in distribution shops not only in the province but also throughout the country. In the kitchen, cider is part of the composition of certain local recipes, including a variant of Belgian waffles.
- Stassen cider house 4880 Aubel – Cider house founded in 1895 producing sweet, semi-dry ciders, ciders flavored with various fruits and perry.
Mineral water
The province has three municipalities where underground mineral water is exploited: Chaudfontaine, Spa and Stoumont. All products (mineral water and derived lemonades) are easily found in distribution or consumer shops.
- Bru 4987 Stoumont – Naturally sparkling water, almost identical balance between calcium and magnesium. The source was already exploited at XVIIe century by the monks of the abbey of Stavelot.
- Chaudfontaine 4050 Chaudfontaine – Slightly mineralized and naturally slightly sparkling water. Chaudfontaine water gushes out at the source at a temperature of 36.6 ° C due to the fact that it comes from a depth of 1,600 meters.
- Monopoly Spa (Spadel) 4900 Spa – Still or naturally slightly sparkling water depending on the source where it is captured. The "Spa Reine" is one of the least mineralized waters in the world (33 mg per liter) and is therefore ideal for preparing baby bottles. The spring water of Spadoise has been known since Ier century. This is how Pliny the Elder speaks about it in one of his works following a trip to Gaul Belgium in the year 74.
Spirits
Peket stand at 15th August celebrations To Cork.
- Belgian Beer Liquor 4880 Aubel
1 L bottle (only available at the abbey). – Liquor produced at brewery of the abbey of Val-Dieu from the brew to which are added spices and an alcohol volume title of 35%. - Belgian Own 4460 Grace-Hollogne 58 € the 50 cL bottle of single malt. – Single Grain Whiskey assaying 46% alcohol volume and "cask brut" grading 70%. Produced by a small team of enthusiasts, it is made exclusively with barley and malt grown in Belgium, the oldest bottles in production were, in 2014, 10 years of age.
- Spa Elixir 4900 Spa Between 24 € and 27,5 €, depending on the type of business, the 70 cL bottle. – Based on 40 plants, herbs and roots originating in the Spadoise region, it is recognized for its digestive properties. With a 30% alcohol content, it was already distilled by the Capuchin monks of Spa from the XVe century.
- Franchimont flower 4910 The Reid Between 6,5 € and 8 € the 75 cL bottle depending on the type of store. – Fermented fruit wine made from apples and wild flowers, mainly black elderberry (Sambucus nigra) collected by the inhabitants of Theux. With an alcohol content of 8.5% by volume, it is best enjoyed fresh, between 6 and 8 ° C, from aperitif to dessert.
- Fine Fleur de Franchimont 4910 The Reid 24,95 € the 50 cL bottle. – Brandy obtained from the distillation of "Fleur de Franchimont". It has a title of 43% alcohol by volume.
- Lambertus 4730 Raeren 47 € the 70 cL bottle of single malt and 42,5 € the 70 cL bottle of single cask. – Single Grain Whiskey titrating 40% or 48.4% alcohol by volume depending on the storage method. Produced by a distiller established in the Verviers region since 1836 and using grains and malt exclusively produced in Belgium, the oldest bottles of whiskey production were, in 2014, 15 years of age.
- Peket (pèkèt means "spicy" in old Walloon) distribution trade: between 14 € and 25 € 70 to 100 cL bottle depending on alcohol content and capacity. Consumer trade: between 2 € and 3,5 € the glass of pure peket (depending on the alcohol content) and 3 € the glass of fruity peket (ratafias).. – Grain alcohol (malted barley, wheat, rye or even oats) flavored with juniper berries (Juniperus communis) distilled in the region since XVIe century containing between 30 and 40% alcohol by volume and which has benefited from a protected designation since 2006. Traditionally, it is drunk natural and "chilled". Formerly, the miners added a prune which is a way of sweetening the drink which then bears the name of gayette. There are fragrances with different aromas such as cuberdon, cherry, strawberry, forest fruits, chocolate, passion fruit, grenadine, mint, orange, lemon, blackcurrant, violet, apple, speculoos, pepper, coconut which are called "Ratafias". Mixed with Coca-Cola, it is then called “white-coca”. Pure, it is also used in many traditional local culinary recipes. There is a variety flavored with blackcurrant berries (Ribes nigrum). This is called "black peket" ((wa)neûr pèkèt), because of its very dark color, and is only distilled at Haccourt. The difference between "peket" and "genièvre" (or jenever in Dutch) resides only in the place of distillation, the second is distilled at Netherlands, in Flanders or in the Nord Pas de Calais while the first is distilled in Wallonia.
- Zizi Coin Coin 4500 Huy about 12,5 € the 100 cL bottle (in Belgium). – “Zi” for lemon and “Coin” for cointreau, it is therefore a mixture of fresh lemon squeezed by hand and orange liqueur which is very refreshing in summer. With 10% alcohol by volume, in its country of creation, it can “go up” to a 15% alcohol content, as in Switzerland, when it is marketed in another country.
1 L bottle (only available at the abbey)Wines
Appeared around IXe century, the culture of the vine flourished until XVe century, appearance of what is called the “little ice age”, on all the slopes exposed to the south in the valley of the Meuse as well as in the lower valley of the Geer. Certain names of localities or roads still recall this period: Vivegnis, Thumbnail, rue Vigneux, rue de Bourgogne, rue des Vignes, rue Pied des Vignes, rue Sur les Vignes, etc.
Since the 1960s, some passionate winegrowers have relaunched this activity with some success. The grape varieties used are mainly Cabernet, Pinot and Sauvignon. The vinification produces mainly dry and fruity white wines as well as crémants. The production is not huge (560,000 liters in 2013), it is mainly sold in restaurants but can also be found in some specialized stores. The main vintages, and their origin, are called "Clos Bois Marie" in Huy (the only Belgian vineyard that can be proud of having existed for more than 1,000 years with a single interruption from 1940 to 1963), “Clos du Germi” (formerly “Clos Henrotia”) in Ampsin, “Vin de Liège” (formerly “Cuvée Saint-Lambert”) in Oupeye and "Septem Triones" at Chaudfontaine.
- Clos du Germi Rue du Cimetière 21, 4540 Ampsin,
32 496 489081 
on appointment. sale on site. – Côtes de Sambre and MeuseAOC. Production of pinot noir and pinot gris. Closed from 0.5 ha - Clos du Bois Marie Huy, e-mail : [email protected] – Côtes de Sambre and Meuse AOC. The production, made up of 60% rivaner, 20% pinot gris and 20% chardonnay, is produced manually and unfiltered to give wine with an alcohol content of 12% Given the smallness of the clos, 0.4 ha, wines can only be tasted in certain restaurants in the Hut region.
- Septem Triones Rue des Anglais 30C, 4051 Chaudfontaine, e-mail : [email protected] white wines: between 60 € and 100 € the 75 cL bottle, red wines: between 40 € and 100 € the 75 cL bottle. –
Created in 2009 by Jean Galler, the vineyard produces organic white or red wines. These can be purchased from a wine merchant of Neupré or online and then picked up in one of the "Chez Blanche" pastry-bakeries in Beaufays, Chênée, Crisnée or Herstal. - Cork wine Rue Fragnay 64, 4682 Hour-le-Romain, 32 4 3440014, e-mail : [email protected] sea. : 14 h - 18 h, Fri.- sat. : 14 h - 18 h. Between 11,2 € and 18,6 € at the cellar store. – White, rosé and red wines made with grape varieties from a continental climate. It is the largest estates with five plots totaling 13.6 ha.
on appointmentCold cuts
Green pudding, white pudding and black pudding.
- Amay beanie (Bonèt d'Ama in Liège Walloon) – Pork stomach stuffed with offal from the animal and unpitted prunes.
- Cork sausage – If the invention of black pudding is not the prerogative of the city of Liège or even its region, it is the recipes, especially for the white, green and black puddings that are original.
- White sausage (blank tripe in Liège Walloon) – Mixture consisting of 2/3 lean pork and 1/3 fatty pork, onions, eggs, breadcrumbs, milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, thyme, parsley and, above all, marjoram.
- Green sausage (vete tripe in Liège Walloon) – Born in medieval times on the borders of the former Principality of Liège and the Duchy of Brabant, it consists of 6/9e absolutely bloodless pork, 1/9e green cabbage and 2/9e of kale.
- Black pudding (neur tripe in Liège Walloon) – Mixture identical to white pudding to which is added whipped pork blood.
- Lev'gos (“Flavor enhancer” in Liège Walloon (literally “taste enhancer”)) – Originally from the town of Olne in the "Pays de Herve "Is a blood sausage prepared with the head and offal of the pig (liver, heart and double fat), rinds, onions, bay leaf, carrot, a little fine sugar, crumb of bread, currants and baked for a quarter of an hour.
Desserts, cookies, sweets
Gosette with cherries.
Two lacquemants.
Rice pie and tarts.
Liège violets.
- Kiss from Malmedy – A kiss consists of two pieces of meringue pastry, sealed with whipped cream or buttercream. This confectionery was created in the middle of XIXe century by Rodolphe Wiertz, pastry chef at the Hôtel International de Spa then buyer of his father-in-law's pastry shop at Malmedy.
- Fellow (cougnou) – Brioche bread whose shape recalls that of the swaddled baby Jesus. Pearl sugar, raisins or chocolate chips are inserted into the dough before baking. It is inseparable from the treats offered to children during the feast of Saint Nicholas or those placed under the Christmas tree.
- Bouquette (vôte in Liège Walloon) – Buckwheat flour crepe (farene di boûkète in Walloon Liège) frequently decorated with raisins. It can be eaten plain or topped either with vergeoise (called “brown sugar” in Belgium) or with Cork syrup.
- Liège coffee – Cold dessert made with lightly sweetened coffee, coffee flavored ice cream and whipped cream. A variant is to replace the coffee with chocolate, the dessert then takes the name of "Liège chocolate". Contrary to what its name might suggest, Liège coffee is not a Liège specialty but a tribute, given by the Parisians to the Liège resistance in 1914.
- Verviers cake (mitcho in Liège Walloon) – Yeast dough rich in butter and eggs and pearl sugar. it is made with slivered almonds and sometimes with macaroons (the Verviers people love macaroons).
- Waffle De Liege (gauff ‘au suc with the Liège accent or wafe or pebble in Walloon) – Yeast-fermented dough with cinnamon, like a hunting waffle, but with pearl sugar. Traditionally, it has no corners and is made on a 24-hollow mold. It is eaten hot when it is served in itinerant shops.
- Gosette – Semi-circular pastry made from pie dough (and not puff pastry like the turnover) containing a filling of apples, pears, cherries, plums, rhubarb or apricots. It takes its name from the gozå from which it derives.
- Gozå – Apple and currant pie spiced with cinnamon. This pie is covered with a layer of golden dough with beaten egg.
- Lacquemant – Thin wafer, made from wheat, cut in half across its thickness, filled and topped with candy sugar syrup flavored with orange blossom. Eating them hot or cold and who can take the last - the one dipping in the syrup - is always a topic of discussion that unleashes passions.
- Cooked marzipan – Small cake made from blanched and finely ground almonds, mixed with egg white and sugar (half as much as for raw marzipan), molded into a shape and cooked over low heat. Consumed all year round, it is inseparable from the treats offered to children during the feast of Saint-Nicolas.
- Cooked pear (cûtè peûre in Liège Walloon) – Whole pear cooked in an oven 180 ° C during 90 min with, in general, Cork syrup, cinnamon, brown sugar and water and is best enjoyed lukewarm. Traditionally, these are Saint-Remy from the name of a village of "Pays de Herve ". Until the end of the sixties, women merchants walked the streets to sell them. Currently, they can only be found in restaurants serving traditional Liège cuisine.
- Rombosse (råbosse in Liège Walloon) – Whole apple (traditionally a Belle of Boskoop) peeled, stripped of its core and the side of the tail of which has been leveled in order to obtain a stable base. The apple is then covered with butter and the hollowed out part of the apple filled with vergeoise (“brown sugar” in Belgium) and a stick of cinnamon. The fruit thus prepared is then entirely covered with a leavened dough and golden with beaten egg before being baked in the oven.
- Rice pie (blank dorêye ("White tart") in Liège Walloon) – Rolled out into a yeast dough filled with rice pudding mixed with egg and baked at high temperature. It is sometimes sprinkled with icing sugar (“impalpable sugar” in Belgium). Traditionally, it must be made with raw milk and not be stored in the refrigerator in order to remain as soft as you want, which is the case with the best bakers whose production is calculated to be sold on the same day. Cork and Verviers argue over the authorship of his invention but the only thing that is certain is that Lancelot de Casteau, the cook of the prince bishops at XVIe century, already knew the recipe.
- Plum pie (neur dorêye ("Black tart") in Liège Walloon) – Yeast dough garnished with black currants or prunes, but originally they were taped pears.
- Caution (yours in Liège Walloon) – Round and flat pastry from 25 to 40 cm in diameter for a thickness of 2 cm. The precaution is made up of several layers of yeast dough, butter and a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. It is, before tasting, sprinkled with icing sugar.
- Liège violet – Hard and round candy to suck with a diameter of approximately 2.5 cm, about 1 cm thick and weighing around 5 g. It represents the five petals of the violet and is covered with a very thin film of icing sugar. Invented in 1885 by a baker and confectioner from Herstal, Hubert Gillard, it is still handcrafted and only with organic materials, according to the original recipe by the company Gicopa de Sprimont.
Cheese
If the brand (makeye in Walloon), a white cheese, has always been produced in the region, it was at the end of the High Middle Ages that the farmers of the Principality of Liège and the Duchy of Limbourg, and more especially those of "Pays de Herve "And Haute Ardenne, began to ferment it, and therefore to make cheese, so that they could keep their excess milk production until the start of winter. The most famous of the region's cheeses, “Herve”, was produced initially by monks who trod the cheese with their feet and, in 1250, Guillaume de Lorris spoke of it in his Roman de la Rose like cheese « crass and healthy ». From the XVIe century, and until XVIIIe century, this cheese will also serve as a currency of exchange not only in the Principality of Liège but also throughout the Holy Roman Empire.
- Cheeses from our region – List of cheeses made in the province of Liège.
One Bouquet of the Monks.
One Liège square.
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One Remoudou.
One Little Lathuy.
| Last name | Milk | Producer | Commune | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monks Blue | cow | Herve Company | Aubel (Val-Dieu Abbey) | Blue cheese with a bloomy rind made from pasteurized milk. |
| Boû d'Fagne | cow | Herve Company | Herve | Soft, washed rind cheese made from pasteurized milk. |
| Bouquet of the Monks | cow | Herve Company | Aubel (Val-Dieu Abbey) | Soft cheese with a bloomy rind made from pasteurized milk. |
| Liège square | cow | Camal cheese factory | Beyne-Heusay | A soft, ripened cheese with a white blooming rind made from pasteurized milk. |
| Snack | cow | Herve Company | Aubel (Val-Dieu Abbey) | Semi-hard cheese with a natural rind. |
| Monks delight | cow | Herve Company | Aubel (Val-Dieu Abbey) | With pasteurized milk, soft cheese and mixed rind. |
| Doré de Lathuy | cow | Biofarm | Ferrières |  Organic artisanal cheese made from raw milk with a soft paste and washed rind. |
| Herve | cow | 2 dairies, 4 farmers | Herve and Beyne-Heusay | PDO. Soft cheese with a washed rind. If it is washed with salt, it becomes pungent; if it is washed with milk, it remains soft. It can be made with pasteurized milk (Herve de laiterie) or raw milk (Herve fermier). The first writings on Herve cheese date back to XIIIe century and the bacteria involved are Brevibacterium linens. |
| Delicious | cow | Herve Company | Herve | With soft pasteurized milk and beer washed rind. There is also a variety derived from this cheese which is ’Exquisite Peket and which, during its ripening, is soaked in a bath of juniper berries. |
| Made | cow | dairy and farmers | all | Fresh cheese, the result of the coagulation of buttermilk, after the cream has been transformed into butter by beating using a stick fitted at its end with a sledgehammer (the maket) and whose curd is drained in wicker baskets (and not in a cloth) which gives it its typical taste. The maque is eaten salty or sweet according to taste. Sometimes it is mixed with Cork syrup (stron d'poye) and spread. |
| Malmedy | cow | Grodent Farm | Malmedy | Organic artisanal soft cheese with a washed rind. |
| Little Lathuy | cow | Biofarm | Ferrières | Organic soft cheese with a bloomy rind made with raw milk. |
| Pti Fagnou beer and syrup | cow | Troufleur cheese dairy | Waimes | Semi-hard semi-hard Haute-Ardenne raw milk cheese matured with Malmedy dark beer and Cork syrup. |
| Remoudou | cow | 2 dairies, 4 farmers | Herve and Beyne-Heusay | PDO. It is a richer and creamier variant of Herve cheese. Its name comes from the fact that for its manufacture, we use the milk that remains in the udder of the cow a quarter of an hour after ordinary milking (from Walloon rimoutt which means "withdraw" and rimoude which is the product of this retreat). Formerly, it served as a gift to influential people and appears in the annals of fairs of Leipzig and of Frankfurt since the XVIIe century. |
| Sarté | cow | Thorez farm | Sart-lez-Spa | |
| Sottai hole | cow | Herve Company | Pepinster | Soft cheese and mixed rind. In the “Pays de Herve”, a silly is a goblin, an elf. |
| Old cork | cow | Vielsam organic cheese dairy | Vielsam | Organic hard cheese. |
| Old System | cow | Dairy of the Country of Malmedy-Vielsam | Malmedy | Pressed dough cooked and aged in the cellar. |
Fruits and vegetables
A kale on the stalk.
La Hesbaye and the "Pays de Herve Are producers of apples and pears. The strawberry is also produced in Hesbaye but the varieties of local origin, moreover excellent and deliciously scented, that are the Merveilleuse de Vottem and the Noire de Milmort cultivated, in the ancestral way, organically can hardly be found except directly at the producer, a few shops or at the chance of a stroll on a producer stall installed at the edge of a road.
On the vegetable side, kale (Brassica oleracea var. sabellica) is consumed more than anywhere else. It is most often eaten in a pot mixed with potatoes and accompanied by slices of bacon or sausages. A popular tradition has it that it is eaten on Shrove Tuesday for, as this tradition dictates, "Not to be eaten by flies in summer". Another tradition is that it is better if it has frozen on its feet first. It is also part of the composition of the green pudding from Liège.
Spread
- Cork syrup – Molasses from the cooking and reduction of apple and / or pear juice. It is used as a spread to accompany the Herve cheese or the made up (to then form what is colloquially called the stron d'poye, “Chicken manure” in Liège Walloon) or simply spread on a cap. It is also used in the composition of many traditional culinary recipes such as meatball with rabbit sauce, the cork rabbit where the cûtès peûres. If, from XVIIe century, the farmers of the “Pays de Herve” produced artisanal spreadable syrup from the fruits of their orchards, it was in 1902 that the first industrial syrup factory was installed. Currently, there are five of them making it in a more or less artisanal way.
Mixed dishes
A Russian salad from Malmedy.
- New Year's Sauerkraut – If the recipe, in itself, has nothing local, it is the tradition, more and more followed, of its consumption which is particular to the Liège region. You have to eat it on New Year's Day and place a piece under the plate. This symbol which is supposed to bring prosperity throughout the year will be respected even in all restaurants where the restaurateur has taken care to place a piece under the plate himself.
- Matoufet – Traditional dish dating from XVIe century, it is made up of milk (or half-water and half-milk), eggs, flour and pan-roasted bacon. The cooking is very variable: it is eaten in porridge on a slice of bread or as a kind of omelet or even a pancake. Each is made from Malmedy a giant matoufet made in a pan 4 meters in diameter and comprising at least 10,000 eggs.
- Liège salad – Salad made with beans (preferably butter), firm-fleshed potatoes and lightly fried diced bacon deglazed with vinegar which is eaten warm. It is sufficient on its own but can be accompanied by a slice of bacon or a sausage. TO Corkon the left bank, it will be garnished with a drizzle of crème fraîche and, on the right bank, baby onions. If the elements are reheated or prepared with a variety of crumbly-fleshed potato, the salad then bears the name of “Liège stew”.
- Russian salad – Native Malmedy, this salad is made up of such heterogeneous ingredients that it took the name of Russian salad. Among other things, pickled herring, boiled pork, potatoes, beetroot (hence the general color of the dish), other vegetables, apples; all mixed with mayonnaise. It originates from the Cwarmê (Malmedy carnival) during which it is consumed excessively.
Fish and shellfish
- Crayfish in Liège – Must be based on native crayfish (red-footed crayfish or white-footed crayfish). They are simmered with juniper berries, Ardennes ham and Moselle white wine.
- Fish sausage – Created at XVIe century by Lancelot de Casteau, the master chef of three successive prince-bishops of Liège, it consists of 1/3 smoked salmon flesh and 2/3 carp flesh mixed with egg yolk, salt, pepper and cinnamon, all inserted into a pork casing. A variant is not to make sausages but balls.
Meats
Plate of boules à la Liègeoise.
- Boulet (cannonball in rabbit sauce, hunter ball) – Large meatball prepared with minced pork and beef, egg, bread crumbs soaked in milk, shallots and parsley all seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg. First roasted in the oven in a buttered drip pan, it is then immersed in a special sweet and sour sauce based on onions, vinegar, brown sugar, Cork syrup, cloves, juniper berries, currants and bay leaves. Traditionally served in pairs, they are accompanied by fries (we then speak of “boulets-frites”), salad with mayonnaise or applesauce and, of course, accompanied by a glass of beer. If the ball was invented by the tanners of Liège in XIIIe century, the "rabbit sauce" dates from the end of the XIXe century and owes its name to its creator Geraldine Lapin. A real institution in Liège brasseries and chip shops, this dish is nevertheless known and served throughout Belgium.
- Liege-style rabbit – Rabbit stew marinated in vinegar, seared in butter and then simmered in the marinade with the addition of coarsely chopped onions, mustard, currants and / or dried prunes, bay leaves and Cork syrup. Until the Second World War, the rabbit was a festive dish in the Liège region and more especially for Christmas. Malheureusement, dans les familles, il a été remplacé par la dinde et autres produits plus ou moins de luxe.
- Ragoût de bœuf à la liégeoise (Carbonnade à la liégeoise) – Viande de bœuf à braiser mijotée avec de l'oignon, des carottes, du sirop de Liège et du vin rouge (de préférence du vin de Bourgogne).
- Rognon de veau à la liégeoise – Dégorgé à l'eau vinaigrée puis poêlé au beurre avec des baies de genévrier et flambé au peket.
Volailles
- Cailles à la liégeoise – Cailles cuites doucement dans du beurre et à l'étouffée puis assaisonnées, en fin de cuisson, de baies de genévrier moulues. La sauce est déglacée au peket. Traditionnellement, elles se mangent accompagnées d'une compote de pomme.
- Oie à l'instar de Visé – Jeune oie de l'année cuite dans un bouillon de légumes qui sert ensuite de fond pour une sauce à l’ail, puis la découpant, en panant les morceaux de cuisse qui vont être poêlés comme les morceaux de poitrine, juste avant d’être dressés et servis avec la sauce. Cette recette est typique de la ville de Visé qui est réputée pour l'élevage de ce volatile. Elle daterait du XVIe siècle mais son créateur reste inconnu.
