Wait, is that a Belgian waffle?
Let’s find out!
This is our second entry in the mini-series called ‘wait, is that Belgian?’ where we look at foods and see if they are, in fact, Belgian as was we work our way to the first instalment of seasonal Belgian baking recipes coming out later in late Summer-early Fall.
Right, waffles! Whenever you hear ‘Belgium’, waffles might just come to mind. They seem to be one of the foods people associate most with Belgium, that and chocolate. And maybe fries too.
Maybe not surprisingly no-one ever goes, ‘yeah I know Belgian food! Chicory wrapped in ham covered in bechamel sauce and cooked in the oven, it’s served with mashed potatoes that are also put in the oven so the top goes all crispy.’ ‘Pancakes for dinner!’ or ‘blood pudding with baked apples’ or ‘carrot-potato mash with those rolled-up sausages’ or ‘kale-potato mash with smoked sausage’ .1
But what exactly is a Belgian waffle? Are they actually Belgian? And is there just one kind of Belgian waffle? Let’s find out!
Baking waffles goes back to at least the Middle Ages2 in the Low Countries. Any Belgian person will have seen photos in history class of paintings by Pieter Brueghel, or even went to see the real deal somewhere, depicting scenes of people using waffle irons and making waffles on an open fire.
Waffles were made using various recipes including ones made with beer as the raising agent.
So what about that Belgian waffle?
We can start off by saying what people call a Belgian waffle these days, that’s a waffle made from a batter made with baking powder or baking soda, would be called a ‘minute’ waffle3 in Belgium. They’re made at home as an afternoon treat.
But that baking powder-made waffle is not how they started out. The Belgian waffle was originally a Brussels waffle made from a batter with yeast. At least, it was when it was introduced to the US in 19624 by a Belgian man called Cleyman, and his family, at the Seattle World Fair. He still called his waffles ‘Brussels waffles’ and reportedly sold more than half a million of them.
Two years later, in 1964, the Belgian Vermersch family brought Brussels waffles to the US made using their family recipe5. This time at the New York Fair in Queens. While at the fair, the family decided to rebrand their waffles from ‘Brussels’ to ‘Bel-Gem’, a play on ‘Belgian’. They were extremely populair and according to an interview with the daughter, people would beg them to be able to buy one more waffle at closing time. 6
The family ended staying in the US with the father continuing to sell their Belgian waffles at fairs7 and their daughter also making them in her restaurant.
How the recipe evolved from the original light, airy and crispy waffle to the more standard waffle with baking powder isn’t quite clear.8
So the original Belgian waffle is actually a Brussels waffle. Those are also the iconic ones you can still buy today from stalls in Brussels and are served with lots of different toppings like whipped cream, fruit, chocolate sauce…
Only, even there many of the waffles sold on the touristy stalls in Brussels aren’t actual Brussels waffles. A lot of these waffles aren’t made according to the original yeast-based recipe.
A yeast-based batter is a challenge in a fast-paced tourist environment so the sellers choose alternatives that can keep up with the fluctuating demands of their business.
The stalls like in the photo above are really there for tourists. Sure, Belgian tourists might buy a waffle from one of the stalls too when visiting the capital, just because, but they’re not quite the real deal.
You can tell the difference by looking at the waffle, a real Brussels waffle is a perfect rectangle and has sharp edges. The more common touristy one has a more irregular shape and soft edges.
If you do want to try a more authentic waffle in Brussels, look for a stall where you can see the person making the waffle themselves using a batter.
The place to be sure you’re eating an authentic crispy and light Brussels waffle would be in an ice cream parlour or tea room. The choice of toppings is the same as the ones you’d get at a touristy stall in Brussels, often ice cream too. The plainest option would a waffle simply dusted with powdered sugar.
Another way people will eat Brussels waffles is in a wafelenbak ‘waffle bake’ basically just baking a whole bunch of waffles for a celebration, most famously depicted in Nero comic books where one of the characters would bake an absolutely towering stack of waffles at the end of every book in celebration of a happy end to the story.
Who invented the Brussels waffle or where it happened is contested, several people claimed to have invented the Brussels waffle. It’s often attributed to Mr. Cleyman, of Seatle World Fair fame, but he just baked the waffles at the Belgian World Fair of 1958, the Brussels waffle had existed for quite a while by then.
While the Brussels waffle is one for eating sitting down, one waffle people do traditionally eat on the go is the warm Liège waffle, named after the city of Liège. These are heavier, sticky waffles. You can eat them hot or cold but they are so rich, they are eaten as is. No toppings on these!
The only addition you’ll find is crunchy bits of pearl sugar. You can get these in most supermarket as well, they’re smaller than the Liège waffles sold hot at markets and fairs and come in plain, one half covered in a thin layer of chocolate or with pearl sugar too.
Lastly, smaller waffles you eat with a cup of coffee.
These are usually called ‘galetten’. They can be thin and crispy, also called Parisienne, or a bit thicker and crunchy called ‘boterwafel’ ie. butter waffle. 9
There are also galetten which are more wafer like, those you don’t eat with a cup of coffee but you can find them in an ice cream parlour.
You can ask for ‘in een galette’ and they’ll scoop your ice cream between two of these thin waffles. An absolute challenge to eat, though. Oh and these are also mini waffles that go on top of your ice cream if you eat it in the parlour rather than have it to-go.
In the ‘to go with coffee’ category we’ve also got the ‘bewaarwafel’, a waffle that will keep for a while. They’re made from a dough rather than a batter, they’re small and often made at home or sold for school/youth group fundraisers. Supermarkets also sell them, you can choose from either plain ones or with one half covered in chocolate.
Oh and filled waffles too. There are waffles shaped very similarly to the Brussels waffle but they’re made from a dough and have either an apricot or a cherry filling which is actually baked inside the waffle rather than added on top or cut open to fill. The dough is rolled out, filling scooped on top, dough closed and baked in a waffle iron.
There are also stroopwafels, which are thin, crispy waffles cut in half length-wise and filled with stroop, a sugary and silky caramel, but those are originally from the Netherlands.
Of all these, the small butter waffle is probably the one you’ll most likely find in a Belgian bakery. The other you’ll find at fairs, markets, in tearooms, ice cream parlours, supermarkets and people’s homes.
Some tips + seasonal recipe bundle
We’ll have at least one waffle recipe in the seasonal recipe bundle but a, ha, hot tip for now when making waffles is to let your waffle iron get as hot as it will go before adding the batter. One step to a truly crispy waffle.
Plus, if you’re shopping for a new waffle maker, find one that rotates. Not important for dough-based waffles but key if you’re making waffles with a batter.
There are some debates as to the number of wells a waffle, and therefore the iron used, should have to count as a Brussels or Liège waffle too as well as the depth of the wells. Some say only a certain ratio of wells in a waffle should be allowed to be called a Brussels waffle but machines with both a 3 by 5 and 4 by 6 well ratio are the most commonly available professional waffle irons.
If you’d like to read the first instalment in the ‘Wait, is that Belgian?’ series or the article sharing a few examples of Belgian baking, do do take a look at these two articles below.
That’s it for now! We are almost ready for the seasonal recipe bundle! If you happen to have any requests for things I should feature, do let me know!
Update! The Fall recipe bundle is out now and includes a recipe for Brussels waffles. Check it out here👇
Technically that last one’s from the Netherlands but it’s really yummy. I can recommend Polish smoked sausage as a replacement there.
Paintings and more history here, in Dutch so use right-click to translate https://eetverleden.nl/bierwafels/ and here https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_far002200801_01/_far002200801_01_0004.php
Because they’re ready in a minute.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/newsday-his-waffles-made-memories-at-the/148173515/
This one ironically does give the wrong recipe, there’s no yeast.
Photos of the stand and people eating the ‘Bel-Gem’ waffles. Another photo. More photos of the Belgian village and waffle stands.
An article from a newspaper from 1965 telling us the reader to try a ‘Belgium’ waffle at the fair. For the record, it’s Belgian, not ‘Belgium’. The same way it’s English breakfast or American football and not England breakfast or America football. Either way, the journalist wants us to try one.
More newspaper references here, here, here, here and here where the writer mentions gaudres rather than gaufres, French for waffle.
There is also a suggestion on Wikipedia about Leonidas Kestekidès, of Leonidas chocolates fame, having exhibited Belgian chocolates and Brussels waffles in St Louis at the World Fair there in 1904. I wasn’t able to find any information to verify this so didn’t include it. The official Leonidas website doesn’t mention him taking part in any world fairs or having Belgian connections until 1910.
Another source of waffles becoming known in the US was much earlier than the 1962 world fair. Dutch colonizers on the Mayfair are also credited with bringing the concept of waffle baking with them. This is reportedly how waffles made their way into soul food but there are no links to them being called Belgian waffles that I could find until 1962-64. The fair in 1962 is a bit dubious because while newspapers mention the Brussels waffle being sold and there are photos of the stand that says they sell ‘gaufres de Bruxelles’ the lettering in English advertises ‘Belgian waffle house’ and ‘Belgian waffles’ . This photo only shows the French lettering. There are also waffles in Pennsylvania Dutch cooking but I’ll leave that to soul food and Pennsylvania Dutch food experts to write about.
https://www.wnyc.org/story/when-belgian-waffles-came-america/
https://www.syracuse.com/food/2014/08/how_the_new_york_state_fair_introduced_america_to_the_belgian_waffle.html
This recipe from 1985 still includes yeast and this ad from 1975 shows off the iron’s deep pockets and tells us Belgian waffles are twice as thick as an American waffle. There is also a whole story about how Mr. Cleyman sold equipment and a franchise license to a man in Seattle and someone in Texas buying equipment and an apparently authentic recipe from a man in San Francisco. Sadly I wasn’t able to dig into that but this might just be where things started to change.
People will also call the thin ones butter waffles and the thicker ones Parisienne, names for different food items can vary a lot in Belgium depending on where in the country you are and who you ask.
Oh my Sarah, I am giddy from reading what waffle is what, but thank you for the explanations. 🧇
What a fascinating read Sarah, who knew there were so many variations of the Belgian (or Brussels) waffle?
When we lived in The Netherlands stroopwafels were eaten all the time, probably similar to a digestive biscuit in the UK.