Good things take time...!

Caren!!!

How was your weekend ? ; )
I told you I would probably tell you about my weekend today, and in a way I will accomplish that ; )

As you know, I was at Rock Werchter, a 4 day rock festival in the middle of the province of Vlaams Brabant. Four days per year, this area in one of the most calm regions of Flanders and Belgium, where the grass is green and the cows do not watch trains pass by... four days per year this area turns into one of the most famous open air festivals in the world ; ) It used to be called Torhout/Werchter (or TW for short) when it was still split of two locations, but a few years ago Torhout site was shut down, and only Werchter is left... This was a sad thay in Belgian festival history... ( and now, there is actually talks about moving it away from Werchter, to be able to expand it ... that will be another, sadder day in festival history... )

Buuuuut that is not at all what I wanted to talk to you about ; )
Festivals are moments we really go crazy ; )
Maybe it is because of the sun cooking our brains,
or it could be the atmosphere of 80 thousand people dancing to the same music you are,
or it could be the effect of not enough sleep or hygiene and too much junk food for a long time,
but a festival is one of those things you have to experience to imagine... ; ) So next time you have the chance, attend one! (anyone, not just Belgian festivals ; )

BUT that is also not what I wanted to talk to you about!!! ; )
I wanted to talk to you about good things, and how good things in our country take a looot of time ; )
(and I am not talking about our current world record government formation, because nobody can guarantee if it will be any good, no matter how long it takes ; )
We have some habits that stuck with us since the times of the Bourgondish rule over large parts of our country (somewhere between 1385 -1506)... Among many things, these where known for appreciation of food and food culture in general. We take from that culture the appreciation of talking during meals, and having talks extend the meals and the meals extending the talks... Lunch can take up various hours of our day, if the occasion is such... ; )
And at the same time, preparation of food can take a looooong time ; ) As meat is not always as tender as we might like it, but meat is still not to be wasted, simmering of meat became very popular in our country. For some reason, we tend to simmer meat in a particular way in our country, which is not familiar in spicing  to other ways I have encountered up till now...

This dish, called "Stoofvlees" (quite literally simmered meat), has to be made with what we normally would consider lesser quality meat; meat with a lot of chewy bits in it. For normal preparations, this meat is unsuitable as chewing it takes as long as... ; ) We take the chewy meat, and cut it into cubes of about 2 cm sides, and shrivel them in boiling butter, to keep in the fluids. In the meantime, a base of onions is getting golden together with garlic, thyme, clove and laurel. Especially the laurel is a critical ingredient.

A nice beer should be added to the meat/onions, and depending on taste, people often add some syrup (apple/pear) to it, to soften the taste. Another crucial part is adding sliced brown bread, with mustard.

This dish, even though made with lesser quality meat, is one of the most tasty dishes we have. It takes a few hours to prepare ( like 4 to 6, depending on the meat), but it is certainly worth the wait!!! ; )

And we go completely crazy if we combine it with fries and mayonaise ; ) It may look a little strange, but this sight makes our mouths water ; )

One day, when you visit Belgium again, we'll prepare this for you to taste ; )

Big big hug!

till soon!

Jan