Does the waffle tick the right boxes?

Culinary fashions pass, but the waffle has never lost its power
of attraction. This historic Belgian pastry is extremely simple: a mixture of wheat flour, sugar, eggs and milk cooked in a hot iron, giving off a scent of vanilla, even cinnamon or slowly melted butter. But the waffle also gives off a scent
of nostalgia, that of childhood, Christmas markets, fairs, fairgrounds and other festive places where this golden squared pastry is eaten covered with icing sugar or Chantilly cream.

Beyond their potential for regressive pleasure, the real interest of waffles lies above all in their plurality. Sunday eaters are offered a whole variety of recipes, proof of an ever-renewed interest in this speciality. In Liège, Belgium, where we like it soft and sprinkled with pearl sugar, the waffle sticks deliciously to the fingers and its texture is similar to brioche.

In Brussels, where it is traditionally cooked in a version with right angles, crispy and very airy, the starred chef Yves Mattagne (at Gaufres & Waffles) imagined to decorate it with a savory garnish – beef tartare or smoked salmon. In northern France, waffles are flat, oval-shaped and filled in the middle. They are savored at tea time, for example at Maison Méert, which offers them in boxes of six or twelve – with vanilla, speculoos or chicory, among other flavours.

In Paris, in an unknown land, waffles are capable of the best and the worst. The best can be bought on delivery, at Gaufre d’art, a small workshop in which Hervé Hadjadj shapes artisanal waffles in the purest Liège tradition.. The worst is in these snacks which succumb to the fashion of bubble waffles: waffles with spherical bubbles, coming from Hong Kong, which are filled to the point of nausea with industrial sweets.