Waffles

She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed fumbled our ancient and venerable Belgian waffle maker onto the floor earlier this week. The impact broke it in half. The hinge cracked and the only parts holding top and bottom together were the wires. It probably wouldn't have been safe to use it.

Naturally, I was not informed of this at the time. But since I'm the breakfast guy here in Castle CycleDog, responsible for pancakes, waffles, crepes, French toast and a variety of eggs, a new waffle iron was definitely needed. Mother and daughter went off on a shopping expedition to track down another one.

The old one was a round model from Black and Decker. They market it as a Belgian waffle maker, but it's so difficult to find real Belgians here in Oklahoma. All I can find are the cheap, imported ones from Mexico or Singapore. I've been reading about 'real' Belgian waffles, though, and I found that what we regard as breakfast food is more a snack over there.

First, Belgian waffles are largely divided into two types: Liege waffles and Brussels waffles. Both use yeast rather than baking powder to raise the batter. Liege waffles (according to one of the foodies) are heavier and dough-like, and they include some pearl sugar just before cooking that carmelizes on the surface. Sounds yummy.

And yes, it's that Liege. The same as Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Hard men. The Koppenberg. Hell of the North. It's the season for all that, with high winds, slimy cobblestones, incredibly steep hills, and the Spring Classics. The big tours may offer the planning, strategy, and tactics of a military campaign, but the Classics are a rowdy bar fight.

But let's get back to waffles. This new iron seems to run hotter than the old one as the waffles are coming out much crispier. I like that. Number One Daughter opined that they'll go better with ice cream, though in truth, everything is better with ice cream as far as she's concerned. Besides, she won't be the one making the waffles.

The only thing that bothers me is that waffle batter takes a lot of cooking oil. That's a bunch of calories. One recipe recommended substituting melted butter instead. I tried it once - just once - and I can say that adding a quarter stick of butter improves the batter tremendously. But outside of special occasions, I won't do that again. I'm thinking about substituting olive oil, making a kind of Italian/Belgian waffle.

Tomorrow morning, I'm planning to make crepes with fried apples and whipped cream. Stop by the castle if you're hungry!