Critical about food, food critic, tasting and much more.

 During the years I have been tasting and testing things if they would fit my taste.

Some odd and off things came to pass, and learned a few things for sure.

One of the cuisines I like most, is the Belgium one, for sure.

Not right simple, they seem to give ingredients the time to develop into a great food with real taste.

Slow cooking maybe, these people have great palate, and keep it simple.

Keeping it simple, as in not combining too many tastes and herbs, they can cook for sure.

Their ham is superb, both natural cured as well as their smoked ham.

Their cheeses are out of the world, made by trappists at times, the same that make lovely beer.

Once I bought a Jerommeke or Petit Munster Géromé, good bloody grief that is a cheese one can smell a good mile away.

When I got myself over the smell off it I tasted the cheese, wow.

A mouth-watering experience that even makes me hungry right now, the taste lingers on in your mouth even after a good sip of Trappist beer.

Even my then 7 year old son loved the taste of it!

Strong and harsh maybe in taste, one can taste the rich cream and perfect milk coming from the Vosges.

I wouldn’t eat it again, if not accompanied with a good Belgium Trappist beer, where a monk took all the time to make it as perfect as it can be.

K3

Now whilst the Belgium women may not the most beautiful women in the world (well a few exceptions here and there!), they do however make up for that with the food they make and more!

Flikken Antwerpen

I would fall in love with a woman that cooks like they do.

Their Carbonade flamande is superb, their salads are great, and their dried sausages and hams are like no other.

Do Belgium’s have more time then we do?

Good taste is a bit of a curse for sure, believe me.

Having a good taste, or palate, that develops over the years is great in some aspects.

Not all the time though, as I do taste almost anything wrong and it is hard for me to compliment a chef.

Vegetables, for sure I love them, but I can taste if they use seaweed fertilizer or fish bone meal to them.

And once eaten Heirloom carrots and beetroot, I can’t get used to the “normal” ones again.

I even can taste if peanuts are a bit old, as I do with walnuts or hazelnuts.

So, if anybody puts some cheaper nuts on the table with a beer, I normally take just one handful and feel embarrassed as I want to throw them away.

Or hide them under the carpet once tasted.

Same as when I am cooking myself, I really have to learn to stay away and not add something else, again. . . .

About nuts and all, something I noticed was that nuts seem to be rawer lately, discarded the thought as I thought it was just me.

So I told my wife a year ago not to buy me peanuts any more. And told her that I thought they were rawer lately, she didn’t notice she said.

Now a week ago I found some French peanuts in a sale at a shop

I just had to buy one bag to taste even if they were cheap as dirt.

Being Dutch and all. . .

So tasted them, and they were great, tender, soft almost.

This is a taste I remembered; from the times I loved to eat peanuts, which I almost don’t anymore.

I had the misses’ taste as well, and now she does agree, they are rawer then before.

We got back at the shop, and bought 40 odd packages. . .

Now, peanut butter seems to be dryer lately, containing less oil. No worries, I just add a spoon of sambal and eat that on a sandwich.

But now with the nuts, I got an idea.

Are the nutty companies going green like I do in my chilli blog?

If they do it this way by saving energy serving their nuts rawer,

don’t, as they taste like  . . . . . .

Ok, rant over, I’ll get my coat.

Yours truly,

Bart J. Meijer