Flamiche

Cheese, eggs, butter, a description of the culture of my part of the world baked into a tart.

I’m enjoying talking to you about the food and customs in my home country Belgium. Through the research for my recent book “Dark Rye and Honey cake” (Van Wafel tot Koek) about baking traditions in the heart of the Low Countries, I’ve managed to find my way home and finally embraced my own culture. Sometimes, you have to leave behind what is familiar to rediscover and embrace it again.

Today I want to talk to you about one of my absolute favourite savoury bakes of Belgium, the Flamiche. The Flamiche is a large tart made with a pungent local cheese, eggs, butter and a generous amount of black pepper. It is the proud recipe of the citadel town Dinant in the French-speaking region of Wallonia in Belgium.

The town is one of the most beautiful in the region, with its towering citadel and onion-shaped cathedral tower by the river Meuse. Like many places that are that old, the town is steeped in history and legend. Today, the once busy market town is rather sleepy, as many towns in the region of Wallonia are. Before the destruction of two World Wars and the crash of the steel and glass industry in Wallonia, it was the wealthiest region of Belgium.

When I was a little girl, we went on a field trip to Dinant with school. I can still remember the day vividly. We arrived by bus on the right bank of the Meuse and were greeted by the perfect postcard view of the row of coloured of houses, the cathedral and the imposing rock formation that is the home of the Citadel. For a child, this felt like going abroad, the language was different to mine, the houses, and the cathedral’s distinctive shape was very different to the cathedral of my home town Antwerp and any other Flemish town.

We visited the Citadel, going up by the mini funicular and the caves nearby. It was a hot day and I remember being thirsty but saving up my allowance money to buy my parents a souvenir from my day. I looked around town carefully to find the perfect gift, but didn’t encounter the incredible savoury tart I’m talking about. In the end, I bought another Dinant treasure, the Couque de Dinant, a rock-hard biscuit embossed with the iconic town view.

Years later, when I was about 18 I returned to Dinant, the town even quieter now, I still didn’t notice the tart. When I finally returned in 2018, when I was in full research mode for my book, I encountered one sign outside of a dilapidated bakery advertising the tart. That is how I found out about this treasure. That day, another hot day, I talked to the baker and got myself a large piece of the even larger tart. These Flamiche tarts only come in one size: massive. It was so hot that day that while the Flamiche hadn’t been reheated, the cheese and butter of the freshly made yet cooled tart started to melt in the craters they left behind while baking. I got to a bench by the river Meuse and took a bite, my tastebuds exploded, what I tasted was the incredible heat of copious amounts of coarsely ground black pepper followed by the pungent flavour of the local cheese used. My hands were dripping with the melted butter oozing out of the tart, I bit the crisp plain bread dough crust and licked my hand and decided there and then that this tart should be in the top 10 of best things I’ve ever eaten.

You’d think that the town would be full of signs and eating outlets advertising Flamiche, but sadly if you don’t know that it exists, you will never find out by a visit to Dinant. The tart is invisible, only known to locals. Now that the bakery I first visited in 2018 has closed, it is only sold “by special order” in the other bakeries. The Flamiche baker who took over the Flamiche monopoly in town has now also left the city centre, its main bakery now a 10-minute drive out of the town centre, up the hill, no way possible by foot. I think they are forgetting that their Flamiche could be an extra incentive for people to visit the town, a more fitting alternative to the many chips and pizzas on offer which can be found in any town. Culinary travel is not to be underestimated.

There is one weekend though that the Flamiche can be eaten all over town; that is this weekend, the last weekend of the summer break. There will be a Flamiche eating competition by the church, and this year the Rue du collège will be renamed "Rue de la Flamiche" it will link the Meuse side and the city centre with a giant table so that everyone can taste the famous yet on other days completely invisible Dinant dish.

If you are ever in Belgium, or you are Belgian and you’ve never been to Dinant and tasted its Flamiche I can only suggest you make it yourself following the recipe in my book taught to me by a Dinantaise baker or travel to Dinant by car to visit the bakery Defossez outside of the town centre, remember to ring or email ahead to order (in French).

While the real taste of the Flamiche can only be experienced with the pungent local cheese it is traditionally made with, it is also very good with an aged gouda or a strong cheddar. You need a cheese you can crumble up a bit.

Lastly, I want to thank you for reading and for supporting my work by buying my books. It is only when you lovely people buy my books that I can continue to write them. I understand though that not everyone can splurge on every new cookbook coming out so while I love local independent book stores I also want to mention that Amazon UK has been doing a MASSIVE discount on a book set with my 3 main books: Pride and Pudding - Oats in the North, Wheat from the South and Dark Rye and Honey cake. For these 3 books the price is currently 32£ in the set (see it here), that is just over 10£ for one book! If you already own one of my books or two, consider getting the set for your missing one and gifting the other away at Christmas! It is always good to start shopping for Christmas gifts early!

xx Regula

Dark Rye and Honey cake was published in English by Murdoch Books, in America by Weldon Owen and in Dutch by Carrera.

In America contact Omnivore Books, Booklarder and Now Serving LA for signed copies, in Belgium signed copies can be found (as long as stocks last) by Standaard Boekhandel online, De Stad Leest, Luddites books & wine.