A waffle is a dish made from usually Leavening agent batter or dough that is cooked between two plates that are patterned to give a characteristic size, shape, and surface impression. There are many variations based on the type of waffle iron and recipe used. Waffles are eaten throughout the world, particularly in Belgium, which has over a dozen regional varieties.[ "Les Gaufres Belges" . Gaufresbelges.com. Retrieved on 2013-04-07.] Waffles may be made fresh or simply heated after having been commercially baked and packaged fresh or frozen.
Etymology
The word
waffle first appears in the English language in 1725: "Waffles. Take flower, cream...."
It is directly derived from the
Dutch language wafel, which itself derives from the
Middle Dutch wafele.
[ "Waffle" , The Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary]
While the Middle Dutch wafele is first attested to at the end of the 13th century, it is preceded by the French walfre in 1185. Both are from the Frankish word wafla ("honeycomb" or "cake").
Other spellings throughout modern and medieval Europe include waffe, wafre, wafer, wâfel, waufre, iauffe, gaufre, goffre, gauffre, wafe, waffel, wåfe, wāfel, wafe, vaffel, and våffla.[Gaufre]
History
Medieval origins
In
ancient times, the
Greeks cooked flat cakes, called , between hot metal plates. As they spread throughout medieval
Europe, the cakes—made from a mixture of flour, water or milk, and often eggs—became known as wafers and were also cooked over an open fire between iron plates with long handles.
Waffles are preceded, in the early Middle Ages, around the period of the 9th–10th centuries, with the simultaneous emergence of fer à hosties / hostieijzers (communion wafer irons) and moule à oublies (wafer irons).
[ "Les Moules à Oublies" , Gilles Soubigou, Conservateur du Patrimoine, Monuments Historiques – Lorraine][ "De historie van wafels en wafelijzers" , Nederlands Bakkerijmuseum] While the communion wafer irons typically depicted imagery of Jesus and his crucifixion, the moule à oublies featured more trivial Biblical scenes or simple, emblematic designs.
The format of the iron itself was almost always round and considerably larger than those used for communion.
[, Gourmet Museum and Library, Hermalle-sous-Huy, Belgium]
The oublie was, in its basic form, composed only of grain flour and water—just as the communion wafer was.[Jean Liebault, La maison rustique, 1582, cité dans Raymond Lecoq, Les Objets de la vie domestique. Ustensiles en fer de la cuisine et du foyer des origines au XIX siècle, Berger-Levrault, 1979, p. 180.]
Oublies (which formally received this name ) spread throughout northwestern continental Europe. Their spread eventually led to the formation of the oublieurs guild in 1270.[ "Oublie" , Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales]
14th–16th centuries
In the late 14th century, the first known waffle recipe was penned in an anonymous manuscript, Le Ménagier de Paris, written by a husband as a set of instructions to his young wife.
[ "LE MENAGIER DE PARIS" , Michael Delahoyde, Washington State University] While it technically contains four recipes, all are a variation of the first:
Beat some eggs in a bowl, season with salt and add wine. Toss in some flour, and mix. Then fill, little by little, two irons at a time with as much of the paste as a slice of cheese is large. Then close the iron and cook both sides. If the dough does not detach easily from the iron, coat it first with a piece of cloth that has been soaked in oil or grease.
[ "Gauffres iiii manières" , circa 1392–1394, anonymous author, Paris, B.N.F. fr. 12477, fol. 171 r] The other three variations explain how cheese is to be placed between two layers of batter, grated and mixed into the batter, or left out, along with the eggs.
[ "Gauffres iiii manières " , translation by Janet Hinson, David D. Friedman] However, this was a waffle / gaufre in name only, as the recipe contained no leavening.
Though some have speculated that first appeared in the 13th–14th centuries, it was not until the 15th century that a true physical distinction between the oublie and the waffle began to evolve.[ "Wafelijzer, Brugge, 1430" , Gruuthusemuseum / Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage][ "Gaufrier de Girard le Pâtissier", Un Fer à Gaufres du Quinzieme siècle, H. Henry, Besançon, France]
By the 16th century, paintings by Joachim de Beuckelaer, Pieter Aertsen and Pieter Bruegel clearly depict the modern waffle form.[, Pieter Aertsen, 1567, Stiftung preußischer Kulturbesitz – Staatliche Museen, Berlin] Bruegel's work, in particular, not only shows waffles being cooked, but fine detail of individual waffles. In those instances, the waffle pattern can be counted as a large 12x7 grid, with cleanly squared sides, suggesting the use of a fairly thin batter, akin to contemporary Brussels waffles (Brusselse wafels).[, Pieter Bruegel (the elder), 1569]
The earliest of the 16th century waffle recipes, Om ghode waffellen te backen—from the Dutch KANTL 15 manuscript ()—is only the second-known waffle recipe after the four variants described in Le Ménagier de Paris.[ " Gent KANTL 15, volume 1" , Christianne Muusers (translator), Coquinaria] For the first time, partial measurements were given, sugar was used, and spices were added directly to the batter: Take grated white bread. Take with that the yolk of an egg and a spoonful of pot sugar or powdered sugar. Take with that half water and half wine, and ginger and cinnamon.[ "Om ghode waffellen te backen" , Christianne Muusers (translator), Coquinaria]
Alternately attributed to the 16th and 17th centuries, Groote Wafelen from the Belgian Een Antwerps kookboek was published as the first recipe to use leavening (beer yeast): Take white flour, warm cream, fresh melted butter, yeast, and mix together until the flour is no longer visible. Then add ten or twelve egg yolks. Those who do not want them to be too expensive may also add the egg white and just milk. Put the resulting dough at the fireplace for four hours to let it rise better before baking it.
By the mid-16th century, there were signs of waffles' mounting French popularity. François I, king from 1494 to 1547, who, it was said, les aimait beacoup (loved them a lot), had a set of waffle irons cast in pure silver.
17th–18th centuries
By the 17th century, unsweetened or honey-sweetened waffles and oublies—often made of non-wheat grains—were the type generally accessible to the average citizen.
The wheat-based and particularly the sugar-sweetened varieties, while present throughout Europe, were prohibitively expensive for all but the monarchy and bourgeoisie.
Even for the Dutch, who controlled much of the mid-century sugar trade, a kilogram of sugar was worth half an ounce of silver (the equivalent of ~$7 for a 5 lb. bag, 01/2016 spot silver prices), while, elsewhere in Europe, it fetched twice the price of opium.
[ "The Price of Sugar in the Atlantic, 1550–1787" , Figure I, Klas Rönnbäck, Europ. Rev. Econ. Hist., 2009][ "Recipes | In Season" , July: Rhubarb, Gourmet Magazine, Gourmet Traveller, Adelaide Lucas] Wealthier families' waffles, often known as mestiers, were "
smaller, thinner and above all more delicate, being composed of egg yolks, sugar, and the finest of the finest flour, mixed in white wine" and were served "
like dessert pastry."
By the dawn of the 18th century, expansion of Caribbean plantations had cut sugar prices in half.
Germany became a leader in the development and publication of waffle recipes during the 18th century, introducing coffee waffles, the specific use of Hefeweizen beer yeast, cardamom, nutmeg, and a number of Zuickerwaffeln (sugar waffles).[ "Gaufres" , Les Dons de Comus, T. 3, p. 131, 1758] Joseph Gillier even published the first chocolate waffle recipe, featuring three ounces of chocolate grated and mixed into the batter, before cooking.[ "Gauffre" , Le Cannameliste français, p. 111, 1751.]
A number of 18th century waffle recipes took on names to designate their country or region/city of origin—Schwedische Waffeln, Gauffres à l'Allemande and, most famous of all the 18th century varieties, Gauffres à la Flamande, which were first recorded in 1740.[ "Meert, Depuis 1761" . Meert.fr. Retrieved on 2013-04-07.]
The 18th century is also when the word waffle first appeared in the English language, in a 1725 printing of Court Cookery by Robert Smith.[M.J. Stephey (23 November 2009) "Waffles" , TIME Magazine.]
Liège waffles, the most popular contemporary Belgian waffle variety, are rumored to have been invented during the 18th century, as well, by the chef to the prince-bishop of Liège.[Bart Biesemans (16 July 2011) "Luikse wafel verdringt Brusselse wafel" , De Standaard.][ "Waffles" , visitBelgium.com] However, there are no German, French, Dutch, or Belgian cookbooks that contain references to them in this period – by any name – nor are there any waffle recipes that mention the Liège waffle's distinctive ingredients, brioche-based dough and pearl sugar.[ "The history of the "Gaufre de Liège"" , gofre.eu] It is not until 1814 that Antoine Beauvilliers publishes a recipe in l'Art du Cuisiner where brioche dough is introduced as the base of the waffle and sucre cassé (crushed block sugar) is used as a garnish for the waffles, though not worked into the dough.
19th–21st centuries
Waffles remained widely popular in Europe for the first half of the 19th century, despite the 1806 British Atlantic naval blockade that greatly inflated the price of sugar.
[ "From extreme luxury to everyday commodity" , Sugar in Sweden, 17th to 20th centuries, pp. 8–9, Klas Rönnbäck, Göteborg Papers in Economic History, No. 11. November 2007] This coincided with the commercial production of beet sugar in continental Europe, which, in a matter of decades, had brought the price down to historical lows.
[ "Sweet Diversity: Overseas Trade and Gains from Variety after 1492" , Jonathan Hersh, Hans-Joachim Voth, Real Sugar Prices and Sugar Consumption Per Capita in England, 1600–1850, p.42] Within the transitional period from cane to beet sugar, Florian Dacher formalized a recipe for the Brussels Waffle, the predecessor to American "Belgian" waffles, recording the recipe in 1842/43.
[ "Wafels" , Henk Werk,][ "Jaargang 25 inclusief het boek "Brusselse Wafels"" , Academie voor de Streekgebonden Gastronomie][ "Brusselse Wafels" , Philippe Cauderlier, 1874] Stroopwafels (Dutch syrup wafels), too, rose to prominence in the Netherlands by the middle of the century.
However, by the second half of the 1800s, inexpensive beet sugar became widely available, and a wide range of pastries, candies and chocolates were now accessible to the middle class, as never before; waffles' popularity declined rapidly.
By the early 20th century, waffle recipes became rare in recipe books, and only 29 professional waffle craftsmen, the oublieurs, remained in Paris.[ "OUBLIEUR" , Les métiers d'autrefois, genealogie.com] Waffles were shifting from a predominantly street-vendor-based product to an increasingly homemade product, aided by the 1918 introduction of GE's first electric commercial waffle maker.[ "Marollenwijk smult van Brusselse wafels" , Leen Dewitte, De Standaard, standard.be, maandag 03 maart 2008] Another Belgian introduced Belgian-style waffles to the United States at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, but only really took hold at the 1964 New York World's Fair, when another Belgian entrepreneur introduced his "Bel-Gem" waffles.[ "Bel-Gem Waffles" , Bill Cotter] In practice, contemporary American "Belgian waffles" are actually a hybrid of pre-existing American waffle types and ingredients and some attributes of the Belgian model.
Even as most of the original recipes have faded from use, a number of the 18th and 19th century varieties can still be easily found throughout Northern Europe, where they were first developed.
Varieties
File:Brussels waffle.jpg|alt=Thick, rectangular waffle deeply browned and topped with powdered sugar.|Brussels waffle
File:Nice waffle.jpg|alt=Half-moon shaped waffle with browning on surface|Plain waffle sold at a neighborhood store in Singapore.
File:Essen Waffeln 01 (RaBoe).jpg|alt=Thin waffles rolled into a cylindars|Rolled waffles
File:Waffle cookies.jpg|alt=Thin, round waffles|Waffle cookies made in Belgium and imported to the United States.
File:Galettes campinoises.jpg|alt=Round waffles with irregular edges|Galettes campinoises
File:Waffle with ice cream.jpg|Waffle with ice cream
Brussels
Brussels waffles
[ "Brussels Waffle Recipe" , Adam Wayda, 2016-01-15] are prepared with an egg-white-leavened or yeast-leavened batter, traditionally an ale yeast;
[ "Een nieuwe, royale oud-Belgische hoofdstedelijke wafel?" , faro | tijdschrift over cultureel erfgoed, Belgium (in Dutch), pp 14–21, 03/03/2008] occasionally both types of leavening are used together. They are lighter, crisper and have larger pockets compared to other European waffle varieties, and are easy to differentiate from Liège Waffles by their rectangular sides. In Belgium, most waffles are served warm by street vendors and dusted with confectioner's sugar, though in tourist areas they might be topped with whipped cream, soft fruit or chocolate spread.
Variants of the Brussels waffles – with whipped and folded egg whites cooked in large rectangular forms – date from the 18th century.[ "Om te backen, dicke wafelen" . deswaene.be. Retrieved on 2013-04-07.] Philippe Cauderlier would later publish Dacher's recipe in the 1874 edition of his recipe book "La Pâtisserie et la Confiture". Maximilien Consael, another Ghent chef, had claimed to have invented the waffles in 1839, though there's no written record of him either naming or selling the waffles until his participation in the 1856 Brussels Fair.[Henk Werk (22 February 2012). Wafels . Home.hccnet.nl. Retrieved on 2013-04-07.][Lonely Planet Encounter Guide Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp & Ghent 1st edition, 2008, p. 151] Neither man created the recipe; they simply popularized and formalized an existing recipe as the Brussels waffle.[waffle-recipes.com (1 June 2015). Brusselse Wafels: Dacher's and Consael's Recipes .]
Liège
The Liège waffle
[ "Liège, Adam Wayda, 2014-03-13] is a richer, denser, sweeter, and chewier waffle. Native to the greater Wallonia region of Eastern Belgium – and alternately known as
gaufres de chasse (hunting waffles) – they are an adaptation of brioche bread dough, featuring chunks of
Nib sugar which
caramelization on the outside of the waffle when baked. It is the most common type of waffle available in Belgium and prepared in plain, vanilla and cinnamon varieties by street vendors across the nation. In the United States, they are best known for being sold at ski resorts, mostly in the Northeast, under the Waffle Cabin brand.
Flemish
Flemish waffles, or Gaufres à la Flamande, are a specialty of northern France and portions of western Belgium.
[M. Bounie (2003/2004) La Gaufre Flamande Fourrée , Polytech'Lille-Département IAA, p 6.] The original recipe, published in 1740 by Louis-Auguste de Bourbon in
Le Cuisinier Gascon, is as follows: Take "deux litrons" (1.7 liters or 7 cups) of flour and mix it in a bowl with salt and one ounce of brewer's yeast barm. Moisten it completely with warm milk. Then whisk fifteen egg whites and add that to the mixture, stirring continuously. Incorporate "un livre" (490 grams or 1.1 pounds) of fresh butter, and let the batter rise. Once the batter has risen, take your heated iron, made expressly for these waffles, and wrap some butter in a cloth and rub both sides of the iron with it. When the iron is completely heated, make your waffles, but do so gently for fear of burning them. Cooked, take them out, put them on a platter, and serve them with both sugar and orange blossom water on top.
American
American waffles
vary significantly. Generally denser and thinner than the Belgian waffle, they are often made from a batter leavened with
baking powder, which is sometimes mixed with pecans, chocolate drops or berries and may be round, square, or rectangular in shape. Like American
pancakes they are usually served as a sweet
breakfast food, topped with butter and
maple syrup, bacon, and other fruit
, honey, or powdered sugar. They are also found in many different savory dishes, such as fried chicken and waffles or topped with kidney stew.
They may also be served as desserts, topped with ice cream and various other toppings. A large chain (over 1,900 locations) of waffle specialty
,
Waffle House, is ubiquitous in the southern United States.
Belgian
are based on a simplified version of the Brussels waffle.
Recipes are typically baking soda leavened, though some are yeast-raised.
[http://www.foodnetwork.com/search/search-results.html?searchTerm=belgian+waffle&form=global&_charset_=UTF-8 "Belgian, Food Network] They are distinguished from standard American waffles by their use of 1 ½" depth irons.
[ "Nemco, Nemco] Belgian waffles take their name from the
Bel-Gem brand, which was promoted by waffle vendor Maurice Vermersch, who came from
Brussels, Belgium. The thicker style was also popularized at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Bergische
Bergische waffles, or Waffles from Berg county,
are a specialty of the German region of
Bergisches Land. The waffles are crisp and less dense than Belgian waffles, always heart shaped, and served with cherries, cream and optionally rice pudding as part of the traditional afternoon feast on Sundays in the region.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong style waffle, in
Hong Kong called a "grid cake" or "grid biscuits" (格仔餅), is a waffle usually made and sold by street hawkers and eaten warm on the street.
It is similar to a traditional waffle but larger, round in shape and divided into four quarters. It is usually served as a snack. Butter, peanut butter and sugar are spread on one side of the cooked waffle, and then it is folded into a
semicircle to eat. Eggs, sugar and
evaporated milk are used in the waffle recipes, giving them a sweet flavor. They are generally soft and not dense. Traditional Hong Kong style waffles are full of the flavor of
yolk. Sometimes different flavors, such as
chocolate and honey melon, are used in the recipe and create various colors. Another style of Hong Kong waffle is the
eggette or gai daan jai (鷄蛋仔), which have a ball-shaped pattern.
Pandan
Pandan waffles originate from
Vietnam and are characterized by the use of pandan flavoring and coconut milk in the batter.
The pandan flavoring results in the batter's distinctive
spring green.
When cooked, the waffle browns and crisps on the outside and stays green and chewy on the inside. Unlike most waffles, pandan waffles are typically eaten plain. In Vietnam they are relatively cheap and so are popular among children.
They are a popular
street food made in either
cast iron molds heated with
charcoal or in electric
.
Croffle
Croffle (a compound word of
croissant and waffle) bakes croissant dough in a waffle pan and eaten with ice cream or maple syrup. It is a popular dessert in
South Korea. On the Internet, jokes about "the greatest invention of the Covid-19 Age" spread.
There are various types of croffles that utilize various toppings such as basil, corn, cheese and so on.
It is also popular with people because it is easy to make and eat at home.
The beginning of Croffle is the cafe "Le Petit Parisian" in Dublin, Ireland. According to the Irish newspaper Dublin Gadget (reported on July 20, 2017), Louise Lenox, a baker at the café in Camden Street, Dublin, first created a menu item called Croffle.
Kue gapit
Kue gapit is an Indonesian
kue kering (dry snack) which originates from West Java. Generally made from tapioca flour, its name comes from the cooking process, in which it is grilled between iron molds like a waffle. The snack comes in a variety of shapes and flavors.
Scandinavian
Scandinavian style waffles, common throughout the
Nordic countries, are thin and made in a round waffle iron. The batter is similar to other varieties, but does not contain sugar. The most common style are heart-shaped slices with a sweet topping such as
whipped cream or jam.
-
In Norway, brunost and gomme are also popular toppings. As with crèpes, there are those who prefer a salted style with various mixes, such as blue cheese.
-
In Finland, savory toppings are uncommon; instead jam, sugar, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream are usually used.
-
In Iceland, the traditional topping is either rhubarb or blueberry jam with whipped cream on top. Syrup and chocolate spread are also popular substitutes for the jam.
-
The Sweden tradition dates at least to the 15th century, and there is even a particular day for the purpose, Waffle day (waffle day), which sounds like Vårfrudagen ("Lady Day"), and is therefore used for the purpose. This is March 25 (nine months before Christmas), the Christian holiday of Annunciation.
Gofri
Gofri (singular gofre) are waffles in
Italy and can be found in the
cuisine: they are light and crispy in texture, contain no egg or milk (according to the most ancient recipe)
and come both in sweet and savory versions.
cuisine also features waffle-like cookies, which are locally known as
pizzelle,
ferratelle (in
Abruzzo) or
cancelle (in
Molise).
Stroopwafel
are thin waffles with a
syrup filling, which originated from the
Netherlands city of Gouda. The stiff batter for the waffles is made from
flour,
butter,
brown sugar,
yeast,
milk, and eggs. Medium-sized balls of batter are put on the
waffle iron. When the waffle is baked and while it is still warm, it is cut into two halves. The warm filling made from syrup is spread in between the waffle halves, which glues them together.
[ Stroopwafels. Traditional delicacys. Retrieved on 2008-01-02] They are popular in the Netherlands and
Belgium and sold in pre-prepared packages in shops and markets.
Galettes
Galettes
campine/
Campine galetten are a type of waffle popular in Belgium. They are rigid and crunchy, but are buttery, crumbly and soft in the mouth.
Hotdog
Hotdog waffles (or waffle dogs) are cylindrical waffles with a
hot dog cooked inside them, similar to a
corn dog. It is made with specialized waffle irons with cylindrical hotdog-bun shaped molds.
They originate from Hawaii where it was first served at the KC Drive Inn in 1934, owned by the Japanese American Jiro Asato (who later legally changed his name to KC Jiro Asato). The original version has a distinctive shape, with an oblong middle section (containing the hotdog) surrounded by flattened square edges. It is served plain or with a combination of ketchup, mustard, and pickle relish. Its popularity spread to the continental United States, the Philippines (then an American colony), and throughout the rest of the Pacific Islands.
It has also remained popular as a street food item in the Philippines, where variants can use other savory fillings like ham, bacon, longganisa, tuna, or cheese; as well as sweet fillings like Dioscorea alata, chocolate, or yema custard. The Filipino versions are also more uniformly cylindrical, with a grid pattern, and are usually served on bamboo skewers.
In modern times, it has also gained popularity in Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia, where it is served with ketchup, mayonnaise, or both.
See also
External links
