🧀 Abbey Cheese and Chimay Fondus in Brussels: Our Homemade Secrets

If there is one comforting, gourmet starter deeply rooted in the traditions of the brasseries of our capital, it is that of cheese fondus.

This absolute classic of traditional Belgian 🇧🇪 cuisine, crispy to perfection upon the first bite before releasing a flowing, hot, and intensely aromatic heart, brings joy to young and old gourmets alike.

Yet, under its golden shape of apparent simplicity, true artisanal fondus hide a rigorous technical know-how and a choice of ingredients that honors the monastic heritage of our provinces.

Finding a generous, authentic, and entirely homemade version sometimes feels like a real obstacle course in the midst of the dozens of frozen industrial offers that saturate the city center.

At Big Mama, a warm family-run restaurant established since 2001 on the charming Place de la Vieille Halle aux Blés, we celebrate this culinary heritage with a daily devotion.

Christine and Thierry make it a point of honor to prepare their cheese fondus in strict compliance with traditional brasserie recipes.

For us, this dish is not just a simple starter on the menu, but a true love letter to the dairy and brewing products of our rich regional soil in Belgium 🇧🇪.

Settle down comfortably at Big Mama restaurant, far from the impersonal hustle of the major tourist axes of the city center, and let us reveal the manufacturing secrets of this treasure of our gastronomic folklore.

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🇧🇪 The Choice of the Terroir: The Authenticity of a True Abbey Cheese

To succeed with exceptional fondus, the first absolute secret lies unquestionably in the quality, character, and provenance of the main ingredient: the cheese.

While industrial versions too often use insipid cheese mixtures or standardized blocks of emmental, we have chosen to highlight the know-how of Trappist monks and Belgian 🇧🇪 abbeys.

Belgium 🇧🇪 possesses an exceptional cheese heritage, often born within the very same monasteries that gave birth to our world-famous beers.

This pressed, uncooked abbey cheese, characterized by its supple texture, its blonde color, and its rich, fruity aromas, brings an incomparable depth of flavor.

At Big Mama restaurant, the abbey cheese arrives fresh in our kitchen located in the Saint-Jacques district to be prepared by our cooks.

This authentic Belgian 🇧🇪 cheese possesses ideal melting properties, allowing us to obtain that perfect stretch so sought after when cut, without ever releasing excess fat.

Its subtly distinct flavor, both gentle and persistent on the palate, balances beautifully with the other components of our recipe.

It is this choice of a noble and local product that will make all the difference at the time of tasting and bring that unique regional taste that our loyal customers look for.

🥣 The Secret of the Mixture: Incorporating Chimay Triple with the Milk

The true secret of our recipe, and the heart of our technical know-how in the kitchen, relies on the manufacturing of the fondu mixture.

A successful fondu should never feel elastic, rubbery, or pasty in the mouth.

The mixture must offer absolute creaminess, being almost liquid and flowing when you break the crust, while maintaining a perfect shape hold during the step process.

To achieve this result of high culinary precision and infuse a true Belgian 🇧🇪 soul into our preparation, everything begins with a unique liquid base.

We prepare a traditional roux with farm butter and fine flour.

At this crucial stage, our cooks progressively wet the roux by simultaneously pouring whole milk and authentic Chimay Triple beer 🇧🇪.

This exceptional Trappist beer, unfiltered and boasting an elegant bitterness with notes of fresh hops and golden fruits, blends intimately with the milk to create an intensely aromatic white sauce.

It is into this foaming and fragrant cream, still on the fire, that we throw our freshly grated Belgian 🇧🇪 abbey cheese.

The cheese 🧀 melts slowly, incorporating itself in a completely homogeneous way into the beer and milk reduction, strictly without egg yolks to keep the texture exceptionally light.

The mixture is delicately seasoned with a pinch of grated nutmeg, salt, and white pepper to exalt the dairy and hoppy aromas, before being poured onto a tray to cool and freeze for a full night.

🍟 The Hand-Shaping Process, Double Breading, and Plating Ritual

The next day, once the Chimay Triple 🍻 mixture has perfectly hardened in the cold, our cooks proceed to the essential stage of manual shaping.

Far from the cubic and standardized shapes of industrial products, we shape our fondus to give them their traditional, generous silhouette, both flat and rounded.

This unique artisanal shape guarantees a perfect balance in every single bite between the crispy coating and the melting heart.

Then comes the crucial step of the English breading, a technique that requires absolute precision to avoid any bursting during cooking.

Each flat and rounded piece of mixture is successively passed through fine flour, then into a bath of beaten egg whites with a dash of oil, and finally coated with high-quality fine breadcrumbs.

We repeat this operation a second time to realize a fine but ultra-resistant double breading.

At Big Mama restaurant, your fondus are plunged to order into a bath of very hot vegetable oil until a magnificent golden color and a perfectly crunchy texture are obtained.

The dish arrives at the table completely generous, showcasing a beautiful, authentic duo of homemade fondus.

We sprinkle the dish with fresh chopped curly parsley, which adds a fresh herbal touch and a vibrant contrast to the golden color of the cheese. 🧀

Finally, we delicately place a slice of fresh lemon 🍋shaped in a twist on top of each fondu, providing a modern aesthetic and a necessary touch of vivacity to balance the richness of the abbey cheese. 🧀

✨ A Comforting and Festive Immersion at Big Mama Restaurant

Tasting our duo of abbey cheese and Chimay fondus at Big Mama restaurant means treating yourself to far more than an excellent culinary starter: it means experiencing a true immersion into the Brussels way of life.

Our restaurant, ideally located on the picturesque Place de la Vieille Halle aux Blés, offers a preserved and warm setting, far from the impersonal hustle of the major ultra-touristic axes of the city center.

The bronze statue of Jacques Brel, a Belgian 🇧🇪 cultural icon located right in front of our door, seems to watch over the conviviality and joy of living of our historic neighborhood.

Whether you are a regular of the Saint-Jacques district or a curious traveler eager to discover the pillars of our folklore, our team will be happy to welcome and advise you.

To accompany the creamy richness of our homemade fondus, we will suggest the ideal Belgian 🇧🇪 craft beer present on our menu, creating a memorable food-and-beer pairing. 🧀🍻

For families visiting us with young children, we also offer a dedicated formula at only €11, including adapted options like our quick homemade burger 🍔 or our traditional meatballs in tomato sauce with fries.

As our establishment is highly prized by fine connoisseurs of traditional local cuisine, we strongly advise you to book your table online before coming to visit us.

The best of our brasserie heritage awaits behind our door.

Cheers and bon appétit!

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