🍺 Marlir Keuken

Vlaamse keuken, the honest way

Flemish Cooking Without Vegetable Oil

Dark ales, deep pots and unhurried heat. We cook the classics of Flanders the way the old beer halls did, on butter and patience, never on seed oils.

Browse the Recipes

Our three rules

The Boter Way

Every dish in this journal follows the same three convictions, in the same order the Flemish kitchen has always ranked them.

  1. Butter First

    Boter is where every recipe begins. Real butter browns the beef, sweats the leeks and enriches the mash. Its flavor is the foundation nothing else can fake.

  2. Slow Beer Braise

    Flanders cooks with its glass. Brown ale goes into the pot early and stays there for hours, turning tough cuts silky and broths deep amber. Patience is the second ingredient.

  3. Never Vegetable Oil

    No refined seed oils, ever. Where a modern shortcut reaches for the neutral jug, we reach for butter, and the difference is on the spoon.

From the pot to the table

Six Flemish Classics

Open a recipe below. Each one is written in full, tested in an ordinary home kitchen, and made entirely without vegetable oil.

Dark beef and beer stew in a heavy pot

The signature stew of Flanders. Beef shoulder is browned hard in butter, then braised low and slow in dark Belgian ale with soft onions, mustard bread and a whisper of brown sugar.

Ingredients

  • 2½ lb (1.2 kg) beef chuck, cut into thick chunks
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
  • 3 large yellow onions, sliced
  • 2 cups (500 ml) dark Belgian brown ale
  • 1 cup (250 ml) beef stock
  • 2 slices dense country bread
  • 2 tbsp strong prepared mustard
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 bay leaves and 3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, sea salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Pat the beef dry and season generously. Melt half the butter in a heavy enameled pot over medium high heat until it stops foaming.
  2. Brown the beef in batches until deeply crusted on all sides, never crowding the pot. Set the meat aside.
  3. Lower the heat, add the remaining butter and cook the onions slowly until soft and golden, about 15 minutes, scraping up the browned bits.
  4. Return the beef, pour in the ale and stock, and tuck in the bay leaves and thyme. Spread the bread with mustard and lay it on top, mustard side down.
  5. Cover and braise at a bare simmer, or in a 300°F (150°C) oven, for about 2½ hours, until the bread has melted into the sauce and the beef is spoon tender.
  6. Stir in the brown sugar and vinegar, season to taste, and rest 10 minutes before serving with butter mashed potatoes.
Creamy fish stew with vegetables in a bowl

The gentle butter and cream stew of Ghent. Firm white fish poaches in a delicate broth of leeks, carrots and celery, then the whole pot is finished with egg yolk and cream.

Ingredients

  • 1½ lb (700 g) firm white fish fillets, cut in large pieces
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 leeks, white and pale green parts, thinly sliced
  • 2 carrots, cut into fine sticks
  • 2 celery stalks, sliced
  • 4 cups (1 liter) light fish or vegetable stock
  • ⅔ cup (160 ml) heavy cream
  • 2 egg yolks
  • Fresh parsley and chervil, chopped
  • Sea salt, white pepper and a squeeze of lemon

Method

  1. Melt the butter gently in a wide pot and sweat the leeks, carrots and celery until silky but without color, about 10 minutes.
  2. Pour in the stock and simmer 10 minutes, until the vegetables are just tender.
  3. Slide in the fish and poach below a simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, until it flakes at a touch.
  4. Whisk the yolks with the cream, then temper the mixture with a ladle of the warm broth.
  5. Off the heat, stir the cream mixture back into the pot and warm gently, never boiling, until the broth lightly coats a spoon.
  6. Season with salt, white pepper and lemon, shower with parsley and chervil, and serve in deep bowls with buttered bread.
Butter mashed potatoes and vegetables in a dish

Comfort from the Brussels table. Floury potatoes are mashed with sweet stewed carrots and leeks and an unapologetic amount of good butter.

Ingredients

  • 2 lb (900 g) floury potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 3 carrots, chopped small
  • 2 leeks, sliced
  • 6 tbsp (85 g) unsalted butter, plus more to serve
  • ½ cup (120 ml) whole milk, warmed
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Sea salt and black pepper
  • Chopped chives to finish

Method

  1. Boil the potatoes with the bay leaf in well salted water for about 20 minutes, until completely tender.
  2. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a lidded pan and stew the carrots, leeks and garlic with a splash of water until sweet and soft.
  3. Drain the potatoes, discard the bay leaf, and let them steam dry in the colander for two minutes.
  4. Mash with the remaining butter and the warm milk, keeping a little rustic texture.
  5. Fold in the stewed vegetables and season with nutmeg, salt and plenty of black pepper.
  6. Serve in warm bowls with an extra knob of butter melting on top and a scatter of chives.
Rustic bowl of dark onion soup

The beer hall answer to onion soup. Onions cook slowly in butter until deep amber, then simmer in brown ale and stock beneath a raft of cheese covered toast.

Ingredients

  • 5 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1½ cups (375 ml) Belgian brown ale
  • 4 cups (1 liter) beef or vegetable stock
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 2 sprigs thyme and 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 4 thick slices of country loaf, toasted in butter
  • 1 cup grated aged Gouda
  • Sea salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Melt the butter over medium low heat, add the onions with a pinch of salt, and settle in.
  2. Cook for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are deep amber, adding a spoonful of water whenever they threaten to catch.
  3. Sprinkle over the brown sugar, pour in the ale and let it boil for two minutes to cook off the raw edge.
  4. Add the stock, thyme and bay leaf and simmer gently for 15 minutes.
  5. Season with the vinegar, salt and pepper, then ladle into ovenproof bowls.
  6. Float the buttered toast on top, cover with the Gouda and slide under a hot broiler until bubbling and bronzed.
Lattice topped fruit tart on a table

The Sunday tart of the Low Countries. A soft yeasted butter dough holds a bright filling of orchard cherries beneath a loose woven lattice.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour
  • ¼ cup (50 g) sugar, plus 3 tbsp for the fruit
  • 2¼ tsp instant yeast and ½ tsp fine salt
  • ¾ cup (180 ml) warm whole milk
  • 6 tbsp (85 g) soft unsalted butter, plus more for the tin
  • 1 egg, plus 1 yolk for glazing
  • 4 cups pitted sour cherries, fresh or jarred and drained
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • A little grated lemon zest

Method

  1. Whisk the flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Add the warm milk, egg and soft butter and knead for 8 to 10 minutes into a supple dough.
  2. Cover and let rise in a warm spot for about an hour, until doubled.
  3. Simmer the cherries with the extra sugar, the cornstarch stirred into a little water, the lemon juice and zest until glossy and thick. Cool completely.
  4. Butter an 11 inch (28 cm) shallow tart tin. Roll two thirds of the dough and line the tin, leaving a low rim.
  5. Spread the cooled cherry filling. Roll the remaining dough, cut strips and weave a loose lattice, pressing the ends into the rim.
  6. Rest 20 minutes, then brush the lattice with the beaten yolk.
  7. Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 25 to 30 minutes, until deep gold. Cool before slicing into generous wedges.
Slice of spiced butter cake with coffee

All the warm spice of the speculoos tin folded into a dense golden butter cake. Best a day old, sliced thin, with strong coffee.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, soft, plus more for the pan
  • 1 cup (200 g) dark brown sugar
  • 3 eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 cups (250 g) all purpose flour
  • 1½ tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp fine salt
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp each ground ginger, nutmeg and cloves
  • A small pinch of white pepper
  • ⅓ cup (80 ml) whole milk
  • Pearl sugar or flaked almonds for the top

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 340°F (170°C). Butter a loaf pan and line the base with parchment.
  2. Beat the butter and brown sugar for 4 to 5 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
  3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
  4. Whisk the flour, baking powder, spices and salt, then fold into the batter in two additions, alternating with the milk.
  5. Scrape into the pan, scatter with pearl sugar or almonds, and bake 45 to 50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
  6. Cool in the pan 15 minutes, then on a rack. Wrap overnight if you can wait; the spices deepen by the next day.

Who we are

Our Kitchen

Marlir Keuken is an independent recipe journal devoted to the everyday cooking of Flanders. We write down the dishes the way they are actually made in home kitchens between Bruges and Leuven: a heavy pot, real butter, a dark ale poured with a steady hand, and no rush whatsoever.

One conviction runs through every page. Nothing here is cooked in vegetable oil. Butter carries the flavor of this cuisine, beer carries its depth, and time does the rest. Every recipe is tested in an ordinary home kitchen before it is published, and rewritten until it works on the first attempt.

Boter, geduld, bier.