Chef’s favorites with Regula Ysewijn: ‘Here you’ll find the best éclairs’
From simple scones to impressive pies: Regula Ysewijn, judge on Bake Off Vlaanderen and author of Brits Bakboek, is crazy about British bakes. Although a good Italian pizza always goes down well too.
Wake me up for this
“A perfectly prepared English Breakfast with an organic egg, sausages and bacon from a good source, sautéed mushrooms, roasted tomato, beans, hash browns and perfectly cooked toast, spread with good farmhouse butter. And strong English Earl Grey tea, of course.”
Always in the fridge
“Eggs, milk, butter = cake!”
Favorite drink
“Negroni on the rocks.”
Favorite family recipe
“‘Italian salad’ from wartime. It reminds me of my grandma, who always made it for special occasions. The salad wasn’t Italian at all—it consists of mixed canned vegetables, pickles from a jar, an apple cut into small pieces, grated Gouda or Emmentaler, mayonnaise and sometimes ham too—but just after the war, this was a very hip salad. Wonderfully nostalgic.”
Favorite ingredient
“Freshly ground black pepper. A very underrated spice.”
Favorite hangover food
“I’m super boring because I never get hangovers!!”
Guilty pleasure
“I would take pizza to a desert island—no junk pizza, delicious pizza from a wood-fired oven.”
Favorite kitchen tool
“My Kenwood Chef mixer.”
Favorite recipe from Brits Bakboek
“Very difficult to say, they’re all my favorites.”
Strangest dish I’ve ever eaten (and would I have it again?)
“Surströmming—fermented Baltic herring. The smell—and taste—is so strong that the can is only opened outside; otherwise your house will smell of that herring for weeks. Although the flavor was very strong, I thought it was well worth having again. It is the ultimate umami.”
Favorite restaurant
“Mico en Jon in Antwerp; be sure to order the dim sum because they’re such beautiful little gems!”
Favorite bar
“Very difficult, because I wrote a book about Belgian cafés and love them all. In Antwerp, De Kat and Oud Arsenaal. I usually order a Rodenbach; at Oud Arsenaal it’s on tap.”
Favorite pastry baker
“Herman van Dender in Brussels, a simple chocolate and custard éclair.”
Never again
“Rabbit. My uncle once lied to me that I was eating chicken, and when my plate was neatly empty he shouted: ‘You’ve eaten bunnies!!’ I was six at the time and crazy about rabbits, so I was left with a trauma. Although I can rationalize it completely, I still don’t want rabbit on my plate.”
If I don’t feel like cooking, then…
“We go out for pizza!”
Favorite cookbook / food film / food series / podcast
“Cooking with an Italian Accent, a podcast by Giulia Scarpaleggia in Tuscany about Tuscan and Italian cuisine.”
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