The judgement of Cambyses

When Collin and Brendan (yep, I’m on a first name basis!) are visiting the museum, Collin is looking at some really gross paintings.

Yeah, those Flemish Primitives had some real funky imagination! But, their paintings are mostly based on stories from the Bible or with a certain message in it. Occasionally they painted a family portrait like this one of Jan van Eyck (Arnolfini and his bride).

Jan van Eyck - Arnolfini and his bride

But, in the movie you can briefly see a few details of the painting “The judgement of Cambyses”, made by Gerard David, another Flemish Primitive.
If you visit the Groeningemuseum in Bruges, you can’t miss this work! It’s really a big diptych (2 pieces) of 202 x 349.5 cm (80 x 137.6 inch) and you see it when you enter the first hall dedicated to the Flemish Primitives.
It tells the old Persian story of Sisamnes, a judge who accepted a bribe and delivered an unjust verdict. When King Cambyses heard about this, he had the judge arrested and skinned alive as punishment.

The painting "Judgement of Cambyses"

On the left panel you can see the moment of arresting the judge, but take a look at the top left corner of the panel, you see the judge accepting money! So the painting is to be read as a comic book!
The right panel shows how Sisamnes is being skinned alive (yep, they were really cruel in those days) as punishment. And again, take a look at the top right corner of that panel. There you see a young man sitting on a type of thrown. That’s Otanes, Sisamnes’ son, sitting in the chair of his father but which is draped with the skin of his father. To remind him what happens when you are corrupt…

The work was commissioned in 1487/1488 by the authorities of Bruges. This is what is called a “righteousness scene”. Such scenes were often painted by Flemish Primitives. And those paintings were put on display in courthouses. To remind the aldermen and judges they are not untouchable!

But I can understand why the character of Collin was attracted to this work.

Waffles - What's up with that ?

When you’re wandering through Bruges (or Belgium in general) you can’t miss the waffle-stands. The aroma gets in your nose, even when you’re still a fair distance away from the stand. But it smells so good!
Some fun facts before setting your teeth in our national food maybe? Ok, here we go.
There is proof that the waffle was first seen somewhere in the 9^th century. Not as the waffle we know today, but as a communion wafer. The wafers were round and considerably larger than the ones used for communion. Most of them had pictures of Jesus on it. There are of waffle-irons found proving this fact. It was not until the 12^th century it was given a name: “oublie”.


An anonymous manuscript (Le Ménagier de Paris) of the late 14^th century held the very first recipe for waffles. It was a dude who wrote everything down so his wife would get it right. But, it was funny to know they used a cloth drenched in oil to make sure the waffle wouldn’t stick to the iron!
He wrote “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”.

Brussels Waffle

But, talking about “Toss in some flour…”, you can get really funky waffles if you don’t use the correct measures. It wasn’t until the 16^th century sugar was sometimes used.
It took up until 1958 at Expo 58 in Brussels before Maurice Vermersch introduced the Belgian waffles we know today. When he wanted to go to the US with the recipe another salesman beat him to it.

There are also different kinds of waffles.
The waffles in 1958 were Brussels waffles. These are lighter, crisper and have larger pocket compared to other waffles. They’re rectangular shaped and dusted with confectioner’s sugar.
With Brussels waffles you can ask for whipped cream, soft fruit or chocolate topping. Mostly sold in tearooms.

The Liège waffle is richer, denser, sweeter and chewier. The dough used is thicker, sometimes chuncks of pearl sugar are added, so it’s really a sweet, hearty waffle! It’s these you’ll find with street vendors.

Liège Waffle

One last word on the toppings you can add. You can go nuts in this topic! Chocolate sauce (or spread), whipped cream, ice cream, fruits (strawberries is really worth trying), jam or… my personal favorite: Speculoos spread !

Speculoos is a thin, crunchy cookie. Spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom and white pepper are used to give this cookie a really good and special flavor. It really can’t be compared to anything else, but if you really want to, gingerbread comes the closest.

And we made a spread of this!
Having a waffle with this spread on it: heaven ! But be aware, you’ll stand out as a tourist. If a Flemish (or Belgian) eats a Liège Waffle out in public, they do not put any topping on it, or a Belgian flag! But, of course, you can indulge yourself any way you like.

Trappists ?

Here’s another thing on beer, and this time it’s about the heavier stuff: Trappists.

The first mistake most people make is to say that Trappist is a kind of beer. No, it’s a reference to the origin of the beer! These beers are brewed by monks, specifically by monks of the Cistercian Order. The name “Trappist” is a derivative of the abbey “Notre-Dame de la Grande Trappe” (or in English “La Trappe Abbey”), one of the founding abbeys of the order of the Trappists.
Worldwide you can find ten Trappist-beers. Six of them are located in Belgium (oh yeah!), two in the Netherlands, one in Austria and one in the US.

Now what does it take to name something a Trappist?

1. The beer must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the monks themselves or under their supervision.
2. The brewery must be of secondary importance within the monastery and it should witness to the business practices proper to a monastic way of life
3. The brewery is not intended to be a profit-making venture. The income covers the living expenses of the monks and the maintenance of the buildings and grounds. Whatever remains is donated to charity for social work and to help persons in need.
4. Trappist breweries are constantly monitored to assure the irreproachable quality of their beers.

Another mistake that is sometimes made is to say an abbey-beer is a Trappist. No, a Trappist is an abbey-beer, but not every abbey-beer is a Trappist. An example? Ok, the beer Collin Farrel drinks when he sees the movieset in the film “In Bruges” is Leffe. The beer is produced in the vicinity of the abbey, but by or under supervision of the monks.

Now, the Trappist are:

·         “Achel” from the St Benedict abbey (Belgium)

·         “Chimay” from Notre-Dame de Scourmont abbey (Belgium)

·         “Orval” from Orval abbey (Belgium)

·         “Rochefort” from Notre-Dame de St Remy abbey (Belgium)

·         “Westmalle” from Our-Lady of the Holy Heart abbey (Belgium)

·         “Westvleteren” from St Sixtus abbey (Belgium)

·         “La Trappe“ from the abbey Koningshoeven (Netherlands)

·         “Zundert” from Mary Refuge abbey (Netherlands)

·         “Spencer” from St Joseph’s abbey in Spencer (Massachusetts – US)

·         “Engelszell” from Stift Engelszell (Austria)

One last thing before you start. There are different types, “Enkel” or single, “Dubbel” or double and “Trippel” or triple.
Doubles are brown of color, fairly strong (6%-8%), have an understated bitterness, a fairly heavy body and a pronounced fruitiness and cereal character.
Triple range from 8% to 10%, blond color.
The single is the basic recipe of the beer. No Trappist brewery uses this term. Instead “Blond(e)” is more used to describe this type.
One fun story I’ll tell you here. Westvleteren is not available in stores. You need to get it at the monastery itself. But, to get it is kind of difficult. You need to make a reservation by phone, then you get a date to go over there. (Only problem, there’s only one telephone line, so getting the monastery on the phone can be time-consuming.) You show up at the appointment on the given date, your license is registered and you get 1 or 2 crates. Then you have to wait one year before you can use the license again!
In October 2010 renovations were needed and the expenses were higher than first thought, so the monks produced 93.000 extra crates. One year later (October 2011) the public was told these extra crates were going to be available in stores. It took exactly one day to sell all 93.000 crates !