Savoury Buttermilk Waffles

Man cannot live from bread alone. It gets boring at times, even being the “Staff of Life” and all that. Step up savoury waffles as a worthy substitute, if only temporarily.

From my own experience and the anecdotal evidence of family members and friends, it becomes clear that personal favourites in taste, flavour and dish preferences evolve as we age. During my younger days, when I lived to eat, sweet edibles ranked very, very high on my culinary agenda. Recently, surveying the past ten to fifteen years, I realised this ‘falling over into’ the sweet side has evolved and changed into a preference for the savoury side of the culinary spectrum. Interestingly I find myself not regarding this swing as a ‘loss’, but experience it as a positive development. A maturation of the ‘Self’, you could say.

Belgian sweet waffles (with its ever attendant host of sweet toppings) were not a part of our family’s culinary make-up during my formative years. In fact, thinking back hard, I don’t recall any of my relatives, friends or acquaintances mentioning Belgian waffles (or waffles of any kind) during those years. I first became acquainted with sweet waffles at the Wimpy burger joints and Spur Steak Ranch (their moniker, not mine) franchises during University. Off course waffles with vanilla ice cream, all drenched in imitation maple syrup, immediately became a personal favourite at the very first meeting. And my oh my, how hard I fell for trite Miss Waffle and all her callous little seductions.

In South Africa of the 80’s and 90’s the most deviant of all Belgian waffle iterations must’ve been the Caramel Treat & Banana Waffle. This atrocity was never found on the menus of serious restaurants or those establishments with even a smidgeon of upwardly mobile aspirations. It was the sole preserve of food carts at school sport days and pure carnival, school fete and church bazaar fare. And also found at informal house parties and barbeques whenever the hostess was pushed for time or simply couldn’t bother to put in some effort.

Caramel Treat – for you non-South Africans – is a Nestlé product. It is tinned condensed milk that’s been boiled, or steamed, until the sugar enriched milk caramelises, yielding a sticky, cloying toffee brown and jelly like product that is beyond tooth achingly sweet. In fact, it blasts a hole in the roof of your mouth, just behind your tonsils, and promptly squirts your brains out through your ears. And I ‘digged’ that stuff on waffles, shovelling it down by the wheelbarrow if the opportunity presented itself. All ye olde, dread gods of the inky Below, how I shudder now at the mere thought of the abomination that I was then!

Savoury buttermilk waffles provides an effective and welcome substitute to bread for lunch sandwiches when you’re not in the mood for rye, sourdough or whole wheat. Anything savoury you can put on bread, you can put on savoury waffles as well. Amongst the multitude of personal favourites toppings are:

Chicken mayonnaise spread,

Sweet & Sour clove curry,

Roasted bacon & egg mayonnaise,

Roasted beef sausage slices with brown onion gravy,

Creamy scrambled egg & salami, and even yesterday’s

Leftover Asian style stir-fry vegetables.

Preparing savoury waffles with an electrical waffle maker may take some time depending on the size and energy rating of the elements above and below the waffle plates of the machine. I therefore tend to prepare a few extra whenever the opportunity arises. Simply double the recipe presented here and freeze any leftover waffles in a sealed plastic container after placing squares of wax paper between the individual waffles. When needed, I remove them from the freezer and leave them to defrost on my kitchen counter an hour so beforehand. They reheat very effectively in a flat toaster, turning out crispy on the outside and puffy inside. I use a section of 12mm wooden dowel between the toaster plates to prevent the waffles from becoming squashed flat whilst reheating.

And then it’s off to the races with our hot waffles and toppings, adding add-ons at whim and experimenting with combinations of secondary toppings as the mood and fancy strikes me.

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SAVOURY BUTTERMILK WAFFLES

– PRINT RECIPE –

Recipe yields:

6 x 100mm Square Waffles

Preparation time:

± 10 Minutes

Baking time:

± 15 Minutes

Difficulty level:

Easy

Special Equipment Required:

1 x 2-Pan electrical, square waffle maker or waffle pan.

Ingredients:

Cake / All Purpose flour	70g
Baking powder	2.5ml
Bicarbonate of soda	1.2ml
BBQ Spice	2.5ml
Garlic powder	1.5ml
Mixed herbs	1.5ml
Salt	1.2ml
Cayenne pepper	± ½ ml

Cultured buttermilk	100ml / 130g
Full cream milk	15ml – 30ml
Molten butter	20ml / 15g
Xtra large egg, lightly beaten	1

Method:

Whisk the flour, raising agents, flavourings and salt together until thoroughly combined.
Whisk the buttermilk, sunflower oil and egg (except the milk) together until thoroughly mixed.
Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mix and stir through until just combined and the batter is still lumpy.
The batter should be the consistency of a ‘thick’ golden syrup. Add milk in 5ml increments if the batter is too thick and needs thinning.
Heat the waffle maker until hot. Spray each of the pan surfaces lightly with food spray.
Add two parallel rows of ± 30ml of batter each to both of the pans approximately one quarter “in” from the edge of each pan. Close and latch the lid; and cook until browned to taste.
Keep the cooked, uncovered waffles warm in a 100°C oven until all the batter is used up.

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Comments:

Buttermilk waffles are not as tender as cream or whipped egg white based waffles. The buttermilk versions tend to be a little more robust and chewy which works well when you tend to be an ‘over loader’ on the toppings as I am.
You will have to experiment with the ingredient quantities for larger, round waffles.
Caramel Treat & Banana does not abominate well with these savoury waffles.

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