Discover Benelux | A Taste of the Benelux | Beurre Plaquette
CULINARY PROFILE OF THE MONTH, BELGIUM
Good taste never goes out of fashion TEXT: MARTIN PILKINGTON | PHOTOS: L&L PLAQUETTE
Lionel Plaquette believes that anyone not getting a buzz when tasting butter is buying the wrong brand. He is passionate about the product made for generations by his family, nowadays with some additional gourmet options that elevates it to new levels. When a business has been established by your great-great-great grandparents, it is definitely a family affair. “I’m the sixth generation of my family to run our farm,” says Lionel Plaquette, who now heads L&L Plaquette. “It is in the Ardennes in the South of Belgium, an area famous for its forests, but which also has very rich pasture land, perfect for feeding dairy 70 | Issue 58 | October 2018
cattle naturally, and thus for producing the wonderful milk at the heart of our butters and yoghurts.”
Tradition and innovation He is thankful for the generations of expertise behind his product: “I am very aware of the ways my parents and grandparents, in particular, worked to their extremely high standards – it is great to have that heritage going back so many years,” he says, “and we pay tribute to that with the traditional packaging, the butter papers, that we continue to use today.” But Lionel has been determined to take that legacy and build on it – hence the
enticing and innovative range now offered by the company to tempt chefs and family cooks alike. So along with the traditional salted and unsalted butters, they now offer truffle butter, butter with shallots and tarragon, with garlic and herbs, with brewing malt, and ginger and onion, among others. “The ginger and onion one pairs superbly with oysters,” he says, “and the truffle butter transforms plain pasta.” The way they supply the butter has changed too: one clever new example – a world first – being the 10 gramme ‘butter bonbons’. These are small pieces of butter wrapped like sweets, aimed especially at the high-end hotel