Hendrik Dierendonck

In Flanders, Hendrik is known as the saviour of Belgian Red cattle. Together with some stubborn farmers, he worked to save this authentic breed from extinction. He decided to go all-in on terroir in his butcher’s shop and the flavourful dual-purpose breed fit this goal very well. “Thanks to our efforts to raise our customers’ interest, the Belgian Red population has grown from 800 to nearly 4,000 animals. These deep-red cows live a bit longer than usual before slaughtering. That produces slightly tougher meat, so we like to age it first. The ageing makes the beef nice and tender and adds complexity too. In this way, we provide added value for this local breed. Flemish chefs also helped to promote the cause. They were immediately enthusiastic about the flavour and proudly featured Belgian Red beef on their menus.”

Meanwhile, Hendrik has tackled a new, ambitious project that is also all about terroir. In collaboration with Ghent University and a local farmer, he has resurrected an ancient Flemish breed of pigs. “We crossed various breeds in an attempt to recreate these historic Flemish pigs, the hams of which were being exported to destinations as far away as Rome two thousand years ago. We based our experiments on information from archaeological digs. Menapian pigs have firmly textured, nicely marbled flesh. A touch of wild boar in the mix adds gaminess. We age the meat as well, which is unusual for pork. However, this is such great meat with a nice layer of fat it works very well. The result is a nutty piece of meat with lots of character.”