mitraillette — Belgium

A mitraillette is a sandwich built from half a baguette split open and filled with a cooked meat, a full portion of fries and a sauce, eaten hot or, less often, cold. It is a fixture of Belgian fry shops and snack bars, where it is prepared as a filling, inexpensive meal rather than a light bite. It is reported across Belgium under regional names: routier in the province of Liège, spécial in the Centre region, mini around Fontaine-l'Évêque, and, across the border, sandwich américain in northern France and on Réunion island. The choice of meat and sauce shifts from one fry shop to another and from one region to the next. The fries are cut and fried in the usual two-stage method, blanched at a lower temperature and then crisped at a higher one. The meat, commonly a sausage, a meatball, a frikandel or a grilled steak, is cooked separately and placed inside the split baguette. The fries are packed in around and on top of the meat, and the sandwich is finished with a sauce such as mayonnaise, andalouse or a mix of several, plus sometimes lettuce or onion. The meat used varies widely by fry shop, and the sauce or combination of sauces is often a matter of personal preference rather than a fixed rule. What stays constant is the format itself: a half-baguette stuffed with both fries and meat in one hand-held sandwich, sturdy enough to eat while standing.