Slavink is a Dutch meat dish consisting usually of
ground meat called "half and half" (half
beef, half
pork) wrapped in
bacon
Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...
(the Dutch equivalent of bacon is, however, not smoked), and cooked in
butter or
vegetable oil for about 15 minutes. A variation of the dish called ''blinde vink'' is made by wrapping ground
veal
Veal is the meat of calves, in contrast to the beef from older cattle. Veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any breed, however most veal comes from young male calves of dairy breeds which are not used for breeding. Generally, v ...
in a thin veal cutlet. Slavinken and blinde vinken are usually prepared and bought at the
butchery or the supermarket; a standard slavink, before cooking, weighs around 100 grams.
The bacon is "glued" to the filling with
transglutaminase
Transglutaminases are enzymes that in nature primarily catalyze the formation of an isopeptide bond between γ-carboxamide groups ( -(C=O)NH2 ) of glutamine residue side chains and the ε-amino groups ( -NH2 ) of lysine residue side cha ...
, an
enzyme that bonds
proteins (and is usually extracted from animal
blood).
The slavink was first created by Butcher Jaap Boerwinkel in Amersfoort in 1952, and subsequently given its name by butcher Ton Spoelder in
Laren, which won him an award, the "Golden Butcher's Ring." Originally, the filling of a slavink was made from smoked
sausage.
The term "slavink" loosely translates to
Lettucefinch. The term is probably an abbreviation of ''slagersvink'', that is, a "finch" prepared by the butcher ("slager").
The slavink often emblematizes traditional Dutch cuisine, as in the book ''De taal van de verpleging'', a Dutch-language guide for non-native nurses working in the Netherlands, and is especially favored by the older generations.
Gallery
Image:Slavinken1.jpg, Six slavinken, ready to be browned
Image:Slavinken2.JPG, Six slavinken, browned and ready for braising
References
Dutch cuisine
Dutch words and phrases
Pork dishes
Bacon dishes
{{Bacon-stub