Slavink is a Dutch meat dish consisting usually of

ground meat Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, incl ...

called "half and half" (half

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

, half

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

) wrapped in

bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

(the Dutch equivalent of bacon is, however, not smoked), and cooked in

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of edible plants. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed ...

for about 15 minutes. A variation of the dish called ''blinde vink'' is made by wrapping ground

veal Veal is the meat of Calf (animal), calves, in contrast to the beef from older cattle. Veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any List of cattle breeds, breed; however, most veal comes from young male calves of Dairy cattle, dairy b ...

in a thin veal cutlet. Slavinken and blinde vinken are usually prepared and bought at the

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...

y or the supermarket; a standard slavink, before cooking, weighs around 100 grams. The bacon is "glued" to the filling with transglutaminase, an

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

that bonds

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

s (and is usually extracted from animal

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

). 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 A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

. The term "slavink" loosely translates to ''lettuce finch''. 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