Here’s one for your recipe box!

Slavinken. Oh boy, I’d pay good money to hear some of you trying to pronounce that right, that’s for sure!

What are they? They’re a typically Dutch dish: seasoned meat patties (beef and pork) wrapped in bacon. Usually they’re browned in butter. Lots and lots of butter.

Because I’m kind of attached to my arteries, and because I like a smokey flavor, I slap ‘em on the grill. Probably makes them all the more tastier.

Usually here in NL we go for a very basic seasoning (Not me. Never me!) and make them smaller so that the bacon enwraps them completely, but I prefer slightly larger slavinken with a little less bacon when grilling them.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork/beef (50/50)
1 large garlic clove
1 large shallot
2 medium eggs
1/2 cup Parmesan
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 1/2 to 3 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
oregano/thyme (dried or fresh)
1 tsp lemon rind
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried chili flakes
5 tbsp ketchup
1/4 tsp nutmeg
10 oz thinly sliced bacon

Directions:

My herb garden is growing abundantly this year. Needed oregano and thyme for my recipe.

No overwhelming amounts, just enough for a subtle background flavor. Wash and dry it.

 
Going for dried herbs? Just use 1 tsp dried oregano and 2/3 tsp dried thyme.
 

Finely chop it and add it to the meat.

Chop the shallot and grate the garlic. Add it to the meat.

All these herbs and no fresh basil. I’m embarrassed. Add the dried basil, a pinch of dried chili flakes, the nutmeg, pepper and salt.

Another thing I’ve done lately is add lemon zest to my ground beef. Love the flavor and zing it gives.

In with the eggs, ketchup, Parmesan and breadcrumbs.

Have someone knead it for you while you take photos. Works for me.

Bacon = love.

Grab a good handful of meat—I do have fairly small hands—and get the air out.

Shape the meat into a log, place one large or two smaller slices of bacon next to each other and wrap it around the meat.

Is this a piece of art or what?

Keep rollin’, people! I ended up with 13 slavinken, 2 per person and one extra for your late night munchies fix.

 
You can do it the Dutch way and slowly brown them in an indecent amount of butter. You can prepare them in your oven or you can grill them.
 

I used my Big green egg, got it stable at 350F˚ (175C˚) and slapped them on the grill.

Gave them 8 to 10 minutes on each side.

Eat them as is or serve them with BBQ sauce or my personal favorite: peanut sauce.