Pork and buckwheat dish

Balkenbrij

200 grams pork for stirfrying
100 grams fresh pork strips or thick bacon
50 grams pork liver
50 grams raisins
1/2 tsp salt
200 grams buckwheat flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
cinnamon, pepper, allspice, ginger
buckwheat flour for coating
margarine for frying

Wash the raisins. Mix together the brown sugar with a dash op pepper, one teaspoon allspice, half a teaspoon each of ground ginger and cinnamon. Boil the pork together with the liver for about one hour in one liter of salted water. Take out the meat and finely chop and cut. Bring the broth to a boil again and add the washed raisins, the spice mix, and all the chopped meat. Add the buckwheat flour gradually, constantly stirring the mix, and let it boil for ten minutes. In the meantime, rinse a pudding or other form with cold water and pour the mix into it when ready. Let the mix cool off thoroughly and then slice it. Coat the slices with the remaining flour and fry them on both sides in the margarine.

Balkenbrij is an Eastern Dutch dish, served after the fatted hog was slaughtered, usually in the Fall and at the home or the farm, and the choice parts and cuts were preserved or set aside to cure. The word 'balkenbrij' dates from the Middle Ages or even earlier. The first syllables 'balken' are derived from the old-Dutch phrase ‘balg’, meaning ‘leftovers’ or ‘offal’. The word ‘brij’ means ‘mush,’ ‘goo’ or ‘gruel’ and is akin to ‘brew’.