Finns are pork meat eaters. Be it Christmas ham, roast, or various pork sauces. Läskisoosi, or pork belly sauce, was one of my Grandmothers’s best foods. Oh, and how picky she was when choosing the belly bits for her sauce in the market hall of Tampere by the butcher. I still remember those shopping trips with her when I was a kid. Grandma is now 102. She’s still fit and able to move. She went to the market hall for food shopping until COVID-19 started. After that, no more. But family members take care of her shopping. I have my grandmother’s cooking book from 1946. Läskisoosi recipe is from there. The history of the läskisoosi is quite interesting. It is actually relatively modern food for Finns.

I found information this from “Maailman läskisoosi järjestö” pages:

Until the mid-1850s, bacon gravy was not widely known. Still, by the 1880s, the popularity of salt pork, also known as American bacon or machine bacon (canned bacon), used to make pan-fried dishes, began to rise among loggers, lumberjacks, and industrial workers.

In the cookbook “Keittokirja suomalaisille kodeille” printed in 1896, there is no recipe for bacon gravy yet. In the early 1900s, bacon gravy with potatoes could be part of breakfast in rural areas. A cookbook from 1910, titled “Kansan kotiruoka,” already features relatively modern content, but there is no recipe for bacon gravy; however, there is a recipe for bacon sauce, known as “sipatti.” 1918-1920, American aid sent to Finland included bacon, known as “Wilson’s surface.” The name may have come from Woodrow Wilson or the Wilson’s lard factory. Wilson’s surface was either purified lard or, as some sources mention, pork with a fat layer up to 10 cm thick.

In the 1920s and 1930s, pork gravy was already a typical dish on the tables of both working-class and middle-class families. The extensive cookbook “Keittiökirja” (WSOY, 1927) contains two recipes for bacon sauce. The first version includes smoked pork, water, and wheat flour. The second version uses fresh pork, wheat flour, and milk or cream as the liquid. However, these cannot be considered traditional bacon gravy recipes. Finally, in the “Pienviljelijäemännän keittokirja” from 1932 (WSOY), there is a recipe for pork gravy. The “Kotiruoka-keittokirja” from 1933 does not include bacon or pork gravy, but there is a recipe for “sipatti.”

It wasn’t until the 1950s that bacon gravy really gained popularity. At this time, it was the top favorite dish among Finns. The popularity of bacon gravy and birth rates seemed to go hand in hand as the baby boom generation grew up on it.

So here’s my Grandmothers recipe:

Porkbelly Gravy (6 servings)

• Approximately 1.5 kg pork belly slices
• 1 dl wheat flour
• 1 l hot beef broth
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 10 allspice kernels
• black pepper from the mill

1. Cut the pork belly slices into pieces a few centimeters wide.
2. Fry the pieces in a frying pan (cast iron is the best ) over medium heat in several batches until they release fat and brown well. Save about ½ dl of the rendered fat.
3. Once the last pieces of meat are browned and removed from the pan.
4. Add wheat flour, onion, and about ½ dl of melted fat from the bacon to the pan.
5. Brown the flour and onion, stirring constantly until it is well browned. Be patient! Don’t burn the flour. Reduce the heat if necessary.
6. Gradually add the hot beef broth to the pan while stirring constantly.
7. Add the bacon pieces and let simmer over low heat for 45-60 minutes, until the meat is fork-tender.

Serve Läskisoosi with boiled jacket potatoes, pickled red beet, and pickles. Choose a floury potato like Russet. I like Annabelle. It’s semi-floury. Rye bread is a must! Mashed potatoes are also a good option, but the traditional way is boiled jacket potatoes.