Speck

Speck is smoked or pickled pork belly. In Germany, speck is pork fat with or without some meat in it.

For other uses, see Speck (disambiguation).
Speck Alto Adige PGI – South Tyrolean speck
Smoked speck

In Italy, Turkey and parts of the English-speaking culinary world, "speck" refers to Italian speck, a type of prosciutto,[1] rather than German speck. The term "speck" became part of popular parlance only in the eighteenth century and replaced the older term "bachen", a cognate of "bacon".

Regional varieties

There are a number of regional varieties of speck, including:

  • Bacon, e.g. Frühstücksspeck ("breakfast speck") in Germany
  • Gailtaler speck from Austria, with PGI status, which has been made since the 15th century in the Gail Valley ("Gailtal") in Carinthia[2]
  • Guanciale, from Italy
  • Lardo, from Italy, with many sub-varieties
  • Pancetta, from Italy
  • Schinkenspeck, German "ham bacon", typically made from a flat cut of ham with fat along one side resembling bacon, and traditionally soaked for several days in a brine with juniper berries and peppercorn,
  • Speck Sauris PGI, from Sauris, near Friuli. Italy
  • Speck Alto Adige PGI, the Italian speck
  • Tyrolean Speck from Austria's Tyrol region, which has PGI status, and has been made since at least the 15th century[3]
  • Ukrainian salo
  • Proshute, Albanian speck

Jewish deli speck

In Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, in which bacon (like all pork) is forbidden as unkosher, "speck" commonly refers to the subcutaneous fat on a brisket of beef. It is a particular specialty of delis serving Montreal-style smoked meat, where slices of the fatty cut are served in sandwiches on rye bread with mustard, sometimes in combination with other, leaner cuts.[4]

See also

References
  1. Speck - Smoked Prosciutto
  2. Lebensmittelnet.at - Gailtaler Speck (accessed 09/Jan/2008)
  3. Austria Tourist Info - Tirol(German) (accessed 09/Jan/2008)
  4. A Mission To Save Real Jewish Delis, A Dying Breed : NPR
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