Speck?
So, I'm back from Italy. After marching through 7 cities in 8 days (from Milan to Rome), my head is swimming and I'm still procesing everything I saw and ate! One questions I have is about speck. Mario Batali says it's Italian - a smoked pancetta. My tour guide insisted it is a German smoked bacon type product. I know I saw it for sale in at least one market I was in while I was there. Who's right?
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10 Comments:
Here, in NYC at least, the speck we get is more generally the Italian speck which is sort of like a smoked proscuitto. The same meat, but boned. I don't see the pancetta connection at all.
There is both Italian and Austrian/German speck. But no matter where it comes from or what its roots, it's darned good eating. I love the stuff.
chisai at 9:31AM on 04/28/09
I thought it was from Switzerland, but apparently it's from Tyrol, a region that straddles both Austria and Italy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speck
SqueezeBottle at 9:32AM on 04/28/09
I've only had the German variety:
I buy mine at my local German Wurst Butcher; usually a smoked ham that tends to be additional wrapped in pork belly--OMG 2 die 4.
My father also makes his own from hunted wild game (deer usually) and cuts a premium loin; rolls it in his favourite herbs (usually some rosemarry and herbe de provence, black pepper and some marjoram) then wrapps that in a layer of pork fat (he purchases from the local butcher as well) then leaves it in a cooled salted brine I believe for a few weeks (?) then smokes it in the backyard.
I've never heard of an Italian Speck but Mario can't be wrong. I'm sure they might differentiate in regional seasoning
I hope you can find what you're looking for; try making your own as a challenge! Good luck1
hungrychristel at 9:37AM on 04/28/09
Hey @hungrychristel - I have been reading your threads for a long time and have noticed many mentions of your Dad's skill with meat - is he a butcher by trade or self taught - you have told us about many yummy things he has made and mentioned that he is a hunter and butchers his own meat - what part of the country do you live in? Does he fish as well?
bareneed at 10:03AM on 04/28/09
My mother was from Austria and was also Italian she used to tell me every morning for breakfast they used to eat polentta with "speck" sprinkled on top meaning bacon crumbled.
pjracz10 at 10:35AM on 04/28/09
Hey @bareneed - Yeah I tend to brag about Papa's mad-meat-skills!
He immigrated here to Canada (we live in Manitoba - awesome fishing and hunting territory) back in the 80s from Germany--he's never been formally trained but I believe most of his recipes were passed down from his father and mother.
If he's not butchering his own game (deer, elk or moose) he usually will go out of his way to contact a local butcher in town--he's got a few connections haha but seriously thats the best advice I've taken from him especially with all the mass-meat complications in our Nation lately (ie lysterosis!).
He makes Speck, Salamis, fresh sausages and dried sausages usually.
Besides game he'll definitely fish and tends to smoke those in the backyard too (like salmon or trout) and my best memories of visiting my family in Germany are our family fishing trips to catch wild eel in the river and bringing them home to my Omas as a group and smoking them in her giant stone smoker!
Do you fish/hunt? I should try and find some of his recipes
hungrychristel at 10:42AM on 04/28/09
Thanks everyone! This would be the same tour guide to whom I had to explain that seppie was cuttlefish, not squid (although he's lived in Italy for over a decade...), but he grew up in Germany was not prepared to back off on the "No! Speck is German!" point. I figured I'd just leave it be and look into it when I got back.
Amandarama at 11:27AM on 04/28/09
@hungrychristel - you are so fortunate to have the benefit of your Dad's skills - it is wonderful to feel that this knowledge and family recipes are being passed on - no, I don't hunt or fish, although I do live in Canada as well! You know, you should take some of your Dad's dried sausage and cook it with potatoes and Kale, remove most of the liquid and sausage and mash it together with some white or cider vinegar, then cut the sausage into rounds and put it back in the mixture - I also add a bit of S & P and butter - it is delicious and is a recipe my MIL taught me - she was from Holland and used dried sausage always.
bareneed at 12:06PM on 04/28/09
@bareneed - Another Canadian dried-sausage lover? Right-on eh?! haha kidding.
I won't take it for-granted; although I'm sure he needs a break from all the random phone calls I give him now that I live in Winnpeg I'm always calling: "what am I missing from this?" or "what is it that you use for this?" etc. haha
I may have tried this dish! I remember a meal called "Grünkohl" (sp?) and FOR SURE it was braised kale with some potatoes, vinegar, salty sausage and potatoes! Mmm.. I'll have to try your MIL's version with some of my Pa's sausages!
hungrychristel at 12:38PM on 04/28/09
Well, my German translator for bacon is Speck. And my Pennsylvania Dutch mil always called fat (any kind, including her own) speck. When she had to have surgery, she asked her surgeon - who was Italian - to remove some of the "speck" and he knew what she was talking about and said he would. She was hoping for a free tummy-tuck!
duncan1205 at 2:40PM on 08/30/09