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speck?

post #1 of 11
6/14/09 at 7:07pm
Thread Starter 
I was given some speck recently. I have no idea what to do with it (other than just eat it as is, I guess. What with?)
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post #2 of 11
6/14/09 at 7:47pm
toasted bread, pickles, crackers.....mustardo.....

or with your fingers
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #3 of 11
6/14/09 at 9:03pm
MMMmmm love that stuff. Try cubing it and saute with some onions and garlic, add in some cooked, peeled and cubed potatoes.

Fry some of it cubed, fried, sautee together with sauerkraut and a little white wine and brown sugar, plus caraway seeds if you like them. Lots of pepper too.

Use some in a split green pea soup instead of the regular ham hock

With beans

Make a warm salad using rocket (arugula), thinly sliced spanish (red) onions, crispy fried speck, top with poached eggs and shaved parmesan
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post #4 of 11
6/15/09 at 2:33pm
You can use it like a prosciutto but it's just tougher. You can add it to escarole and beans or just chop some up and saute it with your plated vegetables.
Chopped with some sun dried tomatoes, garlic and olive oil would make a nice sauce on some penne...

It's a ham, so to speak, so let your imagination run wild..

I have it all the time in my fridge..

Hey.. it's also great with a nice red wine, some cheese and whatever else comes next..:lol:
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post #5 of 11
6/15/09 at 2:55pm
Could also depend on origin. In my time in Germany speck was much like american bacon, though more herbal. But definitely a belly product. I understand there was an older term for bacon but speck had replaced that word. To me, speck is more Germanic than Latinate as a word.

Not that Ham and Bacon can't often be switched one for the other with different but still good results.
more than taste fine
me eat it all the time
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post #6 of 11
6/15/09 at 3:33pm
Thread Starter 
This is Austrian speck, from a speck store (really; they sell nothing but ) It looks something like bacon (it's sliced really, really thin), but with less fat as marbling. I don't know what it tastes or smells like; it's in a sealed packet that I haven't opened. It's smoked, I know that much.
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post #7 of 11
6/15/09 at 11:47pm
Here in italy, speck is pretty common. Comes from austria, and the dolomite region of italy which is basically austrian, they speak german, etc - Alto Adige or Sud Tirolo, (upper adige, or southern tyrol, depending on if you think it's supposed to be austrian or italian- there was much contestation about the region, and it has a special autonomous status).

Speck is mainly used like prosciutto - usually eaten in an antipasto, sliced, or in a sandwich, (goes particularly well with cream cheese, i think).
I think it's a shame to cook it.
But they do use it in making certain dishes, like canederli, which are these huge bread dumplings cooked in soup - a big ball the size of a tennis ball, sitting like an island in chicken broth. (you fry onions and small pieces of speck, i believe, and add egg to soaked bread. Make into balls and cook in the broth.)
It;s also used in other dishes. A bit like prosciutto.
It's expensive like prosciutto, and is really best savored plain unless you have such a quantity of it that you might want to use some in cooking. Or you can use the trimmings for cooking.
"Siduri said, 'Gilgamesh, where are you roaming? You will never find the eternal life that you seek...Savour your food, make each of your days a delight, ... let music and dancing fill your house, love the child who holds you by the hand and give your wife pleasure in your embrace.'"
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post #8 of 11
6/17/09 at 6:09pm
I was gonna say "with your mouth".:lol:

I would eat it with other cured meats, cheese, grapes, pepperoncini, and bruschetta (no toppings, just the bread itself).

enjoy!
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post #9 of 11
6/17/09 at 10:26pm
No ham is called "Schinken" of which there are a zillion varieties. Speck should come from the breast, fairly flat and thin, and in a zillion varieties as well.

My favorite speck is "Hobelspeck" or shaved bacon. Air dried and very firm you shave it on a slicer. That and a "Stange" of Lowebrau, or Feldschlosschen, Or Eichhof, or.....
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post #10 of 11
6/18/09 at 6:19am
Blue Hill at Stone Barns served housemade speck (from the berkshire pigs on the farm)....it looked like ham (proscuitto) beautiful thick layer of white fat with ham like meat sliced paper thin. I ate it on warm bread with my fingers.
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #11 of 11
6/18/09 at 2:14pm

Other Ideas

You could also use it to flavor soups and sauces.
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