Speck

… or should I say bacon? Speck is a type of smoked or cured bacon and refers to a speciality particularly popular in the German Schwarzwald region, Tyrol and South Tyrol.

Following a well-defined procedure, the bacon is first spiced with special ingredients, smoked and then matures until it gets its beloved spicy taste. Italy, especially the Val d’Aosta and Toscana region, are known for a similar type of bacon, the so-called Lardo. The Italian pancetta, however, has become a well-known kind of bacon and is made of belly of pork.

Speck is produced from the fatty tissue and partly the muscles of the back and belly of porks. Depending on the different traditions, it is rubbed with special herbs and spices, smoked or cured with the appropriate wood and stored in the cellar to dry for several months.

There is a type of speck made of fat only, another type made mainly of muscles and the streaky kind of bacon called pancetta. You may either cook it or eat it as cold cuts along with cabbage, polenta, dumplings, sausages or different kinds of cheese, bread or boiled potatoes (pic: South Tyrolean Speck).