December Holidays

“Speck-tacular Season”

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ 10 Comments

Christmas Day 2010, Nashville

Speck, anyone? Not your familiar Southern pork product.

Waking up this morning to a backyard that looked like this:

Cafe Latte’s…..to wake up, walk the dog and make a special Christmas Day morning breakfast of Pannekoeken with Speck. More about Speck later…..first the coffee…

…next Ella…

…lucky dogs get new toys and walks in the snow.

Now to our breakfast….I have blogged about Wouter’s fantastic Dutch Appel Pannekoeken before, but not Pannekoeken with Speck.

A bit about Speck:

References to “speck” have been showing up in many of my cooking books and magazines from Great Britain & Australia recently…to my mind it was “just smoked cured bacon”….wrong!

Wouter has always talked about speck…the taste, how it is different from any of our regional bacons in the US, about not being able to purchase it here…my curiousity inspired me to request some from his last trip home.

 

 

 

 

 

Curing

Like prosciutto and other hams, speck is made from the hind leg of the pig, but, unlike other prosciutti, speck is boned before curing.

A leg of pork is deboned and divided into large sections called “baffe”, and then cured in salt and various spice combination which may include garlic, bay leaves, juniper berries, nutmeg, and otherspices, and then rested for a period of several weeks. After this the smoking process begins.

Speck is cold-smoked slowly and intermittently for two or three hours a day for a period of roughly a week using woods such as beech.

USES:

Speck is ubiquitous in the local cuisine of the province of Bolzano-Bozen, and is also found in the Austrian, Czech, Dutch, Croatian, German, Italian and Slovak cuisines.

Speck can easily replace bacon or as a smoky alternative to Pancetta. The differences between speck and bacon include different time lengths of smoking, the technique of curing it, and the fact that speck cures for a longer period of time than bacon does.

I am sure there are shops all over the USA that sell Speck, but it will be in large city markets…otherwise you can just google “speck” and find many mail order shops.
Wouter brought this vacuumed packed back in his suitcase from Amsterdam. When I opened it this morning for the first time I was struck by the wonderful smokey, spicy, salty aroma unlike any of our bacons.

The slab of speck is cut into thin bacon-like slices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cooked until somewhat crispy.
Meanwhile pancake batter is whisked together. You can use your favorite recipe or even a boxed mix as a last resort. If using a boxed mix add extra liquid so batter is runny.
Batter is poured over speck in skillet and cooked on both sides til golden brown and crispy.
One thing that just must be the real thing is the syrup…real maple syrup, not anything else.
This bottle was given to me as a gift from my daughter, Whitney. She knows how much I love maple syrup and even more when it comes in a charming bottle like this!
Pannekoeken with Speck drizzled with maple syrup for a cold Christmas Day morning.
The best Holiday gift!
Two of my favorite Santa Claus images from “Twas the night before Christmas” by Reverend Howard Finster.
Happy Holiday and New Year from Teresa at foodonfifth.com

 

 

 

 

 

Speculaas, Sinterklaas, Southern-style…..

~ Teresa Blackburn ~ 6 Comments

December 5th, 2010

Photo of Sinterklaas coming into Amsterdam via boat with a stack of our freshly baked Speculaas.

Wrapped & ready to go.

The inspiration: Dutch Magazine “SINT”, Wouter brought this home from his recent trip full of wonderful old photos and new stories of  December 5th Sinterklaas celebrations & memories & recipes.

We don’t have any canals outside our house or boats for Sinterklaas to arrive at our home on 5th Avenue here in Nashville, but a few days before December 5th we invited a few friends & family for a small, last-minute “Sinterklaas Brunch” anyway. The Cumberland River is just a few blocks away so you never know?

Wouter made his spectacular, traditional Speculaas cookies to celebrate. We don’t have any of the “molds” normally used so we just made our own “free-form” designs.

“Wouter’s Speculaas”

First we made the spice mixture needed for the cookies and for this you will need:             2 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon; 1 tsp ground cloves; 1 tsp ground nutmeg; 1/2 tsp white pepper; 1/2 tsp ginger powder; 1/4 tsp ground coriander;  1/4 tsp ground cardamom

Put all ingredients into an airtight jar, shake well and set aside.

Ingredients & Instructions for Speculaas:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 3 tsp baking powder; 3/4 cup brown sugar; 1 1/2 Tbsp spice mixture; 1 cup butter (2 sticks); just enough milk to wet mixture to create a dough; 1 cup whole blanched almonds

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Add all dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Cut butter into chunks and add to bowl.

2. Using fingers or a pastry cutter blend ingredients together until all ingredients are well incorporated and begin to form  a crumbly dough.

3. Drizzle enough milk over dough to form a ball.

4. Place dough on a lightly floured surface & pat into a flattened round. Using a rolling-pin that has been dusted with flour roll dough out to about 1/4 inch thick slab. As you roll, stop & pat dough into a rectangular shape. Dust board, dough & rolling-pin as needed with additional flour. Transfer dough to a buttered & lightly floured baking sheet.

5. Place whole almonds decoratively over surface of Speculaas dough, lightly pressing into surface.

We really like lots of almonds in our Speculaas so Wouter covered the surface. Notice how beautiful the dough is with all those “hand-print” impressions on the surface. This particular large shape Wouter calls “Broken Speculaas” as after it is baked you just serve and everyone “breaks” off a piece. A very beautiful organic dessert with a nice cup of coffee, tea or Cava.

6. Place in pre-heated oven. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until slightly puffed &edges are golden brown. Remove from oven. Cool a bit before serving. Great warm or room temp.

We wanted to give away a few Speculaas as well as send some to Wouter’s Mother, Elizabeth in Amsterdam, so we made a second batch (same recipe) except we made the cookies smaller.

Chocolate letters….a fun tradition…everyone gets their first name, first letter!

 

We had eggs baked with cream, Benton bacon, Apple Pannekoeken, chilled Cava & Blood Orange/Ruby Grapefruit juice.

This is the cookbook that has the recipe for the Speculaas. It is the cookbook that came with the gas oven Wouter’s parent’s bought in 1957. That same oven is still in their kitchen in Amsterdam. We use it when we are there and it works like a charm. The cover makes me smile.

Happy Holidays.

A bit of History: Speculaas (Dutch pronunciation: [spekyˈlaːs], French spéculoos) is a type of shortcrust biscuit, traditionally baked for consumption on St Nicholas’ Eve in theNetherlands (December 5) and Belgium (December 6). In recent decades it has become available all year round. Speculaas are thin, very crunchy & slightly browned.

In the United States speculaas are often sold as Dutch Windmill cookies.[1]