Špekáčky

Ingredients

Sausage

• 600 gbeef, minced fine
• 400 gpork shoulder, minced fine
• 300 gpork back fat, cut in 5 mm cubes
• 18 gfine salt
• 3 gcuring salt (nitrite salt)
• 6 clovesgarlic, crushed
• 1 tbspsweet paprika
• 2 tspblack pepper
• 1 tspground mace
• 150 mliced water
• 2m wide natural hog casing, rinsed and soaked

To serve

• dark bread
• mustard
• raw onion and pickled chilli

Directions

1. Keep everything cold. Chill the minced meat, the bowl and the blades — the emulsion that holds a špekáček together breaks if the mixture rises above about 12°C (54°F), and once broken the fat renders out in cooking.
2. Mix the beef and pork with both salts and the iced water and work it hard for five minutes until it turns sticky and pale. This is what binds it; underworked, the sausage is crumbly.
3. Fold in the cubed fat, garlic, paprika, pepper and mace by hand, just until evenly distributed. The visible white cubes are the point of the sausage — mincing them would give an ordinary frankfurter.
4. Fill the casing firmly and twist off into pairs about 15 cm long. Prick each once.
5. Hang them somewhere cool for an hour so the surface dries.
6. Poach at 75°C (167°F) — well below a simmer — for 40 minutes, until the centre reaches 68°C (154°F). Boiling splits the casings and renders the fat out into the pot.
7. Cool in cold water, then dry. They keep five days in the fridge.
8. To eat, score the skin in a lattice and roast on a stick over a fire, or grill, until the cuts open and the edges char. Serve with bread, mustard and raw onion.

Technique

• Cold ingredients, hard mixing, gentle poaching. Those three things are the whole recipe and each of them is a common failure.
• Cut the fat by hand into visible cubes. Špekáčky are named for the speck in them.
• The lattice scoring before roasting is not decorative — it stops the sausage bursting and lets the fat baste the cuts.

Substitutions

• All pork, which is easier to work with, though the beef gives the traditional bind.
• A food processor for the mixing, with the bowl and blade frozen first.

Variations

• Roasted over a campfire on a stick with bread held underneath to catch the fat, which is the standard Czech summer version.
• Sliced into a špekáčky guláš or fried with eggs.

History

Sold in Bohemia since the nineteenth century and given EU traditional speciality protection in 2011; roasting them on sticks is a summer ritual.

Frequently asked questions

What is Špekáčky?

Špekáčky is a charcuterie & cured from Czechia: fat pork sausage scored and roasted over a campfire with bread and mustard. Sold in Bohemia since the nineteenth century and given EU traditional speciality protection in 2011; roasting them on sticks is a summer ritual.

How long does Špekáčky take to make?

Špekáčky takes 45 min of preparation and 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes makes 10 sausages. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Špekáčky?

Yes, within limits. All pork, which is easier to work with, though the beef gives the traditional bind. A food processor for the mixing, with the bowl and blade frozen first.

What is the most important thing to get right in Špekáčky?

Fold in the cubed fat, garlic, paprika, pepper and mace by hand, just until evenly distributed. The visible white cubes are the point of the sausage — mincing them would give an ordinary frankfurter.