Chef Elsa
Almjause (Alpine Hut Snack Board)
A wooden board loaded with mountain cheese, juniper-smoked Speck, air-dried Hauswürstel, handmade Liptauer, fresh Kren, and thick-cut Bauernbrot, the way Austrian Almhütten have fed hikers for generations.
Culinary Explorer
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Verhackertes (Styrian Smoked Bacon Spread)
Created by
Styria's beloved smoked bacon spread, chopped and pounded with garlic and dark pumpkin seed oil until it holds together on a thick slice of rye. Buschenschank food at its most honest.
Appetizers & Snacks
Austrian
Outdoor Dining
Picnic
25 min
Active Time
0 min cook•25 min total
Yield6 servings
The first time I ate Verhackertes I was nine years old, sitting at a wooden table outside a Buschenschank in the hills above Leibnitz. Gretel and my grandmother Eva had taken me to southern Styria for the weekend, one of those annual Austria trips where Gretel would drag us to every farm and market she could find. The Buschenschank was nothing fancy. A farmhouse with a terrace, grapevines overhead, a view across the valley. The farmer's wife brought out a wooden Brettl with rye bread, a crock of this dark, coarse spread, and a glass of Schilcher rosé for Gretel. I got apple juice and permission to eat as much bread as I wanted.
Verhackertes is chopped smoked Speck, pounded until it becomes a rough, spreadable paste. Not smooth like a pâté, not chunky like a tartare. Somewhere in between, with enough texture that you can still see what it's made of. The Styrians finish it with Kernöl, their dark green pumpkin seed oil, and a little raw garlic. That's the whole recipe. Five ingredients if you count the black pepper. It sounds too simple to be remarkable, and then you taste it and understand why Styrians have been making it for centuries.
The spread lives on rye bread. Dark, dense, slightly sour Bauernbrot that can hold up under it. You cut a thick slice, spread the Verhackertes generously, and eat it in the open air with a glass of wine. This is Jause food, the Austrian tradition of a cold snack between meals, and it belongs outdoors at a table where nobody is in a hurry.
Verhackertes takes its name from the verb 'verhacken,' to chop finely, and it has been a protected traditional specialty of Styria since 2004. The spread is inseparable from Buschenschank culture, the tradition of farm taverns where winemakers serve their own wine alongside cold food made from their own produce. Emperor Joseph II formalized the right of farmers to sell directly to customers in 1784, and the Buschenschank Jause, with its Brettl of bread, spreads, and cold meats, became one of Austria's most enduring culinary institutions.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
cold-smoked Speck (Styrian Bauchspeck preferred)
Quantity
300g
rind removed
onion
Quantity
1 small
very finely minced
garlic
Quantity
2 cloves
finely minced
Styrian Kernöl (pumpkin seed oil)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
dark rye bread (Bauernbrot)
Quantity
for serving
pickled gherkins (Essiggurkerl) (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| cold-smoked Speck (Styrian Bauchspeck preferred)rind removed | 300g |
| onionvery finely minced | 1 small |
| garlicfinely minced | 2 cloves |
| Styrian Kernöl (pumpkin seed oil) | 2 tablespoons |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| dark rye bread (Bauernbrot) | for serving |
| pickled gherkins (Essiggurkerl) (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Large heavy knife (or cleaver)
- •Large wooden cutting board
- •Mixing bowl
- •Earthenware crock or Brettl for serving
Instructions
- 1
Chill and dice the Speck
Start with cold Speck, straight from the fridge. Warm fat smears instead of chopping cleanly, and you need clean cuts here. Remove the rind if there is one, then cut the Speck into small cubes, roughly half a centimeter. Work methodically. You're not mincing it yet, just getting it into pieces your knife can handle.
Look for cold-smoked Speck with a good balance of meat and fat. Too lean and the spread won't hold together. Too fatty and it becomes greasy. A ratio of about sixty percent fat to forty percent lean is what the Styrians aim for. - 2
Chop to a coarse paste
Now chop. Use a large, heavy knife and work the diced Speck on your board with a rocking motion, gathering it back into a pile and chopping again. Keep going until the texture is coarse and spreadable but not smooth. You should still see distinct flecks of meat and fat. This takes five to eight minutes of steady chopping. Some Styrian cooks use two knives at once, one in each hand, rocking them alternately. If you have the coordination, it's faster. If you don't, one knife works fine.
Do not use a food processor. A machine turns Speck into a smooth paste in seconds, and you lose the texture that makes Verhackertes what it is. The whole point is the hand-chopped coarseness. Your knife does the work here. - 3
Add onion and garlic
Scrape the chopped Speck into a bowl. Add the finely minced onion and garlic. The onion should be cut so fine it almost dissolves into the spread. Big chunks of raw onion will fight with the smoke flavor instead of sitting behind it. The garlic should be just a suggestion, not the main voice. Mix everything together with a fork, pressing and folding until the fat starts to bind the mixture.
- 4
Finish with Kernöl
Drizzle in the Styrian Kernöl and grind black pepper generously over the top. Fold it through. The oil is dark green, almost black, and it smells like toasted nuts. It won't mix in evenly and that's correct. You want streaks of it running through the spread so each bite is a little different. Taste it. The Speck is already salty from the smoking, so you almost certainly won't need salt. If the garlic is too shy, add a little more. If the spread feels dry, another splash of Kernöl.
Styrian Kernöl is not interchangeable with other pumpkin seed oils. The real thing is cold-pressed from roasted Styrian pumpkin seeds and has a deep, nutty, almost chocolatey flavor. It comes in dark bottles because light destroys it. If the oil is pale or thin, it's the wrong product. - 5
Rest and serve
Cover the bowl and let the Verhackertes rest in the fridge for at least an hour. The flavors need time to come together, and the cold firms the fat so the spread holds its shape on bread. When you're ready, bring it to the table in an earthenware crock or right on the board. Cut thick slices of dark rye Bauernbrot. Spread the Verhackertes generously. Serve with Essiggurkerl on the side and, if you're doing this properly, a glass of Styrian Schilcher or Welschriesling. Mahlzeit!
Chef Tips
- •The quality of your Speck is the entire recipe. Find a good one and everything else follows. Austrian or South Tyrolean cold-smoked Speck is what you want. If you can't find Styrian Bauchspeck, a well-smoked Italian speck from Alto Adige works. Supermarket bacon does not.
- •Verhackertes improves after a night in the fridge. The smoke, garlic, and Kernöl find each other overnight and the spread tastes more complete the next day. Make it a day ahead if you can.
- •Gretel always said the bread matters as much as the spread. Use a dense, dark, slightly sour rye. Something you have to tear with your teeth a little. Soft sandwich bread will collapse under the fat and you'll lose everything that makes this feel like a Buschenschank.
- •Store Kernöl in the fridge after opening. It goes rancid faster than olive oil and there is no rescuing it once it turns. You'll know because it tastes bitter instead of nutty.
Advance Preparation
- •Verhackertes can be made up to three days ahead and stored in a covered crock in the fridge. The flavor deepens each day.
- •Bring the spread to cool room temperature fifteen minutes before serving. Straight from the fridge it's too firm to spread easily, but you don't want it warm.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 65g)
Calories
235 calories
Total Fat
21 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
35 mg
Sodium
700 mg
Total Carbohydrates
1 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
9 g
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