SLOVAKIA and the Czech Republic are jointly seeking protection from the European Commission for a traditional sausage which is known as špekáčky in Slovakia and špekačky in the Czech Republic. There is a good chance that this heat-processed sausage product will receive the highly desirable “Traditional Speciality Guaranteed” label since the European Commission has not received any objections which could have reversed the success of the proceeding before its deadline, the ČTK newswire wrote last October.
A špekáček bearing the designation will be guaranteed to contain at least 56 percent pork and beef.
There is a long tradition in Slovakia of roasting špekáčky, essentially short plump sausages, over an open fire while out in nature. They are traditionally eaten with a slice of bread to catch the fat dripping from the roasted špekáčky, along with mustard.
Another very popular recipe is to make the špekáčky as ‘utopenci’, which in literal translation means as ‘drowned men’. In the traditional recipe uncut špekáčky are put into a jar with a pickle, spices and pieces of onion. After two weeks the špekáčky are ready for eating.
But nowadays there are plenty of varied recipes enriched with chilli, mustard seeds, horseradish, pickled cucumbers, Worcestershire sauce, olives and more. Beer is the traditional beverage served with utopenci.
