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Szalonna is Hungarian for 
Szalonna can be cooked over a pit. This involves cutting the szalonna into long chunks or cubes, spearing them, and roasting them over an open fire. The szalonna cooks to be somewhat crispy and is then eaten with other dishes or alone. Once it starts to sizzle and drip with fat, the szalonna is removed from the fire and the fat is allowed to drip onto a slice of freshly baked bread. The szalonna is returned to the fire and the process is repeated until the piece of bread is nearly saturated with fat from the szalonna. Sliced
Szalonna is Hungarian for fatback
Fatback (also known as streak of lean or streak of fat) is a cut of meat from a domestic pig. It consists of the layer of adipose tissue (subcutaneous fat) under the skin of the back, with or without the skin (pork rind). Fatback is "hard fat ...
made of smoked pork fat with the rind and is traditional in Hungarian cuisine
Hungarian or Magyar cuisine is the cuisine characteristic of the nation of Hungary and its primary ethnic group, the Magyars. Traditional Hungarian dishes are primarily based on meats, seasonal vegetables, fruits, bread, and dairy products. ...
. It is often smoked or cooked in some manner before purchase so that the buyer can eat it without further preparation. It is very different from popular American bacon
Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sand ...
, which is typically sold soft and uncooked.
Szalonna can be cooked over a pit. This involves cutting the szalonna into long chunks or cubes, spearing them, and roasting them over an open fire. The szalonna cooks to be somewhat crispy and is then eaten with other dishes or alone. Once it starts to sizzle and drip with fat, the szalonna is removed from the fire and the fat is allowed to drip onto a slice of freshly baked bread. The szalonna is returned to the fire and the process is repeated until the piece of bread is nearly saturated with fat from the szalonna. Sliced cucumber
Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated Vine#Horticultural climbing plants, creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical Fruit, fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.
, red onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...
, green peppers
Pepper or peppers may refer to:
Food and spice
* Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant
** Black pepper
* ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae
** Bell pepper
** Chili ...
, sliced radishes
The radish (''Raphanus raphanistrum'' subsp. ''sativus'') is an edible root vegetable of the family Brassicaceae that was domesticated in Asia prior to Roman times.
Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, being mostly eaten raw ...
, paprika
Paprika ( US , ; UK , ) is a spice made from dried and ground red peppers. It is traditionally made from ''Capsicum annuum'' varietals in the Longum group, which also includes chili peppers, but the peppers used for paprika tend to be milder an ...
, other vegetables, ground pepper, and salt are used to add flavor to the slice of bread, and then more drippings are followed to top it off. Periodically, the charred remains are scraped off of the szalonna and are used as an additional topping. This dish was considered to be peasants' food since the most important aspect was the fat, discarded by wealthier Hungarians.
Preparation, cooking and serving remain a longstanding summer tradition among even second and third generation American Hungarians. The szalonna (or "greasy" or "dirty") bread is often served with brandy or beer; in many families, "Opening Day" has become a rite of passage for families of American-Hungarian descent, where traditional family stories and customs are shared as a part of the meal. Young children are given their first taste of the bread at that time.
During and after World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
a hard fruit slab that could be sliced was referred to as Hitlerszalonna
''Hitlerszalonna'' ( Hungarian: "Hitler bacon"), known in the modern day as ''sütésálló lekvár'' ("ovenproof jam"), is a dense fruit jam that originated in the Kingdom of Hungary during World War II. It was sold in brick shaped blocks held in ...
. It was eaten as a provision for soldiers and among civilians.
See also
*Salo (food)
Salo or Slanina (Russian and Ukrainian: сало, Belarusian: сала, Hungarian: szalonna, Polish: słonina, ro, slănină, Czech and Slovak: slanina, Carpatho-Rusyn: солонина/solonyna, lt, lašiniai, Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian: ...
* List of smoked foods
This is a list of smoked foods. Smoking is the process of flavoring, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Foods have been smoked by humans throughout history. Meats and fish a ...
References
External links
* http://www.spoonwiz.com/in-search-of-lard-time/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Szalonna (Bacon) Hungarian cuisine Bacon dishes Smoked meat Peasant food