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Best Speķrauši in Chicago

“Smaller speķrauši are often prized for their daintiness and are considered the work of a skilled cook.”

Speķrauši

What the real thing tastes like

Speķrauši or speķa pīrādziņi, sometimes also colloquially known simply as pīrāgi or pīrādziņi, are Latvian oblong or crescent-shaped baked bread rolls or pastries filled with finely chopped fatty bacon cubes and onions. They range from five to thirteen centimetres (2.0 to 5.1 in) in length, depending on if they are intended as a snack or a more substantial meal. Smaller speķrauši are often prized for their daintiness and are considered the work of a skilled cook. As with many national dishes, Latvian families often have their own unique recipe for the dish, yet to be called speķrauši it has to maintain the crescent shape and the filling has to be bacon bits. Due to the amount of work involved to make them, they're usually made only for special occasions and in very large numbers. Yet, one would be able to find them in most local bakeries and pastry shops.

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Speķrauši are Latvian crescent-shaped pastries built on a simple, exacting principle: tender bread encasing fatty bacon cubes and onions. The size matters—anywhere from a two-inch nibble to a five-inch hand-held meal—with the smallest ones considered a mark of a cook's precision. These aren't everyday treats; they demand labor and arrive in armies, reserved for occasions worth the work.

Order it here when it has

  • bacon and onion filling
  • range of sizes for different purposes
  • found in local bakeries
  • distinct shape requirement

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