I very rarely eat this but after a hike I got a sudden craving.

We call it zsíros kenyér (fatty bread) and basically it is just lard, bread, onions, a sprinkle of paprika and salt. Very good with tea after staying in the cold.

I was just wondering if this is a thing all over Europe.

It might sound unappetising for some, but it's very tasty actually.


34 comments

  1. I used to eat this with my grandparents, but without the onion part. Nowadays I don’t find it appetizing.

  2. I mean, butter is just fat. Or do you mean lard, i.e. animal fat? That’s much less common now than it used to be. But food in general got much less fatty over the last decades.

  3. Not here…in Sicily we eat bread as just bread, alongside a meal.No butter,no fat.Rarely,a little olive oil (but not with a meal).

    Then of course, there are sandwiches! But we don’t really use lard or other fats inside them either.

    In other parts of Italy, there are things like ‘lardo’, but that’s thin slices of pork ‘fat’ rather than a spread.

  4. AFAIK, we do not use fat (lard) on bread in Norway. Considering how isolated/separated some villages and areas are, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are people who do, but I am not aware of it.

  6. Hello neighbour, we eat that. Different variations as I am sure you have too. With paprika, onions, parsley, cracklings and maybe other things that I can’t think of right now. It was more common in pre-low-fat days than it is today.

  8. My parents and grandparents do, but I personally don’t like it. It‘s called Fettbrot or Griebenschmalz. It’s also a wedding tradition – people eat it on „Polterabend“, thought that’s probably more of a rural tradition.

  9. In Denmark a “fedtemad” (rye bread, lard, salt, onion is optional) is super old school and somewhat associated with not having enough money for actual “pålæg” (lunch meat?). But using lard instead of butter on a “sildemad” (rye bread, lard, pickled herring, maybe onion, maybe half a boiled egg) is delicious. Especially if the lard has those small crispy bits in it.

  10. We don’t in Turkey, but I have seen some people dunk their bread in the fat of sucuk after frying.

  11. Not quite lard, but beef dripping is still eaten here. Starting to go out of style but exceptionally popular until recently.

  12. I grew up in the UK, lived in Germany for a few years and then moved to Norway. My dad was born pre WWII so ate lard and dripping on bread, German friends would also eat similar stuff, but with apple pieces in it. Not seen it here in Norway, but guaranteed some granny in the mountains uses up bacon fat on some bread.

    I hated the idea as a kid, even though we used dripping for our chip pan until the mid 80s.

    My dad would also eat sugar sandwiches and condensed milk sandwiches.

  13. Yes, lard on bread (pită cu untură/unsoare) and we also put paprika powder and red onion on top.

  14. The traditional breakfast in Southern Spain is bread with olive oil, salt and jamón. Lard is used for certain traditional sweets

  16. Fat on bread, no, but olive oil, maybe some ham and a little bit of salt or take a tomato and rub it on the bread with some olive oil or salt , that yes .

  20. I’ve eaten that a few times in my life, but it is not very popular, nor would I go out of my way to get lard for it

  21. We do that yes. In Portugal you eat pork fat slices covered in salt with bread, or non solid pork fat and spread it on bread like its butter. But mostly on rural areas is where you can find this 

  22. Older people yes, but it would be like salted pork belly fat.
    But I mean, butter is just fat basically.

  23. Bread, olive oil and salt, cheap and easy, add grated tomatoes and a coffee and you have a perfect breakfast.

  24. Bread with lard (chleb ze smalcem) seasoned with onion and picles and other toppings is a must on all kinds of fairs. Since it’s not the heathiest thing to eat it usually considered a treat not everyday food.

  26. UK. Old people used to. It’s seen as a disgusting habit born of wartime rationing now though.

  27. Me? No

    Fairly sure my grandparents did but as adults it was more a nostalgia thing- bread and dripping (probably back to rationing during the war

  28. It used to be a thing yeah. The lard is commonly known as Saindoux and was commonly used as cooking fat, or as part of meat-based spreads. It was also a common lunch/snack for miners in the north of France, but I’m not sure if it’s a regional thing or a Polish immigrant thing actually.

  29. I don’t know anyone who do it nowadays. Historically, poor people would use lard as they couldn’t afford butter (smör) for their sandwiches (smörgåsar).

  31. I have a scar on my leg – my cousin dripped pork fat on me when we were having Szalonnasütés as kids…

  33. The old tradition here is bread and dripping, which can be done in a few ways. Its peak form is to dip a bit of bread into the hot fat and juices under a roast beef joint just after you take it out to rest. Salt and pepper. Absolute champion.

  34. In my family we make it from the fat of the christmas goose. It’s a nice Midnight snack on New Years Eve. But is was more popular when my parents were young.

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