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Hunky Greasy Bread or Hungarian Turkey


Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 104 Posts

My husband is 1/2 Hungarian. During holidays we try to have this several times in the summer. It's called Hunky greasy bread or Hungarian Turkey. Here's how it goes:

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Ingredients

  • Jowl bacon
  • Hard crust bread (Italian or French type)
  • Tomatoes sliced very thin
  • Radishes, minced
  • Green Peppers, minced
  • Onions, minced

Directions

You score the bacon with a knife and put it on a long fork like you use on a camp fire. The bacon will cook and therefore start dripping fat. You have the bread on a tray nearby on a table so you can reach it easily. As it drips you put the bacon over the bread and let it drip all over the bread surface. Then you gradually add the vegetables to the bread and drip more grease on it. The tomatoes are the last item you add. Be sure to drip more grease over the tomatoes too. Add a little salt and eat. It's delicious.

Here's my tip. We sat a cast iron fry pan on the grate over the charcoal fire. We cut up the jowl bacon in 2-3 inch pieces and placed them in the fry pan. When there was enough grease in the pan we took the bread and dipped it. This worked out so well. The whole slice of bread was coated and we saved very much time. It made the bread crusty and oh so good.

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By Donna from OHIO

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By Bette (Guest Post)
July 9, 20080 found this helpful
Top Comment

I was introduced to Hungarian Grease Bread when I got married. My in-laws had a long handled, cast iron press for the thick bacon pieces. We put the iron into an open fire, then put the bacon between the two sides of the press and would squeeze enough grease for at least a couple open faced sandwiches.

 
July 2, 20170 found this helpful

is this the donna from toledo?

 
August 5, 20120 found this helpful
Top Comment

My mom and grandmother introduced me to this tradition years ago.
They called it "naw shosh" - would love to know if anyone knows how to spell this

 
January 27, 20180 found this helpful

Nasas

 
September 21, 20131 found this helpful
Top Comment

Ever since I was a little girl, my father made this for us once a year in the late summer. His best childhood friend was Hungarian and made this every year. Dad carried on the tradition when he had his own family.

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They always called it, and I don't know how to spell it, but it sounded like Jediskinya, or gypsy grease bread. We all LOVE it. Today is our first year doing it without dad, so it will be a sad occasion.

 
January 7, 20200 found this helpful

Yes - and what they called it - sounded like Jediskinya
But they used rye bread they bought from a bakery in Wilkes-Barre. and only onions and tomatoes. My grandfather was from Hungary.

 

Silver Post Medal for All Time! 267 Posts
January 7, 20200 found this helpful

I was interested in this so I did a bunch of research.

I found this article on Wikipedia that calls it szalonna bread, after the fatback that is used. I've also seen it called greasy or dirty bread. Some recipes call for rye and other call for a crusty French bread. There are also a lot of recipes that call it Gypsy campfire bacon and recommend cooking the fatback over a campfire and then dripping the fat onto the bread. I'm going to have to do this when I go camping in the summer.

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en.wikipedia.org/.../Szalonna_(bacon)

After some more searching, I found that kenyer is a rustic bread in Hungarian and I found this recipe that would translate into greasy or fatty bread, zsíros kenyér. It's not the same as your pronunciation but it is closer.

zsuzsaisinthekitchen.blogspot.com/.../fatty-bread-zsiros-kenyer.html

I found mention of names like jiddish kenyer, or judishkenyer too, which is very close to what you remember. I can't find anything definitive but I'm guessing that is from Yiddish or maybe Jewish. The Jewish culinary tradition will use chicken fat and drippings (schmaltz) so it's possible that it was named like this in some areas.

Hope this helps, it was very interesting to look at all the recipes and fond childhood memories of this delicious dish.

 
December 1, 20220 found this helpful

Your spelling might be close, I don't really know. I know how it sounds, but don't think I could print it to an english word. I am 50% Hungarian and have had this a few times in my life, the last time was over 30 years ago. My brother and I were in Europe in '98 and saw the type of bacon needed for sale, but in the US, especially currently, as my cousins state, you can't find the bacon anywhere. Basically, you just need slab bacon with the skin still attached, but because of government regulations, you can't get that any more.

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From what I've learned, even if I killed a razorback (invasive pigs, in the southern US) because of federal regulations, I won't be able to have that pig butchered properly for personal consumption, so I could not get the slab to cook this Hungarian cuisine. A month ago was my mother's funeral, and my oldest cousin (2 years younger than my Mom) stated "you can't find the bacon anywhere".

 
June 21, 20202 found this helpful

I was born in Toledo,Ohio. They call it Hunky Turkey.

 
October 28, 20212 found this helpful

I also grew up in Toledo OH and as you said, its Hunky Turkey and I absolutely love it!

 
December 21, 20220 found this helpful

Me too. And now I live in Michigan and can't find it. My uncle just sent me some from Toledo!!!

 
January 27, 20221 found this helpful

Found this fun discussion about Hungarian Turkey because I just got some jowl bacon and was surprised my grown daughter says she doesnt remember having it. I was born in Toledo too and this was a summer thing my father made. Even as a kid who normally don't like onions or green peppers, my siblings and I loved this deadly concoction.

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Dad would stop at the National Bakery over in "hunky" town and buy loaves of their Vienna bread. He'd crank up the little charcoal grill on the driveway (rain or shine) and we'd rotate the bacon on skewers over the hot coals until the fat was too much to hold and we'd then drip it all over the bread/veggies until we could feel our hearts stopping. Dump salt all over it and we were well on our way to cardiac arrest. Yummmmm.....

 

Silver Post Medal for All Time! 267 Posts
January 28, 20220 found this helpful

Oh thanks so much for sharing. I think this recipe is so unusual and I really want to try it. When looking into this for the site, I found the name "Gypsy Bread" and that is my favorite name!

I plan to make it when we camp this summer as it seems like the perfect campfire meal, sort of like meat 'smores. :)

 
February 17, 20231 found this helpful

Yes, the national bakery!!! Used to love going there. Tiny little bakery, the aromas. The woman had huge, flabby arms. LOL. It wasnt far from Packos and the Hungarian grocery store. We used to attend St. Stephens church, Father Hernady was the priest then. Good memories!p

 
October 18, 20223 found this helpful

A staple for many in East Toledo, OH. With my version, I use cast iron camp cookers and fill them with diced jowl bacon and drip it from them. After the grease is used up, I put the spent bacon pieces in a bowl to add to the top of the bread. Traditional green peppers, onion, tomato, salt & pepper.

 
February 17, 20231 found this helpful

Here's a quick and easy recipe. Now that I'm old and disabled, I just fry bacon in a skillet on my stove. Remove cooked bacon and set aside. Then dip your bread into the bacon grease or use a spoon to drip it on. Add your green pepper slices, onions, tomatoes, drip more bacon grease, salt and pepper. The taste is the same. Enjoy! I'm making it today. I only do this every 2-3 yrs.

 
March 18, 20231 found this helpful

I remember this "hunker turkey". We used to live in the heart of hunky town, just a few blocks from the bakery mentioned in a previous comment. Fond memories. My youngest daughter loved this hunky turkey, but I always thought it was made with Canadian bacon. Either way it was delicious!!

 
May 1, 20231 found this helpful

Toledo girl here! Mother grew up on Caledonia and went to St. Stevens. My great grandparents immigrated from Hungary. Loved the Hungarian Festival every year. Hungarian Turkey was SO good. Ive never tried making it before, but I need to try. I havent had in over 25 years

 

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