Speķrauši
Speķrauši, speķa rauši, speķa pīrāgi or speķa pīrādziņi (all variations meaning ""fat meat pie"", usually in diminutive form), sometimes also colloquially called simply pīrāgi or pīrādziņi translated to English is bacon patties or bacon pies. They're shaped in an oblong or crescent-shaped baked Latvian bread roll or pastry, often containing a filling of finely chopped bacon cubes and onion. Bacon patties range from in length, depending on if they are intended as a snack or a more substantial meal. Smaller bacon patties 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 half-moon 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, you would be able to find them in most local bakeries and pastry shops. Variations. Other common bacon pies ("pīrāgs)" fillings include fatty bacon, fatback ("speķis"), mixtures of ground or finely chopped meats (ground beef, ham and chicken with  or without bacon), fish, cabbage, pressed cottage cheese, stewed cabbage or sauerkraut. "Bacon pies" come in two main varieties: plain bread bacon pies and broth or soup bacon pies ("zupas" or "buljona pīrāgi"). Bread "bacon pies" come with a larger variety of fillings and are made using a yeast dough. Broth "bacon pies" are made from a flaky pastry butter dough, often a sour cream dough, and are usually filled with boiled beef or sometimes cooked fish. These are intended to be eaten with a cup or bowl of good broth. Preparation. The day before baking "bacon patties", the cook  usually spends one or two hours preparing any meat and onion that will be used. Bacon and other fatty meats (such as bacon or back bacon) do not chop well in a food processor and tend to get caught on the blade, so the cook must hand chop these into tiny cubes, about 1.5 millimetres (about 1/16 inches). This is sometimes made easier by freezing the meat for a few minutes. Other less fatty meats (such as beef) tend to turn into a paste in the food processor, so if the meat is not already ground, the cook grinds it  using a hand or electric grinder. The day of baking, the cook makes the dough. This is a fairly standard white bread dough, with a varying amount of fat in it, depending on the particular family's recipe. Allowing the dough to proof and rise takes several hours, during which time the meat from the previous day is sauteed over a very low flame for a few minutes to ensure that the flavours in the filling meld a bit. When the dough has finished rising for bread bacon patties, or the dough has chilled for bullion bacon patties, the cook  usually uses one of two methods to make the individual "bacon patties": Prepared pastries are put into rows on pans, left to rise slightly, brushed with egg and then baked for a few minutes. History and folklore. "Pīrāgi" were not a seasonal dish in Latvian society, because most ingredients needed to make the different varieties were available from the pantry year round. After potatoes had filtered into Latvian society from the New World, sometime potatoes were also used to replace flour in the dough, allowing the pastries to be baked even when flour was unavailable. This means that "pīrāgi" could  be baked any time and are historically associated with Latvian celebrations year round. The two biggest historic Latvian celebrations are for summer solstice and winter solstice: Jāņi (June 24 - St. John's Day) and Ziemassvētki (Christmas). One of the most popular and familiar Latvian Ziemassvētki folk songs mentions "pīrāgi": "Ziemassvētki sabraukuši" "Rakstītām kamanām" "Pīrāgam nabagam" "Abi gali apdeguši" Christmas arrived In a decorated sleigh Oh that poor bacon pie Both ends were burnt