Metzgerei Steiner from the Puster Valley, South Tyrolean craftsmanship for three generations
Metzgerei Steiner from Rasen-Antholz in South Tyrol's Puster Valley has been crafting speck, wurzen, salami, dumplings, and game specialties for three generations. A family business with its own slaughterhouse, secret recipes, and plenty of time for aging, led by Florian Steiner. South Tyrolean craftsmanship the way it is meant to taste.
Metzgerei Steiner is a family business producing original South Tyrolean specialties from the Antholz Valley, ranging from mildly smoked farm speck and air-dried wurzen to handmade dumplings. The Steiner family is in its third generation in Rasen-Antholz, using meat from small local farms and a deep intuition for smoke, salt, and aging time. They present their business themselves on metzgerei-steiner.it, while here you can find the best of their offerings for your own snack platter.
From village butcher to their own facility, since 2006
What began as a small village butchery is today a modern family business with its own slaughterhouse and a dedicated game-processing center, right in the heart of the mountains. The fact that Metzgerei Steiner still performs its own slaughtering and butchering is no longer a matter of course today, but for the family, it remains the foundation of everything.
In 2006, the Steiner family took the big step of turning the village butchery into an independent production facility, all under one roof, from the slaughterhouse to the sausage kitchen and the aging room. Today, the business is managed by Florian Steiner, deeply rooted in Rasen-Antholz, where the Antholz Valley meets the Puster Valley, between the main Alpine ridge and the Dolomites. The butcher's trade has always been a family affair here, patiently passed down from father to son.
The business now includes several branches, its own delicatessen, and even a hotel in the valley, where guests can sample the kitchen's offerings directly. This keeps the butchery close to the people it serves and close to the landscape that gives its products their flavor. Anyone who has been to South Tyrol knows that feeling of mountains, tranquility, and good food, and that is exactly what is packed into their specialties.
Speck, wurzen, salami, dumplings, and sauerkraut
The assortment ranges from air-dried raw sausages to aged speck and ready-made dumplings—all South Tyrolean classics from a single source, just as they have been served in the region's inns and alpine huts for generations.
The small wurzen are the house specialty: spicy raw sausages, similar to how farmers once dried them over the hearth. They come in four varieties: the classic Kaminwurze made from beef and pork, the meaty Speckwurze with embedded speck cubes, the resinous Zirbenwurze with pine oil, and the lean Hirschwurze made from regional game. All of them fit in a jacket pocket and are the provisions that have always been taken along for a mountain hike in South Tyrol.
As for the salami, everything matures under a delicate noble mold: the robust Haussalami made of beef and pork, the fiery chili salami with rose paprika, and two types of game salami—the tender venison salami and the savory Hirschsalami made from 70 percent venison. The game meat comes from the forests around Antholz and is processed in-house, which you can taste in the clear, fine aroma of the wild salami.
The centerpiece, however, is the speck. The Haus Speck center cut matures for months in the mountain air; other options include farm speck, Puster Valley lean speck, and organic speck, each weighing around 420 to 480 g depending on the piece. These are complemented by a cooked mountain herb ham and, for a warm meal, handmade Tyrolean speck dumplings and cheese dumplings. As a fresh side dish, there is hearty South Tyrolean sauerkraut, which is produced exclusively for Steiner in Laas. Spicy, savory, and honest—that is how the entire range tastes.
Meat from small farms, smoke from beech wood
The pigs come exclusively from small farms in South Tyrol, raised in a species-appropriate manner and with GMO-free feed.
From the farm to the finished sausage, every step at Metzgerei Steiner remains traceable; this is more important to the family than any fast production. For the speck, for example, the meat is cured for about three weeks and turned repeatedly so that the salt absorbs evenly; afterwards, it matures for months in the cool smoke of beech wood. The slower and cooler the smoke, the finer the aroma. "We give our best every single day," says the family, and you can taste it in every bite.
The intentionally mild salt content is striking: the Steiner speck is spicy but never salt-hard, because the meat and smoke are allowed to take the lead. Part of the range is produced in organic quality with EU certification, and the cool climate of the Puster Valley with the clear air of the Dolomites does the rest during the aging process.
Careful, patient, and honest—nothing is rushed here; time is an ingredient just like salt and smoke. Anyone who has tried Steiner speck understands why this effort is worth it; it tastes like craftsmanship, not assembly-line production, and doesn't need long ingredient lists to be convincing.
Five gold medals at the IFFA 2016
In 2016, Metzgerei Steiner submitted their specialties to the international IFFA quality competition in Frankfurt and won five gold medals.
Around 2,500 products were evaluated at the time, and an international jury strictly tested them for appearance, color, smell, texture, and taste. Awards were given to the mountain ham, the Puster Valley lean speck, an organic speck, and salami made from 100 percent South Tyrolean beef. Quite impressive. Such awards honor the family's craftsmanship, not the shop, so we let the numbers speak for themselves.
More important to the family than any medal is the fact that their regular customers in the valley have been coming back for decades. That is the distinction that counts in everyday life, and it cannot be displayed in a glass case.
Our favorite hearty snack from South Tyrol
For a true South Tyrolean "Marende" (snack), lay out speck, wurzen, and salami on a board, add spicy mountain cheese, dark farmhouse bread, and a glass of red wine—a good Marende needs nothing more, and it doesn't want to be anything else.
A thin slice of speck tastes best next to a Kaminwurze, accompanied by a spoonful of sauerkraut. Those who like it warm should let a few speck dumplings simmer in a hearty broth. For game lovers, the fine venison salami or the robust Hirschsalami is a small feast, especially during the autumn and hunting season. As a gift or in a hamper, Steiner specialties bring joy to any connoisseur, and for any hunter or game lover, a selection of venison and red deer salami is the perfect present.
We ship fresh products like dumplings and sauerkraut chilled, while the speck and salami arrive vacuum-packed and well-protected—each piece a natural product with its own character. Try your way through the assortment; a piece of South Tyrol will be on your table sooner than you think.
