Salame al Cioccolato

A decadent & playful chocolate treat for the holidays.

I vostri ragazzi sono tornati a casa?

We’ve been asked a few times recently if our kids are home yet, and the answer has been, “No, not yet.” Luca is studying for final exams and will fly home from Rome the next weekend. Sean, who lives and works in New York City, will come home for the week of Christmas.

We look forward to having our family all together again and, in the meantime, have been preparing for the holidays. The Christmas tree is up, the stockings are hung, and the house is decorated.

Oh, and the Befana is back in her spot, riding her broomstick in the front window of our living room. But first, Stefano had to glue her nose back on.

When we unpacked our Christmas decorations this year, we found the Befana with her nose stubbed off, just like the ancient Roman and Greek marble statues in Italy’s museums. Fortunately, the long and pointy schnoz was located at the bottom of the bin of ornaments, and with a bit of super glue, she is as good as new.

We’ve also started our holiday baking. Well, I have started our holiday baking. Despite our recent newsletter about how men in Italy cook more than women, holiday baking is squarely in my corner. Actually, pretty much all of the holiday preparations fall to me, except for climbing up a ladder to pull the Christmas tree down from the garage rafters and then climbing back up in January to put it away again, a job that is Stefano’s alone.

Here in the States, holiday cookie exchanges are a big thing. A group of friends or family members get together, each person brings a batch of cookies to share with the others, and everyone leaves with a diverse assortment of cookies for their holiday gatherings. It’s a brilliant return investment! I’m all about anything that saves time and brings people together this time of year.

However, with a few exceptions, we’re not fans of traditional American Christmas cookies, many of which are made with candy and other packaged food and, in general, are too sweet for our palate.

Our holiday baking consists of a few favorites, most of which are simple recipes from the Lazio region of Italy, twists on Stefano’s mom Maria’s recipes: tozzetti, pan pepato, and salame al cioccolato. We supplement our home-baked holiday treats with the quintessential Italian holiday cakes panettone and pandoro, which we buy artiginale (made in a bakery, not in a factory), and torrone, an Italian nougat candy that comes in the soft version that I love and the hard, sticky, risk-pulling-your-teeth-out version that Stefano prefers.

This weekend is dedicated to salame al cioccolato, or chocolate salame, a decadent, no-bake, refrigerated treat. It’s the perfect recipe for early-season baking, given its long shelf-life in the refrigerator. Also called salame del re (the king’s salame) and salame dolce (sweet salame), this rich, chocolate log is meant to resemble a salame. It’s a simple recipe made with butter, sugar, eggs, and cocoa, with crumbled biscuits mixed in to look like pieces of fat and a dash of rum because…well, why not?

It’s the first treat our boys look for when they come home for Christmas, and preparing them makes me eager for their return.

Ingredients

3 chocolate salami

• 300 grams (2 and 1/3 packs) Oro Saiwa or Marias biscuits*, plus extra for dusting

• 150 grams (1 and 3/4 cups) sugar

• 150 grams (10 tablespoons) butter, room temperature

• 25 grams (1/3 cup) unsweetened baking cocoa

• 1 egg

• 1/2 shot glass (1 oz.) of rum

*The key ingredient to salame al cioccolato is biscotti secchi - light, dry, slightly sweet biscuits or cookies with no filling or frosting and low-fat content. In Italia, we use biscotti Oro Saiwa biscuits, which can be purchased online in the US. Or, the locally available biscuit from Mexico called Marias by Gamesa, which we find in Latino food shops or the ethnic food section of larger supermarkets, is a good substitute. Otherwise, use any simple, light biscuit or cookie.

Equipment

• Stand mixer

• Food processor

• Plastic wrap

Instructions

1. Place the biscuits into a shallow bowl and crush them into small pieces using the flat bottom of a glass or bottle. Set aside.

2. In a stand mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, and butter together.

3. Add the cocoa and rum, and beat until well mixed.

4. Add the crushed biscuits and mix on low speed for another minute or two. Transfer the mixture to a new bowl and set aside.

5. Pulverize 15-20 more biscuits in a food processor and place the crumbs into a shallow baking dish.

6. Divide the mixture into three parts and place it on a smooth surface. Use your hands to roll each piece into a log.

7. Roll each log in the biscuit crumbs until well coated.

8. Wrap each log tightly with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for several hours.

9. Serve the chocolate salame sliced into pieces, or place it on a cutting board with a knife and let your guests do the cutting, just as you might a real salame.

Note

This recipe calls for raw egg. While rare, raw eggs can contain salmonella. Consider using a pasteurized egg or substitute a dash of milk.

Shout-Outs

A nod to a few of our favorite Substack food writers, + a fun Italian show to stream this winter.

• Our Substack friend Judy Witts Francini of Simply Divina - My Tiny Tuscan Kitchen published a Salame Dolce recipe this week. She uses nuts in hers, which is a fun twist. Judy has lived, cooked, and blogged in Tuscany for 40 years; she has a wealth of knowledge, which generously shares with her readers. Check her out!

• About the study that said Italian men cook more than women, many wrote in to affirm the finding, but fellow Substacker Lolly Martin of Weeknight Pasta From Italy replied, “Here in Lombardia, I cannot think of even one household where the man cooks more than the woman.” Lolly’s perspective as a single New Yorker turned mom in a small, northern Italian town is delightful. Give her a read.

• Our blogger and Substacker friend, Frank from Memorie di Angelina, recently posted a recipe for Filoscio Napoletano, a mozzarella-filled omelet that can be whipped together in a matter of minutes on busy nights when there is little time to cook. We’ve followed Frank for over a decade. With over 700 authentic Italian recipes on his blog, Frank is, without a doubt, a guy who knows his way around the kitchen.

• I am among the nearly 200,000 subscribers who follow David Lebovitz, the American pastry chef who has lived and blogged from Paris since 2005. His recent newsletter, Measuring Cups, speaks to the struggle shared by international food writers - whether to convert the ingredient list from metric to imperial measurements.

• A giant of Italian food blogging, Rome-based Elizabeth Minchilli and her daughter Sophie Minchilli recently announced the launch of their new food tour company, Via Rosa. In a time when over-tourism is taxing Italy’s infrastructure and frustrating Italians to no end (more on that in 2025), Elizabeth and Sophie’s tours offer an authentic opportunity to get off the beaten path and experience Italy like a local.

• Stefano and I just finished streaming the Italian TV series Le Indagine di Lolita Lambosco (the Investigations of Lolita Lambosco). The show, which stars Luisa Ranieri as Lolita Lambosco, the new deputy police commissioner in Bari, is a comical and endearing Italian take on the police crime drama genre. The picturesque scenery, charming depiction of southern Italian culture, and the underlying critique of traditional gender roles make it a fun watch. You’ll need a VPN and your best Italian language skills.