Salame

Travellers, they say, come very unexpectedly, and for long intervals not at all; so that, excepting at the times of arrival of the Diligences, they seldom have food in the house beyond such as they now set on the table, namely, eggs and salame (or ham sausage), a plate of good trout, and an indifferent steak, […]

“Let us go to the cantina,” Gorgio said. “We can pay there for a piece of salame.” […] “Eat salame,” said Gorgio. “The other stuff is too old.”

Taking advantage of the stops the train made at San Giorgio di Piano or at San Pietro in Casale, we took it in turns to jump down and buy something to eat at the station bars: rolls newly filled with raw salame, chocolate with almonds that tasted of soap, half-mouldy Osvego biscuits. […] I got a piece of salame from the pantry, some stale bread, some cheese rinds . . . you should have seen the appetite she put it all away with!

Masin was chewing a piece of salame, somewhat disturbed by the presence of the other customer sitting there drinking. […] I was given meat, salame and pancakes, but I didn’t eat much.

Today one sells packaged merchandise (roba in scatola), salame, mortadella, coffee. […] But now, without even realizing it, with the bread they are eating a piece of salame or cheese and drinking a glass of wine, or they are dressing the minestra with olive oil, and this soup is not a meal in itself; […] All six families start the day with a breakfast of milk and coffee or milk and tea and bread or biscuits or bread and salame or ham. […] Lunches consist of the traditional Italian first plate of pasta or minestra and a second course, often meat, fish, cheese, or a pork product like salame and a vegetable, or sometimes just a vegetable like potatoes, broccoli or artichokes. […] In most cases supper was a little less complete than the noonday meal; sometimes it consisted of a hot soup or pasta and hot vegetables and sometimes of bread and ham, salame, or cheese, and a salad.

He discarded the skin of the salame in a bronze ashtray at his elbow. […] “At one, we were given our ration, which consisted of three hundred grams of bread, fifty grams of margarine, and sometimes a piece of salame.[…]”

There are many types of local salame throughout Italy, with various ingredients, flavorings, sizes, shapes, and curing processes. Most Italian salame, however, is uncooked, air-dried and cured, and made with pork along with other meats, lard, or pancetta, and boldly flavored with garlic, wine, herbs, and spices. Unless otherwise directed, it is recommended that you use a salame from the same region as the recipe.