A salami that is actually made of chocolate and biscuits. Mind. Blown.
I felt rather Heston Blumenthal-esque when I made this, presenting all that chocolatey goodness under different pretenses. Very wicked. Very original. Whimsical, too
And then, I realized this was a very traditional dessert that’s been made in Europe for decades and decades.
And it turns out my maternal grandmother used to make chocolate salami every year for my mom’s birthday so I guess it’s in my blood.
I found this recipe on a French blog so I had to use Google translate where my French-language skills didn’t cut it.
Here is my loose translation….
Ingredients:
200g dark chocolate (70 per cent)
100g butter (or butter-tasting margarine)
2 extra-fresh egg yolks
2 teaspoons of Amaretto liqueur (or whatever you prefer)
2 pinches of dried chili flakes
8 petits-beurre cookies (80g) (any butter biscuits should do, or tea cookies)
7 ladyfingers (40g)
40g mix of blanched almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts
1/2 cup of icing sugar (the recipe called for less, but I don’t think you can go wrong with even more just to be on the safe side)
Directions:
1. Coarsely chop the chocolate and place in a bowl resistant to heat. Add the butter, cut into pieces and place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch water).
2. Melt in the double boiler over low heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon without incorporating air.
3. Once the mixture is melted and forms a silky smooth cream, remove from the water bath and let cool then add the egg yolks, Amaretto and pepper flakes. Mix well.
4. Coarsely chop the biscuits and nuts (they will simulate the fatty pieces in the sausage) and incorporate into the chocolate mixture (crumbs too!). Include some chopped nuts as well as whole nuts
5. Take a large piece of aluminum foil and put it on your the work surface. Then place a rectangle of thick plastic wrap overtop the foil. Spread the chocolate-nut-cookie mixture over a length of about 35 cm and then fold the plastic wrap over to enclose the mixture tightly to give a form of sausage. Twist the ends of cling film in a screw motion and to keep it as tight as possible (see video).
6. Now wrap with aluminum foil and place it flat in the refrigerator for several hours (minimum 3 hours) or overnight night to harden. If you’re impatient you can put it in the freezer for about an hour, but I would rather you take the time to let it harden.
7. The next day or as soon as the sausage is sufficiently hard, remove the foil and plastic wrap. Pour the icing sugar on the sausage and roll it to coat. With a brush, remove excess icing sugar before cutting some fairly thick slices. Serve on wooden cutting board.
Substitutions:
I used French brandy instead of Amaretto, because I love French brandy. But you can really use whatever you think works best. Perhaps Marsala, or rum, even.
Would I make this again?
Definitely, I took it to a party and it was a big hit. Not only did people take pictures, it was getting picked at as the night went on, in spite of all the other delicious desserts on the sweet table.
Grade: Five stars out of five. Love this salami. And you will too. And you can really make it your own with your own substitutions of your favourite biscuits or alcohol.
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