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Piedmont salami is among the top 5 best salamis I've ever tasted. The mild acidity, the delicate sweetness of the pork, the aroma of aged cheese, the hints of garlic, and a touch of spiciness all create a superbly enjoyable charcuterie product.

Piedmont salami is native to the Piedmont region in Italy and dates back to the end of the eighteenth century. In 1854, Giovanni Vialardi, royal head chef of the House of Savoy, described the method of making pork salami with a recipe similar to this one, which included the addition of a glass of good barbera wine. The addition of red wine with a designation of origin, obtained from Barbera, Nebbiolo, and Dolcetto grapes, the three most famous wines of Piedmont, shows the strong connection of this salami to the Piedmont region.

Making Piedmont Salami

According to ISIT – Istituto Salumi Italiani Tutelati, Piedmont salami is typically made from a mixture of fresh (not previously frozen) lean meat and fat. Lean meat may come from the leg or shoulder, while the fatty part may come from the noble fat of the belly, throat, or back.

Both the meat and the fat are ground through an 8-10 mm grinder plate. The meat for Salame Piemonte is seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, cloves, nutmeg, and, invariably, red wine from Piedmont. The ground meat and spices are then mixed long enough to obtain the characteristic elongated shape of the fat pieces.

The meat is stuffed into natural casings or reconstituted casings of natural origin and then tied with twine.

It's worth noting that traditionally, meat for Piedmont salami is dried in well-ventilated cold rooms prior to grinding and stuffing. This results in a shorter drying time, which promotes softness and the delicate flavor characteristic of this salami. I have yet to experiment with pre-drying meat before making salami, but it sounds like an interesting approach to explore in the future.

Finally, salami is dry-cured in well-ventilated rooms for a period that varies depending on the diameter of the fresh salami: 10 to 50 days for salami with a diameter between 40 and 70 mm, and 21 to 84 days for salami with a diameter between 71 and 90 mm. Of course, without the pre-drying of the meat, expect these timelines to be longer. However, you can shorten the drying time using my accelerated salami drying protocol, which I described in detail in my Salame Toscano and other posts.

The final PH of the salami should be 5.2 or greater.

Tasting notes

This salami has a delicate smell of aged cheese, wine, and a hint of garlic. It has a pleasant aged pork aroma. Excellent acidity, very mild, just right. The taste is sweet and delicate, just a touch spicy from pepper and nutmeg, with good aromatic persistence and balanced saltiness.

Overall, this salami has fantastic flavors and taste, but this particular batch of salami was on the fattier side, as you can see in the pictures. The higher fat content was somewhat intentional.

You see, the specifications for this salami allow for the fat/protein ratio to be a maximum of 1.40. This prompted me to experiment, and instead of using only lean meat and fat, as specified in the recipe below, I used a mix of lean meat and some fatty trimmings on top of the 25% fat. That drove the fat content higher. I can't say how much higher exactly, but I wished I hadn't done it. Twenty to twenty-five percent fat content is where I like my salami to be, nothing more.

Every family member agreed, though, that the flavor of this salami was excellent, but the excessive fat detracted from the sausage's enjoyment. I would be careful not to add any additional fat to this salami.