This year we (I mean Sam) are making salami with our friends here in the Borgata. We have done this once before but this time Sam made a hotter Calabrese salami rather than the milder Piemontese one.

This is our neighbor Claudio and his son, although Sam was hard at work he was also taking the photos so he isn’t in any of them.

Making salami is such a traditional part of Italian life, the first time I was invited to join in was in Australia when I was dating Sam. We spent the day at his Uncles house along with all the cousins and extended family, it felt like a scene from the movie ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’.

Afterwards we had a huge feast, at a table that seemed to go on forever. As a suburburn girl from the other side of the city I was in shock. I had entered another country, where everyone spoke in Italian, drank vino, and ate and ate and ate.

Our life together has always felt a bit this way, my Australian life and my Italian life. They very rarely overlap. Two worlds that have their own traditions, set of ‘rules’ and lifestyles. Living here in the Borgata brings this home so sharply, and being invited to make the salami is a great honor and one I treasure.

I hope you enjoy some of the photos that Sam took during the weeks making salami. If you have any questions let me know below, I did ask him to write this post but I think with some encouragement from you he’ll add his voice. He just loves to cook, and has been bottling up peppers the last few days.

Please know I’ll be updating this post with further photos and recipies. I’m just coming good after being really unwell for weeks.  The video is on YouTube and if you are not squirmish you can view it here (warning could upset some viewers).

Sadly I totally missed making salami, but know that we now have 104kg of salami hanging in the kids room in the main house. They are being tended lovingly each day and the cotechino are in the freezer.

So go ahead ask away…….any questions??

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