Slices of salam de biscuiţi or biscuit salami on small plates sitting on a marble board.

This biscuit salami is part of the family of chocolate salamis found in Europe and South America — in Romania, it’s called salam de biscuiţi. It’s important to to keep some of the biscuits’ crunchy texture. There are two ways to do this: First, don’t let the syrup thicken too much — it should remain rather thin. And second, only use enough syrup to make the roll hold together — too much will make the biscuits soggy. Recipe provided by Andrei Feher, conductor of the KW Symphony Orchestra.

Yield/Servings 30 to 40 slices

Salam de biscuiţi

1 hrPrep Time

2 hrCook Time

3 hrTotal Time

Save RecipeSave Recipe
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 500 g Social Tea Biscuits
  • 150 g (approx. 1½ cups) walnut halves, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
  • Zest of one orange
  • 200 ml (¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon) water or milk
  • 100 g (½ cup) sugar
  • 18 g (3 tablespoons) cocoa powder (not hot chocolate mix)
  • 150 g (¾ cup) butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

  • Crush the biscuits to create a rubble of pea-sized and smaller pieces; this should yield about 1.25 to 1.5 litres. Mix the biscuit crumbs with the walnuts and orange zest. Set aside.
  • Gently heat the water or milk, sugar and cocoa for 5 minutes, but don't let it come to a boil. Stir in the butter. Continue stirring for about 5 minutes or until you have a thin syrup. Take the pan off the stove and stir in the vanilla. Let sit until it’s cool enough to handle, but not cold.
  • Add three-quarters of the syrup to the biscuit mixture and mix well. Add more syrup as needed until it is firm enough to be formed into the shape of a rolling pin. Divide the mixture in two.
    • To shape:
  • Tear off a couple large pieces of plastic wrap and overlap the long edges by a couple of centimetres so you have one large sheet.
  • Wet your hands with water and place one portion of the mixture on the plastic, so it forms a 30 cm (12”) log, along the long side of the sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and firmly roll it back and forth and press in the ends. As it compacts, its length will shrink and girth will plump.
  • Twist the ends of the plastic to cover the ends and keep the filling from drying out.
  • Repeat above steps with the second portion of the mixture.
  • Cool in the fridge for at least two hours (or overnight, if you wish).
  • When ready to serve, place the salami on a cutting board and carefully remove the plastic wrap. Slice with a bread knife or another serrated blade into one-centimetre (½”) discs.
7.8.1.2
15
https://inkstainedapron.com/2020/01/01/salam-de-biscuiti/

What’s a spoon or a cup?

A version of this recipe appeared in my profile of Andrei Feher for my World of Food column for Grand Magazine (January-February 2020).