A thrifty classic of the Friulian plain: slices of young, soft salami browned for barely three minutes over a slow tangle of onion, then deglazed with wine vinegar and a splash of red wine into a glossy, sharp-sweet sauce. Served hot over soft or grilled polenta, it is eaten as a hearty single dish or, in smaller portions, as antipasto, often with fermented turnips alongside and a robust Refosco in the glass.
Salame all'aceto — 'salàm tal asêt' in Friulian — belongs to the cucina povera of the Udine and Pordenone plain and is listed among Friuli-Venezia Giulia's PAT traditional products. The story told is a thrifty one: it was a way to rescue home-cured salami that had turned slightly rancid and to use up yesterday's polenta, so nothing from the household pig was wasted. The salami had to be young and soft — no more than a couple of weeks cured — because an aged, dry salami toughens and dries in the pan. A Carnia version finishes the sauce with both vinegar and wine.
Soft, fatty rounds of salami turned savoury and glazed, their edges caught and crisp; the sauce is bright and sharp with vinegar, rounded by sweet onion and wine, and the bland, creamy polenta soaks it all up.
Young salami still holds moisture and soft fat, so a quick sear renders the fat and browns the lean by the Maillard reaction without driving off its water; keep it in the pan too long and the muscle proteins contract and squeeze out juice, turning it dry and tough. The onions are sweated slowly so their sugars caramelise, building a sweetness that balances the acid to come. Vinegar and wine deglaze the fond — the browned residue dissolves into the liquid — and as the water boils off the sauce reduces and its flavours concentrate, while the harsh alcohol and some of the acetic sharpness cook away. Polenta is simply gelatinised cornstarch: a neutral, absorbent bed for the tangy fat.
Variations
Some cooks leave out the onion; others deglaze with balsamic instead of wine vinegar. The Carnia version reduces a mix of vinegar and wine to an intingolo. Boiled potatoes scented with clove make an alternative to polenta, and fermented turnips (brovada) are a common winter side. Butter or melted lardo can stand in for the oil.
On the Palate
Where Salame all'aceto sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 25 min active + 5 min waiting
- 15 min
Slice young, soft salami about 1 cm thick and peel the casing off each round.
- 23 min
Slice 3 onions very thinly.
- 310 min
Warm a little olive oil (or melted lardo) in a wide pan and sweat the onions over low heat until soft and pale gold, about 10 minutes; do not let them brown hard.
Watch outSweat the onions low and slow to soft pale gold, about ten minutes — you want their sugars sweet, not a hard scorch that turns bitter under the vinegar.
- 43 min
Raise the heat and lay the salami in a single layer; sear about 3 minutes, turning once, just until the fat renders and the edges catch — no longer, or it toughens.
Watch outSear the salami just 3 minutes till the fat renders and the edges catch — no longer, or the lean meat squeezes out its juice and turns dry and tough.
- 51 min
Pour in the wine vinegar and a splash of red wine and scrape up the browned bits from the pan.
- 610 min
Lower the heat and simmer 8–10 minutes, until the liquid reduces to a glossy sauce.
Watch outSimmer the vinegar and wine down to a glossy sauce, 8–10 minutes — this is where the harsh alcohol and sharp acid cook off; stop while it still coats the back of a spoon.
- 78 min
Meanwhile, slice and grill day-old polenta, or have soft polenta ready and hot.
- 82 min
Plate the salami over or beside the polenta, spoon the onion and sauce on top, and serve hot.
