Salami Guisado

Ingredients

• 500 g Dominican salami, cut into thick half-moons
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 onions, sliced into rings
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 200 ml water
• 3 culantro leaves, shredded
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Method

1. Fry the salami first

   Cut the salami thick, a good centimetre, and fry the slices dry in a hot caldero until the edges curl and darken. Thin slices vanish into the sauce and lose the chew that makes this dish what it is, and the fat they release is the cooking fat for everything that follows.

2. Burn the sugar

   Lift the salami out, add the oil and sugar and let the sugar darken to the colour of strong coffee before you stop it. Go by colour and not by the clock; salami fat is already in the pot and it carries heat faster than clean oil, so the caramel turns a good ten seconds early.

3. Onions into the caramel

   Throw in the onions, green pepper and garlic and stir hard for four minutes. The onions are the point of salami guisado, not a garnish, so keep them in rings and pull them off the heat while they still have some body.

4. Make the guiso

   Stir in the tomato puree, oregano, vinegar, water and culantro, return the salami and simmer for eight minutes until the sauce clings. The vinegar is not optional: salami is salty and fatty, and without that sharp note the whole pan tastes flat and heavy after three bites.

   8 min

5. Season and serve

   Grind in the black pepper and taste before reaching for salt, because there is very likely none needed. Serve with white rice, fried ripe plantain or simply bread to wipe the pan.