Make yours a charcuterie chalet
Take the next step beyond gingerbread with a house high in protein
It looks just like Hansel and Gretel’s dream house: a European chalet with a perfectly pitched shingled roof, firelogs stacked outside and decorated evergreens framing the fairytale picture.
But wait! This house isn’t made of gumdrops and cookies. Look closely and you’ll see the roof shingles are salami. The evergreens are fashioned from mini-mozzarella balls, olives and grape tomatoes. Those fire logs are actually mozzarella sticks wrapped in prosciutto.
Welcome to the world of charcuterie chalets. Images of these charming houses are trending on Instagram as more families are ditching the cookies and sweets to build a Candyland for carnivores with meats, cheeses, veggies, crackers and pretzel logs.
We turned to Evan Inada, whose friends and coworkers know him as “The Salami Guy.” He’s charcuterie/partnerships director for Columbus Craft Meats, a 103-year old company founded by Italian immigrants in San Francisco that is now owned by Hormel Foods.
Inada didn’t start this meat-hut trend (neither did Lady Gaga), but he definitely jumped in with both feet.
“I won’t take credit for it because I must’ve gotten about 60 emails from random strangers, co-workers and all my family and friends, showing me charcuterie chalets on Instagram and saying, ‘Hey, where’s yours? Like, when are you guys going to do something cool?’” he said.
He accepted the challenge and set to work building a whole village with three salami, cheese and cracker houses; three cheese-cherry tomato-olive Christmas trees; a prosciutto wood shed; bocconcini snowmen and a sled made of red bell pepper and cheese.
So who’s doing this? Inquiring minds want to know.
“All ages, but I think (many are) the milennials and the generations that are really tied to the social media,” he said. “I think this is a perfect outlet for them because they are at home and away from their friends and they want to have something they can maybe do online together through a Zoom.”
He envisions them snapping pictures to post on social media.
“Almost like a challenge or a competition on who could build the best one. So I think it’s really kind of showing off your creativity and your food stylist skills,” he said.
Inada’s creation looked so over-the-top, nerd-level cool that we had to find out how to build our own. He walked us through the instructions. We’ve broken it down for you into three steps.
1. Choose a very sturdy board or tray
Pick one that can contain all you’re building. Inada says there are no rules about size or dimensions. You don’t have to go crazy
and create a whole village, but it’s a good idea to make sure the board will fit into the refrigerator if you don’t eat your whole chalet in one sitting.
“For salami, you can leave it at room temperature for a few hours and be fine,” he said. “And when you’re folding the salami, it’s better to have it be a little closer to room temperature.”
Once it’s built you’ll put the tray into the fridge and then bring it out when you’re ready to enjoy it.
It’s also best to choose a tray or board with a bit of an edge, he said.
“If you are going to be putting it in the fridge, it’s a good idea because that way it’ll prevent it just a little bit more from tipping over and getting damaged,” he said. “Have a nice, flat platform for your chalet,
because level is key to building one that won’t fall apart.”
2. Choose your materials You’ll need meats, cheeses, veggies and crackers for each chalet.
“So I always start with at least three, four varieties of salamis, and I would go about half a pound to a pound each, just to be safe and to make sure you have enough product, because you don’t want to skimp when you’re building roof tiles, for example, because you really want to be able to cover that whole area,” Inada said. “And then, cheese-wise, I would go about the same way. Pick three or four of your favorite cheeses, and about a half a pound of each would probably be fine.”
Think visually with your selections. For a snow scene, use salamis with
white, bloomy rinds. Micro-plane some parmesan to pile up for snowdrifts. Use mini-mozz balls if you want to make trees and snow people.
For the actual construction, you should use sturdy crackers. But as wild as it sounds, Inada’s best hack is to buy a gingerbreadhouse kit.
“If you want, you could still eat the whole thing because salami pairs great with gingerbread,” he said. “I actually whipped mascarpone with some honey and shaved cacao. And when you whip that together, it’s basically the glue to hold everything on top of the gingerbreadhouse frame. It’s easier than holding crackers together and waiting for it to stay in place.”
If you don’t care for mascarpone, use cream
cheese or herb cheese spread for the “glue.” To build the Christmas trees, use styrofoam cones, toothpicks will hold the olives, mozzarella balls and grape tomatoes in place.
3. Start building
Give yourself an hour or more to enjoy your project; don’t rush yourself. Get creative and give it your personality. Love Americana? Go to town with pretzel logs for an Abe Lincolnesque log-cabin look. Tiki fan? Add special touches like ham and pineapple, maybe some string cheese for snow people in grass skirts.
Let it be you: a surf shack, a palapa on a Mexican beach … use your imagination, says Inada. “I did a Winnebago with Santa fishing on the lake because he’s got to shelter in place, too.”