I’m a big fan of salami. I’ve never done a deep dive into how salami is made. Which is likely why I’m a big fan of salami.

When I was a kid, the go-to was the hard salami sandwich with yellow mustard on plain white bread. Not toasted, not melted, nothing. Also, it had to be at least three pieces of salami and if not that much why even bother? Oh, and a cup of milk. Always a cup of milk.

I’m also not sure exactly why only hard salami, but that was a requirement, and it couldn’t have any of those peppers or anything else in it because that just distracted from the salami, and again, why even bother?

It also had to be very thinly sliced because again, why bother?

There was never any talk of warming up the salami first. Blasphemous! I thought. I was very content to eat my cold salami sandwiches for the rest of my live long days.

Over the years I also expanded my repertoire to include salami roll ups, which included cream cheese, various herbs, and recently a small slice of pickle. Delicious. These would most likely come out around the holidays as a snack, and usually I wouldn’t make a pass by the tray with at least grabbing a couple as I quickly passed by, and then as I passed by again.

I was reminded of all my Hard and Fast Salami Rules (band name) as I was pleasantly surprised by having someone buy me one of these bad boys today for lunch.

If you are wondering, this is a Gioa’s Hot Salami Sandwich from Goia’s Deli on the Hill in St. Louis. https://www.gioiasdeli.com/

The existence of this sandwich actively flies in the face of all of my preconceived notions of how salami is supposed to be enjoyed. it is simply one of the best sandwiches around.

The best thing about it is that acquiring this sandwich was a surprise and someone else bought it for me. Miracles do happen.