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Honey Butter Potato Chip Tower With Crispy Salami

A crispy ham tower in a bowl with a glass of beer on the side.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Lillian Chou

This salami and potato chip tower, inspired by Korean honey butter chips, is a stunner at any festive occasion. It’s gorgeous to look at, delicious to eat (and eat and eat), and so much fun to make. Crisp up salami slices in a skillet, mix with store-bought potato chips, drizzle everything with spiced honey butter, and build a tower as high as you can go, following the architectural lead of Ernesto’s, a Basque restaurant in Manhattan. These chips will go well with any drink, but we highly recommend a martini or a crisp beer.

Recipe information

  • Total Time

    20 minutes

  • Yield

    6–8 servings

Ingredients

2

5-oz. bags sea salt potato chips (preferably Kettle Brand)

8

oz. salami, thinly sliced

⅔

cup honey

½

cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1

tsp. cayenne pepper

1

tsp. coarsely ground black pepper, plus more

Flaky sea salt

Need to make a substitution?

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place potato chips in a large bowl. Working in batches if needed, cook salami in a single layer in a dry large skillet over medium heat, turning occasionally with tongs and reducing heat to medium-low to prevent burning if needed, until crisp, about 5 minutes per batch. Add salami to potato chips and toss gently to combine.

    Step 2

    Add honey, butter, cayenne, and 1 tsp. black pepper to fat in skillet. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until butter is melted and mixture is bubbling vigorously, about 3 minutes.

    Step 3

    Drizzle half of honey butter over chip mixture and toss with a wooden spoon or heatproof rubber spatula to combine. Drizzle remaining honey butter over and toss again until honey butter evenly coats chips and salami. Pile chip mixture in a shallow bowl or on a large plate to build a mound as high as you can go. Sprinkle with sea salt and more black pepper.