Photo from Pasticceria Sal De Riso – Minori Facebook profile.
Salvatore De Riso, aka Sal De Riso, was born in not too distant 1966 in Minori, a small pearl of the Amalfi Coast.
In a land where lemons are the undisputed protagonists of the scene, Sal De Riso could not resist their scent and the call of the sound of the ladles, more bewitching than the song of the Sirens.
On this page we try to reconstruct the history of one of the greatest ambassadors of the Amalfi Coast by illustrating the main awards he has won, presenting his most famous recipes and providing tourist information for those who want to go to Minori to taste the delicacies prepared by the well-known pastry chef.
Table of Contents
Pastry shop in Minori: where it is and how to get there
Pastry shop Sal De Riso is located in Via Roma, 80 in Minori.
By car, if you need to get to the Amalfi Coast specifically, we recommend taking one of the A3 exits Vietri sul Mare or Angri (in this case you have to proceed to the Valico di Chiunzi), continuing to Minori on the SS 163.
The pastry shop is on the right coming from Maiori, opposite the seafront, near the car park. By bus, take the SITA bus line towards Amalfi.
Workshop in Tramonti
Sal De Riso’s artisan laboratory was established in 1989 and is a local and national reference point for pastries and more.
The company is located in Tramonti in Via S.Maria La Neve, 5 kilometres from Minori, where the sales outlet is located. The ‘Sal De Riso’ brand is imprinted on all products, from sweets to profiteroles, limoncello babas and lemon delights.
Other Sal De Riso creations include ice creams and Nonno Antonio’s traditional granita, jams that are excellent for spreading at breakfast on slices of toasted bread and for filling desserts, refined liqueurs made with the sfusato lemon from the Amalfi Coast, and savoury delicacies made by expert hands as the dear old locals did.
Sal De Riso’s factory has 340 square metres for workshops, 200 square metres for storage and only 40 square metres for offices; it is open from Monday to Saturday from 08.00 to 17.00 and is closed for weekly rest on Sundays.
To reach Sal De Riso’s workshop by car, take the Vietri sul Mare or Angri exit (for Valico di Chiunzi), continuing to Maiori, on the SS 163. Then take the SP2 and continue straight on.
For a tasting, however, the best option is to go to Minori.
Recipes by Sal De Riso: ricotta and pear cake, lemon caprese, lemon tiramisu
Salvatore De Riso is the author of many cookbooks, the first two of which were very successful, and the recipes he has chosen to share with pastry fans are those of the Neapolitan tradition.
“Dolci in famiglia”, published by Rizzoli in 2009, contains 60 recipes, some suitable for coeliacs, and an explanation of his signature dessert, the ‘Ricotta and pear’ cake.
In ‘Dolci del sole’, published by Rizzoli in 2008, Sal De Riso tells a love story, and between the lines it is clear why he chose the sweetest job in the world. The recipe book is full of anecdotes about the preparation of traditional desserts such as sfogliatelle and babà.
Sal De Riso’s website has a section dedicated to e-commerce of the company’s best products, but if you want to try your hand at preparing some of them, here are three recipes that the maestro has made available to Amalfi Coast lovers: ricotta and pear cake, lemon caprese and lemon tiramisu.
Maybe you won’t get the same results but, if you like DIY, you can at least try to emulate De Riso’s exploits.
Ricotta cheese and pears cake
Sal De Riso’s ricotta and pear cake was born in the shadow of the basilica of Santa Trofimena, in Minori. One day, while working in his laboratory, he had a sudden epiphany.
Not far from the counter there were pinnate pears from Agerola, taking a look at the table, ricotta and hazelnuts from Giffoni appeared. This dessert symbolizes the soul of the Amalfi people, people as plain as ricotta, as humble as pears, as strong as hazelnuts.
The ricotta and pear cake has a registered trademark, because many have tried to steal the paternity from Sal De Riso, so much so that it is found in London, Parisian, Australian and Nigerian restaurants and has won over the American first lady, Michelle Obama.Ricotta cheese and pears cake
Sal De Riso’s ricotta and pear cake was born in the shadow of the basilica of Santa Trofimena, in Minori. One day, while working in his laboratory, she had inspiration.
Not far from the counter there were pinnate pears from Agerola, taking a look at the table, ricotta and hazelnuts from Giffoni appeared. This dessert symbolizes the soul of the Amalfi people, people as essential as ricotta, as humble as pears, as strong as hazelnuts.
The ricotta and pear cake has a registered trademark, because many have tried to steal the paternity from Sal De Riso, so much so that it is found in London, Parisian, Australian and Nigerian restaurants and has won over the American first lady, Michelle Obama.
Ingredients:
For the hazelnut sponge cake
🔹 Sugar 130 g;
🔹 Eggs (N°3) gr300;
🔹 Ground Giffoni hazelnuts 180g;
🔹 Flour 60 g;
🔹 Melted butter 100 g;
For the stuffing
🔹 Tramonti cow ricotta 600 g;
🔹 Whipped cream 250 g;
🔹 Sugar 250 g;
🔹 Bourbon Islands Vanilla Bean No. 1;
Pear dipping
🔹 Water 200 g;
🔹 Sugar 140 g;
🔹 Pear distillate 100g;
Pennate pears from Agerola
🔹 Pinnate pears 350 g;
🔹 Sugar 100g;
🔹 Pear distillate 20 g;
🔹 Corn starch 6 g.
Preparation
Start with the hazelnut sponge cake, which you must prepare by whipping the eggs with the sugar for about 12 minutes, while separately you must grind the hazelnuts with the flour. In the meantime, melt the butter in a bain-marie.
After whipping the eggs, add the flour and hazelnuts and finally the melted butter. Use a spatula and make delicate movements from bottom to top to avoid dismantling the mixture.
Using a pastry bag, spread the dough on the bottom of a cake tin, the height should be approximately 1 cm. Inform the discs at 180°C and cook for 10 minutes.
While the hazelnut sponge cake is cooking, mix the ricotta with the sugar and vanilla. You can also use an electric whisk, add the stiff whipped cream.
To soak the pear, boil the water with the sugar for about 30 seconds, remove from the heat and pour in the pear distillate.
The Agerola pears, on the other hand, must be peeled and cut into cubes, after having sprinkled them with lemon juice, cook them in a pan with extra virgin olive oil and sugar. As soon as the pears release the liquid, add the corn starch and the pear distillate.
The final part is that of the composition which requires a certain amount of manual skill. To make the work easier, use a round tray covered with baking paper and place a steel circle, place the sponge cake and moisten it with the pear mixture, fill it with the cream. and pear cubes.
Leave to rest in the freezer for at least 1 couple of hours, then take out and decorate with icing sugar and pear segments in syrup.
Caprese cake with lemon
Caprese is a sweet symbol of the Neapolitan pastry tradition, Sal De Riso’s version with lemon is unusual and equally tasty. Even in this case, many have tried to reproduce it, but the secret is all in the raw materials used.
With the doses indicated below, you need a 22cm mould.
Ingredients:
🔹 200 g of peeled almonds
🔹 120 g of icing sugar
🔹 1/2 vanilla pod
🔹 30 g of candied Sfusato Amalfitano PGI lemon peels
🔹 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
🔹 180 g of white chocolate
🔹 50 g of potato starch
🔹 5 g of baking powder
🔹 5 eggs
🔹 60 g of granulated sugar
🔹 100 ml of extra virgin olive oil
🔹 Powdered sugar to taste
Preparation
Using a lemon ricer, cut some zest and cook them in a saucepan for about 10 minutes with 2 tablespoons of water and 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Remember to keep a handful of fresh ones aside. While the peels are candied, take a bowl and whisk the eggs and sugar (also in this case the process must last at least 12 minutes and the mixture must triple).
In a blender, blend the peeled almonds and vanilla. Add all the remaining ingredients to the dough starting from the almond flour and continuing with the candied and fresh lemon peels, the starch and the sifted yeast and the grated white chocolate.
Finally, slowly pour in the oil and mix until you obtain a fluid and fragrant mixture. Transfer to the previously buttered and floured cake pan and bake at 200°C for 5 minutes, then lower to 160°C for another 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and when it cools, sprinkle with icing sugar.
Lemon Tiramisù
On many occasions, Sal De Riso has declared that his favorite product is lemon and when browsing through his recipes you immediately notice his mastery in offering it in all the “sauces”.
Lemon tiramisu is an all-Amalfi reinterpretation of the dessert most loved by Italians, thanks to which it has won many awards. This recipe is also taken from the book “Dolci del Sole”. As you will notice by reading the list of ingredients, the ladyfingers and mascarpone are also homemade, according to tradition.
For the Savoyards
🔹 1 whole egg
🔹 3 egg yolks
🔹 3 egg whites
🔹 100 g of sugar
🔹 10 g of wildflower honey
🔹 10 g of 00 flour
🔹 20 g of potato starch
🔹 ½ Sfusato Amalfitano PGI lemon
For the mascarpone
🔹 350 g of fresh liquid cream
🔹 5 drops of citric acid in 50% water
For the lemon cream
🔹 3 egg yolks
🔹 60g sugar
🔹 2 Sfusato Amalfitano PGI lemons
🔹 60 g of butter
For the lemon mascarpone cream
🔹 250g of mascarpone
🔹 150 g of lemon cream
🔹 200 g of sweetened semi-whipped cream
🔹 20 g of “Paesaggi” limoncello
🔹 12 g of gelatine sheets
🔹 80 g of egg yolk (n. 4)
🔹 100 g of sugar
🔹 60 g of water
🔹 2 Sfusato Amalfitano PGI lemons
For the limoncello syrup
🔹 70 g of water
🔹 50 g of sugar
🔹 50 g of “Paesaggi” limoncello
🔹 1 Sfusato Amalfitano PGI lemon
Preparation
To prepare the ladyfingers, take a bowl, beat the whole egg with the egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest and honey to obtain a frothy mixture.
In another bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff with the sugar and a few drops of lemon. Incorporate the flour and starch into the eggs and egg whites, being careful not to let them fall apart.
Transfer the mixture into a pastry bag with a smooth nozzle and, on the baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, make sticks about 6 cm long.
Sprinkle them with sugar and cook them for 8 minutes at 220°C. For the mascarpone, pour 20 grams of boiling water into a glass and dissolve 20 grams of citric acid (which you can buy in the pharmacy), then cook the cream on the heat and 5 minutes after the first boil, add 5 drops of citric acid.
Let it rest at room temperature for at least half an hour, then pour the mixture into a ceramic container and let it rest in the fridge for 12 hours. For the lemon cream, grate the peel and leave it to infuse in the juice, then filter.
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and lemon and cook for 1 minute at a high temperature, then cool in a bain-marie and mix with the mixer to obtain a velvety cream, finally add the butter cut into pieces and emulsify.
Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge. Before moving on to the composition of the tiramisu you must prepare the lemon mascarpone cream by boiling the lemon peels for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat, leave to cool and dilute with the sugar.
After pasteurizing the egg yolks with water and sugar boiling at 120° (you will need a candy thermometer), beat with the whisk.
Separately, combine the mascarpone and lemon cream with the cream, limoncello, gelatin and whipped egg yolks. The limoncello syrup is the last step for Sal De Riso’s Lemon Tiramisu and is prepared with water, sugar and lemon zest.
The composition of the lemon tiramisu is the most fun part, place the baking paper on a rectangular tray and place a 15×25 cm mold of the same shape. Dip the ladyfingers in the syrup and arrange them on the bottom of the mold, alternating with layers of mascarpone cream.
On the top layer, make small decorations with the pastry bag, then leave to cool in the freezer for at least 3 hours. Take out a few minutes before serving to unmold.
History and awards of Sal De Riso
After studying as a chef at the Hotel Institute of Salerno, he began to take his first steps in the most important kitchens of the hotels on the Amalfi Coast such as the Hotel Palumbo and the Hotel Caruso in Ravello and the San Pietro in Maiori.
At 21 he discovered that his greatest passion was pastry making and decided to take a risk by opening his first workshop in the heart of Minori, behind the family business, specializing in traditional pastry making.
He soon began studying new recipes, the first real dessert outside the “canons” was the “Amalfi Lemon profiteroles” (with PGI denomination).
The De Riso family has managed a tobacconist’s bar in the central square of Maiori since 1908: in summer they served excellent ice creams and lemon granitas, among the most famous on the coast.
Inspiration and creativity, combined with the choice of typical local raw materials, are the aspects that make Sal De Riso’s pastry shop special: his place in Minori is a temple of goodness that attracts visitors from outside the region and leaves a pleasant memory to foreign tourists who return to the Amalfi Coast also for a slice of Lemon Caprese cake.
Sal De Riso was a student of the best pastry chefs and in 1994 he attended the academy of Italian Master Pastry Chefs.
Igino Massari, the founder, said of him: «For De Riso, working is an act of competence and intelligence, a source of perfection and joy. He thus becomes a symbol, the guide of those who, like him, have the strength to obey their own internal law when they know they are right.”
Among the awards obtained by Sal De Riso there is the Gold medal for artistic presentation in 1997 in Rimini, he later worked to create the longest babà in the world of 319.5 meters which he brought to Piano di Sorrento, he also represented the Italian nation at the “Mediterranean Stravaganza” event in Montecarlo by preparing desserts for Prince Ranieri; in 1998 Sal De Riso won another Gold medal for the Amalfi dessert which became the dessert of the Academy of Italian Master Pastry Chefs, while in Vincenza he won the Gold medal for the best gastronomic panettone (beating colleagues from Milan).
Sal De Riso’s art is expressed at its best in large works such as the largest pyramid-shaped cake in the world weighing 500 kg.
But it doesn’t end here, because Sal De Riso, the “King of Cakes” is also the “King of Expo Sapori”, in 2003 he obtained recognition for the best typical Italian dessert, while the following year, his “Ricotta” cake and pears” was awarded the special mention.
Sal De Riso’s production does not stop at the pastry shop, in Tramonti he opened an artisan laboratory in which he produced the best extra virgin olive oil, “Ampolla d’oro” in Siena in 2007.
Recently, in 2015, Salvatore De Riso won the “Re Panettone” award, once again establishing himself on the national stage and clearing the stereotype according to which the dessert is a prerogative only of Northern Italy.
The most important recognition is imprinted in his heart. On the occasion of the Jubilee of 2000, Sal De Riso prepared a cake, “Oro Puro”, thanks to which he was able to meet Pope John Paul II in a private audience.
Just the evening before, his wife Anna had told him that she was pregnant, a few months later Anastasia, the firstborn, would arrive, and a few years ago Antonio joined the family to complete the picture.
Another curiosity about Sal De Riso’s private life concerns his relationship with Anna, who he conquered with the “Lemon Delight”. She, Roman, remained next to him in Minori, and today is his alter ego from a professional point of view.
Salvatore De Riso regularly participates in the television program “La Prova del Cuoco” hosted by Antonella Clerici: through the small screen he has conquered the audience at home with his friendliness and the audience in the studio with his delicious, simple creations which recall childhood with the lemon is the undisputed protagonist, in fact he is the President of the Consortium for the Protection of the Amalfi Lemon.
The best portrait of the pastry chef was done by the presenter who said: «If I had to paint a portrait of Salvatore in words, I would describe him as a strong, knowledgeable and tenacious man from the Coast. A pastry chef in the full sense of the term, who you can imagine as a fantastic character in a children’s fairy tale or as the absolute protagonist of modern symposiums on the most advanced techniques of the art in which he excels.”
