One of the most exciting food items on the Salamanca radar is hornazo. It is advertised in the shop windows of many places including bakeries, cake stores and jamonerias.
I was lucky enough to sample a few different places during my two weeks. It is a pastry crust filled with pork loin (lomo), chorizo and jamon. Apparently some also have hard boiled eggs, but none that I saw. One other thing that is quite quaint to me is that these are eaten cold. They will heat these up upon request, but they told me that isn't standard.
Santa Lucia
These were the first I tried from Plaza Mayor. I decided to get a whole single one rather than a piece of the big shared version. Whether it was because of that or just the way they make it there, it was filled with very little meat and lots of pastry. I had it mildly warmed and although ok, wasn't that exciting. It was also a little more expensive at €3.7.
Viandes de Salamanca
This was the only one I tried from a specialty jamon store. It was the most expensive at €4 or €4.5. You can see the meat busting out of this one. I ordered it takeaway and heated it up myself in the microwave at home. It was nicer with a thick slice of lomo and salami. Not bad at all.
La Tahona de la Abuela
When researching online, Abuela's hornazo was the one that I had listed. And even though they are a bakery, cakeshop and heladeria, hornazo was the only item I had written to try. I'm not sure what stopped me from getting it before the other two, but for some reason I didn't. Maybe it was the helado brightness and a not very overwhelming multicereal bread roll I got from them. Eventually I got hornazo from the Rua Mayor location (not the ones in or just east of Plaza Mayor) and so thankful I did. The lady offered to heat it up so I expect she knows foreigners prefer it this way. The pastry was soft and a little crumbly, albeit not the same a good pie pastry. But the filling was an equal fill of lomo, salchichon (I think it was this, not chorizo) and a bit of jamon. It was the best of the lot and I had it twice from there. It was also the cheapest at €3.5.
La Tahona de la Abuela's hornazo from Rua Mayor was the best of the lot I tried. Look for the cut slices from the full one so at least you can see what the filling proportions are like. And I definitely prefer it warm, which means many jamon places wouldn't be able to do it.