We have always been at somewhat of a loss when it comes to using pork skin. We have tried fried pork rinds in many different ways, many different times and only had so-so results (best so far has been Diana Kennedy's chicharrones recipe from My Mexico). For quite some time I have wanted to make Cotechino, the Emilia-Romagna sausage which in includes pork skin. In fact, I tried to drum up interest in a cotechino making party here about a year ago. Today my husband surprised me and made up a huge batch. He used the recipe from Paul Bertolli's Cooking by Hand. 

I have to admit I was a tiny bit wary. I have been a little under the weather and thought this sausage would be too rich and maybe even a little hard to handle texturally. (I've had Saba-braised Zampone--pork foot and foreleg stuffed with cotechino--at Oliveto's Whole Hog Dinner which was extremely rich, if a little dry.)  Bertolli's recipe was definitely rich, but not nearly as rich as I had imagined. And wow! was it delicious! The texture was not as uniform as a normal sausage, but still very lovely--as a country pâté is to a traditional smooth pâté. The spicing in the recipe is perfectly delicate without being invisible.

We weren't able to stuff the sausage in a natural casing as instructed, because this was very spontaneous and we didn't have the one the recipe called for (bung). Instead, we made two casings from butter muslin (which we use when we make liverwurst) which worked very well. I thought perhaps without the natural casing that the sausage would crumble when we cut it, but it held together beautifully.

 Bertolli's recipe makes ALOT of sausage. Eating one good sized slice is definitely enough for one meal so we would recommend making a half recipe if you are interested in trying it. And you should, because it is a truly lovely and comforting winter sausage.

 

Has anyone ever made cotechino?

Would anyone like to get together and make some?

Cotechino is a fresh, spiced sausage (although some do cure it for several days) that is served boiled and sliced alongside lentils and polenta or mashed potatoes. It is traditionally eaten on New Year’s Day.

Wavery Root, in The Food of Italy, describes another preparation which sounds something like the Italian version of Tur-duck-en, but still tempting:

Cotechino in Galera (in prison)

“For this, a cotechino weighing about a pound is boiled until it is half cooked, wrapped in a slice of raw ham which is itself then wrapped in a very thin slice of beef, the two being held in place by thread wound around the whole. A small onion, finely chopped, is now cooked in an earthenware dish in plenty of oil. The wrapped cotechino goes into this and is covered with consommé and dry Lambrusco wine in equal quantities. The cooking is finished in the earthenware dish, with the addition of more consommé if necessary. The cotechino is served sliced in the cooking dish, bathing in the dense gravy which results.”

The name cotechino is derived from the Italian cortica, or pig’s skin, which is an ingredient in the stuffing. (Another use for skin! Hooray!)

Zampone, or stuffed trotters, is the mother of cotechino. The difference being cotechino is simply stuffed in casing. (I think I had a rather nice Zampone three(?) years back at the Whole Hog Dinner at Oliveto’s.)

I found a few sources for recipes if anyone is interested:

http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/2008/12/cotechino-that-which-started-my.html

The River Cottage Meat Book

Bruce Aidell’s Complete Sausage Book

Home Sausage Making

I have a copy of Cooking by Hand on order, I’m not sure if a recipe also appears there?