Cotechino

cotechino

What it is

The story goes that it was invented in 1511, during the siege of Mirandola by Julius II, when a cook to the Pico family packed the last pigs into casings cut from trotter skin so the meat would keep. Whatever its origin, the rind is the point: it dissolves into gelatin over hours of poaching, which no other boiling sausage does.

In the kitchen

Wrap it in muslin, start it in cold water and hold it at a bare tremble for two and a half to three hours; at a rolling boil the casing bursts and the gelatin you cooked for goes into the water.

Goes with

Puy lentil Stone-ground polenta Mostarda di Cremona Onion Bay leaf Balsamic vinegar

Same species

Andouillette Boudin blanc Natural casings Caul fat Chorizo Ciauscolo

In season alongside

Woodcock Japanese amberjack (buri) Capon European conger Duck Eel

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