Cotechino using pigs stomach instead of sausage casing.

dls1 said:

 
That looks marvelous, Mick, and sounds like it turned out well. Nice use if the maw, also, and it does look a bit haggis like, though with a more edible stuffing.

Looks like your celebrating New Years a little early (or maybe, late). However, with the reversed winter in the Southern Hemisphere, the timing for the dish is perfect.

You mentioned the pig skin, which is traditional with cotechino, but did you actually incorporate it? I couldn't tell.

I've had cotechino in Modena several times and it's wonderful. Export to the U.S. was banned for many years until recently. Unfortunately, the exported product is required to be pre-cooked and is miserable compared to the freshly made product.

I've never made it solo, but played around doing it with a chef friend in his restaurants kitchen a a while ago, and once we got the proper ratio of pork, fatback, and skin down, it turned out very well. We didn't have proper sized bungs, much less a maw, so we simply formed 10" logs about 3"-4" in diameter, wrapped in commercial cling film followed by heavy duty foil. We let the packages rest in the refrigerator a couple days, then simmered for around 3 hours. We cut the logs into 1/2" discs and served them with lentils, as you did, and polenta with a bonus dusting of grated truffle. Great rustic and traditional food.

One thing I like to do is sear the discs in a hot skillet about 1 minute per side to give them a little crust. Also, if you haven't found it out yet, proper mincing or grinding the the fresh skin is nearly impossible, especially with non-commercial equipment. Best to cut the skin into strips and boil for 30 minutes beforehand.

For your next adventure, you should try zampone, another specialty of Modena. Pretty much the same mix stuffed into the boned skin of the pigs front trotters.

Great stuff. Congratulations!

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SnorkelingGirl said:

Hi Mick!

I haven't been around the forum much at all for a while due to schedule constraints, but I'm planning to make cotechino for the first time and wanted to see if there were any posts on it.  Very excited to find yours!   Your version looks and sounds delicious!  Is the pink color due to the paprika or did you throw Cure #1 in there?  I've seen recipes that call for it, and others that don't.  I'm not quite sure why it would need it, maybe you could shed some light on this.

I was planning to use a fresh pork leg section including the skin, and I have a beef bung in my refrigerator waiting for this. 

Sorry to not have seen this when you first posted it, but maybe giving it a little bump now will give others another chance to see it too.

Thanks for a great post, as always!!  Hope you are doing well!
Clarissa

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