In Italy, the traditional New Year meal consists of lentils and a meat like substance which goes by the name of cotechino and, by all accounts, the best cotechino comes from Modena (the place Ferraris come from too, if you did not already know).
Anyway, cotechino is actually meat which comes from a pig, well, I think it comes from a pig, although I have to admit that it is nothing like pork. I did actually try to inquire as to from which part of the poor piggy this cotechino stuff originates, but I was told it was probably best not to ask. My Italian other half does not seem to know which part of a pig contributes to this traditional delicacy, either. Despite being of unknown origins, so to speak, cotechino does taste good.
Cotechino is traditionally served with lentils, which are supposed to represent money – the more you eat, the more cash you will make in the new year, or so the saying goes. Alas this does not seem to have come true for me so far, but being forever optimistic, I ate plenty of the things again this year.
I was, in fact, the one who prepared the lentils, using my own adaptation of the way in which I believe this dish is usually prepared (I’ve had it before, so I could just about remember what goes into it).
The lentils (which came from Canada!?) did not need to be soaked overnight as is necessary with some. I considered myself lucky on the lentil front, so I just bunged them in a pan and boiled them for around half an hour in salted water to which I had added a stock cube.
Once the lentils were cooked, I drained off some of the water, added a tin of tomato pulp, some garlic paste (wonderful stuff), some cubed smoked bacon (my invention – not the cubed bacon – but adding it to the lentils!) and a dose of red wine and cooked the whole lot for a little longer. And although I say it myself, the result tasted pretty good – even my Italian other half said so, after some gentle prodding! Anyway the lentils helped us to see in the New Year. The cotechino added to the flavour.
So that’s it, goodbye 2005 and hello 2006! Happy New Year!
Lentils and cotechino photo by J.P.Lon
Melissa says
Thanks for the great idea! There are so many non-meat lentil recipes out there and not enough with-meat recipes. This sounds delish!
Kahuna says
Cotecchino does contain pork skin which is probably the ingrediant they do not want you to know about. Made it tonight with lentils-yummy- I have a recipe to make the cotecchino from scratch but have not yet-
AlexR says
Sorry to hear about the cotechino recipe not working out. Hopefully the next version will work better Cara Jo. Good luck!
When you do find something that works – let me know, and I’ll post the recipe here if you like.
All the best,
Alex
Cara Jo says
Alex –
My dad made the cotechino last weekend from the recipe I sent you. He tried it on Tuesday, I think. His verdict is, “YUCK!”
He’s going to try it again with an old recipe from his father. The outcome of last weekend’s trial was a sausage that smelled of nutmeg and just looked wrong. It was almost a salmon color, and it had very few spots of fat – nothing like what one sees at Italian sausage shops.
Cara Jo
AlexR says
Hi Cara Jo,
Go on please tell me what goes into cotechino! And if you can send me the recipe, I’ll publish it here.
Funnily enough, I had not considered cotechino as being a sausage, but come to think of it, I suppose it is really.
Good luck to you father with his sausage making exploits!
Thanks for dropping in,
Alex
Cara Jo says
Do you really want to know what cotechino is made of? My father has decided he wants to make sausage. He’s going to start with sopresetta; he’s got a KitchenAid mixer, the attachments, and some cure and casings ordered online. (I remember my Grandfather making it with the hand crank equipment years ago.) I bought him this book for Christmas:
Home-Sausage-Making-How-Techniques
Inside is a recipe for cotechino. If you really want to know, I’ll send you the recipe.