Homemade Cotechino
User Reviews
5
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Prep Time
1 hr 30 mins
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Cook Time
1 hr
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Curing Time
3 d
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Total Time
3 d 2 hrs 30 mins
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Servings
12 servings
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Calories
269 kcal
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Course
Main Course
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Cuisine
Italian
Homemade Cotechino
Description
Homemade Cotechino starts with simmering pork or duck skin until it becomes tender and fragile enough to grind. This softened texture helps the sausage hold together after mixing. The recipe combines duck or pork skin, pork belly or fatback, and lean pork with a blend of spices including coriander, allspice, black and white pepper, ginger, and cinnamon, and sometimes a touch of sugar. After seasoning and resting the meat mixture overnight in the refrigerator, everything is coarsely ground, then kneaded with chilled white wine to form a cohesive mass, ensuring the sausage will hold its shape well when cooked.
The use of curing salt No. 1 helps preserve the sausage and contributes to its characteristic color. The sausage mixture is then stuffed into beef casings. The blend of spices imparts warm, aromatic flavors that suit the hearty texture from the mix of fatty and lean cuts.
This sausage is often simmered or slow-cooked before serving to achieve a tender bite and is a good choice for festive meals or when a robust pork sausage is desired. It pairs well with lentils, mashed potatoes, or polenta, offering a satisfying main course.
Note that simmering the skin adequately until tender is essential for the right texture. The overnight marination improves flavor penetration and helps the mixture bind smoothly. The recipe yields a bit more than 2 pounds of sausage meat, suitable for multiple servings.
Ingredients
- 300 grams duck skin cut into large pieces, or pork skin
- 350 grams pork belly cut into chunks, or fatback
- 500 grams lean pork cut into chunks, or duck or venison or similar
- 25 grams salt
- 3 grams curing salt No. 1
- 2 teaspoons coriander seed or 1 teaspoon ground
- 6 allspice or 1/4 teaspoon ground, berries
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorn or 1/2 teaspoon ground
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
- 1/4 cup white wine chilled
- beef casings
Instructions
- Start by simmering the skin until it is very tender. Simply simmer the pieces -- remember they will need to ultimately fit into your grinder -- for about 30 minutes if it's duck or goose skin, and 1 hour (or more) for pork. You will know they are ready when they are fragile, easily torn. Set them on a plate or baking sheet to cool completely.
- When everything is cool, mix all the ingredients except for the wine together. Set this in a covered container in the fridge overnight. This step helps the sausage bind to itself later, but if you are in a hurry you can skip it. I don't recommend that, though.
- The next day, grind everything. I prefer a medium grind (6.5 mm die), but this is up to you. I've seen cotechino with a finer, 4.5 mm grind, as well as a mixture of grinds.
- Add the wine to the mixture and with your (very clean) hands, knead and mix it for about 2 minutes, until it forms a cohesive mass you can pick up without bits falling off it. You will also see a sort of white film on the edges of the bowl you are mixing in. That means you are ready.
- Stuff your sausages into the beef middles, or whatever it is you are using. If you are using beef middles, chances are you won't be able to stuff them tight initially. Just stuff them as best you can, aiming for individual links about 10 to 14 inches long. They will compress when you tighten them in a moment, so you want the links longer now than they ultimately will be. If you are using hog casings, just stuff as normal. Either way, leave long "tails" of unfilled casing on either side of each link.
- When you have your series of individual sausages, loosely stuffed, you now need to compress the mixture in the links. Do this from either side, expelling as much air as possible. You will have big air pockets, most likely. Take a sausage pricker or a needle you sterilized in a flame to pierce the casing at the air pockets. Now gently squeeze the link to fill that air pocket. Now tie off one end of each link. Repeat the process of squeezing and removing air pockets.
- When it comes time to tie off the other end of the links, you want to be diligent about removing air pockets -- and you want to tie it off with a loop you can hang your links from. I use kitchen twine for this.
- Hang your sausages in a cool place for a few hours if you are not using curing salt, and up to 3 days if you are. You won't likely need to spritz them with water unless your humidity is very low, like under 50 percent. But if it is that dry, spritz the links with water once a day.
- When you are ready to cook, fill the largest stock pot you have with water and bring it to a gentle simmer. Add a handful of salt; you want the water to be salty. Poach your links in this at the steaming point, around 160°F, for 1 hour. Remove and cool completely.
- You can eat your cotechino this way, or you can sear it, casing on or off. Either way you eat cotechino in slices.
Notes
- Simmer the skin thoroughly until it is tender enough to tear easily, ensuring the best texture for grinding.
- Marinate the meat mixture overnight in the refrigerator to enhance binding and flavor integration.
- The recipe produces a bit more than 2 pounds of cotechino sausage.
- Use fresh white wine chilled for the kneading step to help achieve a cohesive sausage mixture.
Nutrition Information
Show DetailsNutrition Facts
Serving: 12servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 269 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 269kcal | 13% |
| Carbohydrates | 1g | 0% |
| Protein | 10g | 20% |
| Fat | 24g | 37% |
| Saturated Fat | 9g | 45% |
| Cholesterol | 51mg | 17% |
| Sodium | 841mg | 35% |
| Potassium | 188mg | 4% |
| Fiber | 1g | 4% |
| Sugar | 1g | 2% |
| Vitamin A | 8IU | 0% |
| Vitamin C | 1mg | 1% |
| Calcium | 13mg | 1% |
| Iron | 1mg | 6% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
5
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