 | | Name: | Cotechino | | Plural names: | cotechini |
| Description: | | Cotechino and Zampone di Modena date to the early 16th century as indicated in the writings of Marco Cesare Nannini, a doctor and physician who reported that Zampone and Cotechino di Modena first appeared in the town of Mirandola. In 1511, the troops of Pope Julius II laid siege to Mirandola and the townspeople, forced to rely on their wits to survive, began to encase pork in pigskin, creating what is now known as Cotechino. Later, hog forelegs and trotters also began to be used and so Zampone joined the zone's culinary heritage. Modena was already noted in the Renaissance for its yellow sausages. Toward the end of the 18th century, however, Zampone and Cotechino began to supplant that type of sausage. In the popular imagination, Zampone and Cotechino di Modena became closely identified with the city's gastronomic tradition. The spread of Cotechino and Zampone di Modena to outlying markets was accelerated when two workshops, Frigeri and Bellentani, became the first to adopt a semi-industrial manufacturing process. They acted in response to the transformation of local agriculture from a craft to an industrial system due to intensive livestock breeding. This process of modernization contributed substantially to the diffusion of the two products. As the comments of the Rome food writer Vincenzo Agnoletti and many others indicate, both products had achieved outstanding success on a large scale by 1800. The technical skills of the workers in the industry, which they have traditionally passed down from one generation to the next, are fundamental to the excellence of the two products. Their distinctive qualities reflect important human as well as environmental factors. Zampone and Cotechino di Modena are cured meat products made from a blend of pork obtained from striated muscle fibers, pork fat, pigskin and various seasonings. They must be easy to slice. The interiors of both products are mottled pinkish-red to red in color. The meat mixture must be close-textured with a uniform particle size. Zampone di Modena must also be covered by a natural casing made from the skin of the animal's shank and tied at the top. The zones in which the two products are made consist of the entire territories of the provinces of Modena, Ferrara, Ravenna, Rimini, Forlì, Bologna, Reggio Emilia, Parma, Piacenza, Cremona, Lodi, Pavia, Milan, Varese, Como, Lecco, Bergamo, Brescia, Mantua, Verona and Rovigo. |
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