A staple during Christmas or New Year’s dinners, cotechino and zampone are holiday classics. Paired with lentils (said to bring good luck) or mashed potatoes, they are the symbol of an ancient tradition.
The difference between cotechino and zampone
While completely different in appearance, they are actually made of the same thing: coarsely ground lean and fatty pork, which is then added to finely chopped pork rinds and seasoned with pepper, nutmeg and cloves, depending on your taste. Some also add cinnamon and, in some cases, wine. Each pork butcher has their own secret recipe. So then what’s the difference between cotechino and zampone? What distinguishes them is the casing: the pig’s trotter – the front hoof – for zampone and either natural or artificial intestines for cotechino. The first is a bit more substantial in terms of calories: while cooking, the rind of the trotter releases fat, even though in both cases we’re not talking about light dishes anyway.
Born from a Renaissance idea
Calories certainly weren’t the priority for those who invented zampone and cotechino. It was 1511 when the troops of Pope Julius II laid siege to Mirandola, a town near Modena. Worn out from hunger at the end of the siege, the inhabitants of Mirandola only had pigs left to eat. Rather than leave them for their enemy, who was quickly approaching the city, they decided to slaughter them all and conserve the meat inside the trotters and intestines. It is often said that philosopher Pico della Mirandola had come up with the idea.
The IGP label
The difference between cotechino and zampone, however, cannot be discerned in their quality. It’s a known fact that Modena is their native land. Not only does history prove it, but the IGP label (an Italian certification of a product’s geographic protection) ensures that Modena Zampone and Modena Cotechino are precisely those that originated from the careful mix of meats and herbs used during the Renaissance. But when something is so delicious, it’s hard for it to remain in a defined area. In fact, cotechino and zampone have been included in other typical dishes of regions bordering Emilia Romagna, such as Lombardy, Veneto (only in the city of Verona, though), and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, which also lays claim to cotechino’s origins.
Fresh or pre-cooked?
Now that we’ve cleared up the difference between cotechino and zampone, there’s only one question left: Should you buy them fresh or pre-cooked? The choice depends on how much time you have to prepare your holiday meal. In the first case, you’ll need to perforate the cotechino and zampone, wrap them in a cloth or tin foil, place them in a pot with cold water, and leave them to boil for a few hours. In the second case, on the other hand, just 20 to 30 minutes in some boiling water is all it takes to cook them to perfection. But while time is an important factor, the palate is even more so. So, if just once a year you want to eat this dish as one should, we recommend buying them fresh from your butcher. The taste will make up for the hours spent cooking them.