The classic New Year's Eve dish of Modena and the wider Emilia-Romagna: a large, fatty fresh pork sausage (cotechino) served over a bed of stewed lentils. Cotechino is made from coarsely ground lean pork, fatback and a generous proportion of pork rind, seasoned with salt, pepper and spices such as nutmeg and cloves, packed into a natural casing; the rind is what gives the cooked sausage its soft, gelatinous, almost sticky texture. It is poached slowly for two to three hours, sliced into thick rounds and laid over lentils braised with a soffritto of onion, carrot and celery. The lentils, small and coin-shaped, are eaten just after midnight as an omen of money and prosperity for the year ahead.
Cotechino and its sibling zampone are tied to Modena, and the popular origin story is set in 1511, when troops of Pope Julius II besieged the nearby town of Mirandola. According to the tale, the starving inhabitants slaughtered their pigs and preserved the meat by packing it into the skin of the trotters and into casings — the trotter version becoming zampone, the cased version cotechino; this siege account is repeated in Modenese tradition but is folk history rather than documented record. What is firmly documented is the modern protection: Cotechino Modena was granted PGI (Protected Geographical Indication / IGP) status on 19 March 1999, and Zampone Modena shares the same recognition. The lentil pairing carries an old symbolism — the small round pulses, which swell as they cook, stand for coins and growing wealth — and eating cotechino con lenticchie at the turn of the year to invite prosperity is a custom across much of Italy.
Cut the casing and the cotechino slumps into thick, soft slices, the meat rich and unctuous with a gelatinous give from the dissolved rind — it should be tender and almost spoonable, never rubbery or dry. The flavour is deeply porky and gently spiced, the fat sliding across the palate. Underneath, the lentils are earthy, faintly nutty and just holding their shape, their starchiness soaking up the sausage's fat and a little of its cooking juices. Together the unctuous meat and the firm, savoury pulses balance each other; a thread of mustard or a splash of wine cuts the richness.
Cotechino is built on pork rind: the casing meat is unusually high in skin, which is dense with collagen. Held at a bare poach — water just trembling, well below a rolling boil — for two to three hours, that collagen breaks down into gelatin, which is what gives the cooked sausage its soft, sticky, melting body rather than a firm bite. Slow, gentle heat also keeps the fat emulsified through the meat instead of weeping out. The lentils are cooked separately so they stay intact: simmered over a soffritto, they absorb flavour while their own starch lightly thickens the surrounding liquid. The two are married only at the plate so the lentils don't disintegrate into the fatty sausage.
Variations
The defining variant is zampone, which uses the same spiced pork-and-rind mixture but stuffs it into the boned skin of a pig's front trotter rather than a sausage casing; it is the festive sibling of cotechino and also carries Modena PGI status. Both are eaten with lentils at New Year, though some serve them with mashed potato or polenta instead. The lentils themselves vary by region — the small brown lentils of Castelluccio in Umbria are especially prized — and the braise may be plain or enriched with a little tomato. Beyond Modena, cotechino also appears sliced into bollito misto, the mixed boiled meats of northern Italy.
On the Palate
Where Cotechino con Lenticchie sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
7 steps · 40 min active + 2 hours 20 min waiting
- 15 min
Prick the cotechino casing in a few places, or wrap it in cloth, and lower it into cold water.
- 2150 min
Bring barely to a simmer and poach very gently, never boiling hard, for two to three hours until soft and tender.
Watch outHold it at a bare tremble, never a hard boil, for two to three hours — that slow, gentle heat melts the rind's collagen into gelatin for a soft, sticky body; a boil bursts the casing.
- 312 min
Meanwhile soften a soffritto of finely chopped onion, carrot and celery in oil.
- 45 min
Add the rinsed lentils, stir to coat, then pour in water or broth to cover and a little tomato if liked.
- 535 min
Simmer the lentils until tender but still holding their shape, about 30 to 40 minutes, seasoning to taste.
Watch outSimmer the lentils only until tender but still holding their shape — cooked apart, they should stay intact, not collapse into mush.
- 68 min
Lift out the cooked cotechino, let it rest a few minutes, then peel off the casing.
- 75 min
Slice into thick rounds, lay over the lentils and serve very hot, just after midnight if for New Year.
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