Don Martinich > wrote:

> I've just finished stuufing a batch of cotechino and I was wondering
> whether any RFCers have any favorite uses for it. I've used it in
> bollito misto and cooked with lentils or canellini in the past. Does
> anyone have any other suggestions?

Just cooking cotechino (commercial in my case) with lentils is my
favourite way, but I once made a kind of a roulade (involtino,
paupiette, zraza, etc.) using a cotechino, which is traditional and goes
under such names as "cotechino in galera" (in prison), "cotechino in
camicia" (in nightshirt), or "cotechino in fagotto" (in a bassoon).
People who ate it with me liked it well enough, but I did not, but then
I tend to dislike any rouladen made with a meat "casing". This general
dish is typical of Emilia and now also of Romagna. Either veal or beef
is typically used for the "secondary casing". The additions, usually
including a typical battuto of onions, carrots and celery, vary a bit,
some including pancetta, some prosciutto, some porcini mushrooms. I no
longer have the exact recipe I used (I think it included mushrooms), but
here is another one, from the latest Accademia Italiana della Cucina
recipe compilation. I can post some other similar ones.

Victor

Cotechino in galera
Cotechino "in prison"
For 6 persons

Cotechino is a fresh pork sausage that contains pork rind or cooked pork
skin (_cotico_), which imparts an unctuous texture. It is often boiled
and served with lentils. Here the cotechino is "in prison" because it
is inside the rolled-up beef. This dish is typical of Modena. For the
wine use Sangiovese di Romagna.

1 precooked cotechino, weighing about 1 lb
1 lb beef in a single slice, pounded thin
4 oz. pancetta, sliced
3 cups red wine
2/3 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped onions
2/3 cup chopped celery
2 bay leaves
1/4 lb (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
4 cups beef broth
1/2 lb peeled plum tomatoes
Pinch salt

Remove the meat from the casing of the cotechino.

Spread this meat over the slice of beef and roll up the beef; cover it
with the slices of pancetta, then tie closed with kitchen twine.

Mix the red wine with the carrots, onions, celery, and bay leaves; add
the meat and marinate for 5 to 6 hours in the refrigerator.

Heat the butter in a pan and add the meat, browning it.

Pour in the broth, then the marinade.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer. After about 1 hour,
add the tomatoes and salt.

Simmer for about 3 hours. Remove the meat from the sauce and pass the
sauce through an sieve. Serve the meat sliced with the sauce.