what you need:
Yields about 6 1/2 pounds of sausage
Pork skin, small dice, 8 oz.
Nebbiolo Wine, 6 fl oz
Garlic cloves, minced, 5 ea
Cinnamon, ground, ¼ tsp
Cloves, ground, ¼ tsp
Mace, 1 pinch
Bay leaves, 8 ea
Thyme, dried, ½ Tbs
Pork Shoulder, lean, 4 ½ lb
Salt, 1 ¼ oz
Pepper black, ground, 1 ½ tsp
Pork jowl fat, large dice, 1 ½ lb (partially freeze the fat to make it easier to grind)
Prague Powder #2, 4 oz.
Peppercorns black, whole, 1 ¼ tsp
Beef middle casings, cut into 16- in lengths 4 ft, 10 ½ in (for a salami style cotechino)
how you make it:
1. Boil the skins in enough water to cover them until the skins are tender, about 11⁄2 hours. Drain. (This step tenderizes the skin and allows it to be ground. Make sure your skins are tender before continuing.)
2. While hot, toss the skins with wine, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, mace, bay leaves, and thyme. Set the mixture aside and let it cool to room temperature.
3. Grind the pork skins through a medium die of a meat grinder.
4. Season the pork shoulder with salt and ground pepper and grind through the large die of a meat grinder.
5. Grind the jowl fat through a medium die of a meat grinder.
6. Combine pork shoulder, pork skin, jowl fat, whole peppercorns, and
the Prague Powder #2. Mix well.
7. Stuff the mixture into casings and tie off either side of the
sausage.
8. At this point you want to get an accurate weight of the sausages and tag them with the weight clearly marked.
9. Hang the sausages in a dry, airy place until they are dry on the outside and not tacky.
10. Weigh the sausages. They should lose about 10% of their weight. This will take about 4-6 weeks.
11. The day before cooking, soak the cotechino in cold water overnight to tame the salt. It is best to change the water 1/2 way through. Rinse.
12. Gently poke a few holes in the skin of the sausage and poach the sausages at 165°F over low heat until the sausages reach an internal temperature of 165°F.
13. You can keep the sausage in the warm poaching liquid until ready to serve. Serve warm with Salsa Verde (recipe on the Harvest page of this blog) and braised lentils (recipe on the Harvest page of this blog).
Garlic cloves, minced, 5 ea
Cinnamon, ground, ¼ tsp
Cloves, ground, ¼ tsp
Mace, 1 pinch
Bay leaves, 8 ea
Thyme, dried, ½ Tbs
Pork Shoulder, lean, 4 ½ lb
Salt, 1 ¼ oz
Pepper black, ground, 1 ½ tsp
Pork jowl fat, large dice, 1 ½ lb (partially freeze the fat to make it easier to grind)
Prague Powder #2, 4 oz.
Peppercorns black, whole, 1 ¼ tsp
Beef middle casings, cut into 16- in lengths 4 ft, 10 ½ in (for a salami style cotechino)
how you make it:
1. Boil the skins in enough water to cover them until the skins are tender, about 11⁄2 hours. Drain. (This step tenderizes the skin and allows it to be ground. Make sure your skins are tender before continuing.)
2. While hot, toss the skins with wine, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, mace, bay leaves, and thyme. Set the mixture aside and let it cool to room temperature.
3. Grind the pork skins through a medium die of a meat grinder.
4. Season the pork shoulder with salt and ground pepper and grind through the large die of a meat grinder.
5. Grind the jowl fat through a medium die of a meat grinder.
6. Combine pork shoulder, pork skin, jowl fat, whole peppercorns, and
the Prague Powder #2. Mix well.
7. Stuff the mixture into casings and tie off either side of the
sausage.
8. At this point you want to get an accurate weight of the sausages and tag them with the weight clearly marked.
9. Hang the sausages in a dry, airy place until they are dry on the outside and not tacky.
10. Weigh the sausages. They should lose about 10% of their weight. This will take about 4-6 weeks.
11. The day before cooking, soak the cotechino in cold water overnight to tame the salt. It is best to change the water 1/2 way through. Rinse.
12. Gently poke a few holes in the skin of the sausage and poach the sausages at 165°F over low heat until the sausages reach an internal temperature of 165°F.
13. You can keep the sausage in the warm poaching liquid until ready to serve. Serve warm with Salsa Verde (recipe on the Harvest page of this blog) and braised lentils (recipe on the Harvest page of this blog).
