This roast has always been a favorite at my family’s Sunday lunch.
Cotechino is a typical pork sausage from Emilia.
Wrapped Cotechino is a recipe that, over the years, I have served at lunches and dinners to make a good impression on my guests.
A robust roast, of substance, perfect for the cold season.
A sausage wrapped in a slice of meat
I can’t forget the comment of my friend Anna, born and raised in Tuscany, when, laughing, said: ‘Monica, we do eat meat and a lot of it. But a sausage wrapped in other meat, not even we Tuscans do that’.
It is a rich and, if you like, special roast.
Ant it is an ancient recipe, of which there are traces since the nineteenth century.
Artusi presents it as follows (Recipe n.322, Coteghino fasciato):
“I do not give it to you like a delicate dish, but as a family dish, it may well go, and you may even present it to your friends in confidence”.
And he adds that if you want them to speak well of you when they get home, this is a dish to cook for family and friends. And I agree with him.
Cotechino wrapped in meat, not cotechino in a pastry crust. Those are two different recipes.
How to tie the roast
Tying a roast might be intimidating for the inexperienced.
But it’s a test that I think even inexperienced home cooks can master.
Don’t believe us? Give me some credit and read on, please.
I took a cooking class where I tied I don’t know how many roasts.
But before that, I did, and still do, what I could.
It still happens to me today that I risk getting tied up with the roast.
In that case, I smile and restart.
The first thing to remember is if you make a mistake, you can start again.
And if the binding is not perfect, so be it. You can get rid of the string anyway.
How to do it
With some sense of humor and good intentions, it is possible to tie a butcher’s string around a piece of meat. The desire to learn can also come to the rescue.
First, get some kitchen string.
Cut a 50 cm long piece of string and shorter ones (about 12 cm). Maybe it seems one long piece of twine, but at the beginning, it is never too much.
Make the roast according to the recipe. Once the roast is ready, place it on a flat surface or chopping board, and pass the long string under the roast lengthways.
Now bring the string over the meat and fasten it at one end, leaving a long piece of string free. Then go back and tie the other side as well.
How? As you like it.
With the same twine, now fasten several points of the roast. And if that doesn’t work, use the short pieces of cooking string you have already prepared.
If it looks like a disaster, cut the string and start again, nothing happens.
But if the operation seems impossible, I would try it if I were you, use a roasting net (tying only the ends) or wrap the roast tightly in greaseproof Kitchen paper and tie with kitchen string. In this case, a little after halfway through cooking, remove the kitchen paper from the roast.
Wrapped cotechino sausage
Cotechino is a typical Emilian preparation. Rich in flavor, salt, and pepper.
A popular dish along the Via Emilia is cotechino with mashed potatoes.
Which is also one of my favorite dishes.
Wrapped cotechino is usually found wrapped in a slice of veal or pork.
My family’s recipe involves wrapping the cotechino in turkey, which, like veal, lends itself to being cut into a large slice that you ask your butcher to pound thin.
It is important to consider the proportion between the weight of the cotechino and the slice that should wrap it (see advice).
Between cotechino and turkey, I spread a thin layer of mashed potatoes and boiled spinach. A detail that makes the roast richer and more inviting when cut.
Buona cucina, Monica
What side dish to serve this roast with
Many sides work well with this roast. From mashed potatoes to glazed carrots, that even Pellegrino Artusi suggests (HERE you can find the recipe). But the flavor I love most with this dish is that of the spring onions with balsamic vinegar (HERE).
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Food tips
Prepare this recipe a day or two before serving. It will have more flavor and be easier to slice.
If your sausage is 500g and you even add mashed potatoes and spinach, the turkey slice should be at least 700g.
Wrapped cotechino sausage recipe
serves 6-8
List of the Ingredients
300 g precooked cotechino, 1 piece
500g slice of turkey
200 g spinach, boiled and squeezed
100 g mashed potatoes
½ glass of white wine
olive oil, salt and black pepper to taste
Method
Cook the cotechino according to the instructions on the packet.
After cooking, open the package and remove the liquid and skin. Set aside.
Lay the turkey slice, beaten so that it is large and thin, on a sheet of baking paper.
Spread the mash over the slice, leaving the edges clean.
Arrange the spinach evenly on top of the mash and place the sausage in the center of the slice.
Fold the two ends of the turkey slice inwards from the long side, then, using the parchment paper, roll up and seal the roast.
Tie the slice with kitchen string.
No fear, it can be pulled apart, even gagged. We are home cooks! So breathe and enjoy. The worst that can happen is that a bit of mash will come out.
If you’re unfamiliar with closing up roasts, use plenty of string or elastic netting to contain it (but always tie the ends together with kitchen string).
Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Grease generously with olive oil, place the roast in the roasting tin, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle the surface with oil.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated oven at 180C degrees for about 30 minutes.
After this time, remove the covering, deglaze with wine and cook for another 30-40 minutes.
Leave the wrapped cotechino to cool completely.
Keep the cooking liquid, strain it and set it aside.
Remove the kitchen string or netting and cut into slices of about 1 cm, holding the roast firmly with your free hand. In this way, the slices of roast do not break (and if any do, no problem).
Place roast in an ovenproof casserole dish, pour the cooking sauce over the slices, and, before serving, reheat the roast in the oven – covered – for 10 minutes.
