To many, the cotechino does not like it, except the zampone with its sinister aspect. The vulgate wants them fats, lumpy, with a taste too savory, penetrating. Who thinks, has only eaten bad cotechini.
So it happens to everyone, who think they do not love something just because they have eaten the industrial version, of poor quality, or worse, cooked with their feet. In fact, it is enough to taste a good one to radically change your mind, and to dedicate yourself with love one day a year to slow and long cooking, very long, in view of the dinner. And if you do not feel like it, you can not forget one of the dishes on the table, rather than being precooked (but good). To change your mind,

Cooking is not all the same

It should be left to cook for at least 3 hours, better 4 if the size is large, changing water at least once. If the cotechino is not perfumed of its own with particular herbs and spices, it is possible to perfume the water with laurel, clove, garlic and aromas (rigorously without salt). But every product has its own personality and must be respected – with the right cooking.

Do you punish or not?

Each cotechino, however, is different, especially among the good ones. Daniele della Butcher May in Viale Monza warns customers, because the preparation is not all the same. "Our cotechino is made with selected national and beef pork, very little salt and natural flavors. The preparation begins in mid-November in our back room after which we leave to rest in the maturing cells for about a week, first at a temperature of 18/20 ° and then lowering it to 3 °". With this process the cotechino does not need to be pricked "We have specified on our label to cook the cotechino in boiling water and without piercing the product (unlike many who recommend exactly the opposite) because we use only lean cuts, so it would be a pity to disperse all the flavor in the cooking water!".

Cotechino is back!
The impression that the cotechino is coming back to fashion, is confirmed, as Daniele explains "I am very happy because in the last two years there are more and more young people who buy these traditional products"And so this year I launched a survey on Facebook to colleagues and gourmet friends and we selected the cotechini (zamponi and similar) the best of the plain, between the delicatessens of Milan and up to the Bassa. Here is the result:

Butcher May
The butcher was founded in 1920 by the initiative of two brothers, Gerolamo and Luigi Biassoni, originating from a family of millers who had a mill located in the current via Turro, about 200 meters from where the shop is currently located. Gerolamo, born around the nineteenth century, participated in the First World War. Since then the butcher May is in the hands of the same family. Since the 90s they have specialized in maturing and today the preparation of cotechini and their maturing through processes based on cold are one of the strengths of the store. As Grandma Maria did in 1916, every now and then, on Thursday, they organized an aperitif. For carnivores only. Their cotechino is made with selected national and beef pork, very little salt and natural flavors. In addition to cotechini, they prepare with the same care also zamponi, cappellette and pouches, sewn by hand. € 11 for the cotechino and € 15 for the zamponi.
viale Monza 78, Milan

Butchery L'Annunciata / Pregiate Piedmontese meats
The heirs of Ercole Villa, butcher who made the history of this profession in Milan, Bruno and Mauro are a certainty and are divided between two stores in Milan. This year they have de types of cotechini: the classic rustic cremonese cotechino with a savory and fragrant taste. It is recognized for that typical stickiness that gives the slice the sensation that melts in the mouth. Produced by a craftsman from the province of Cremona, it has a cooking time of 3/3 hours and ½ (€ 18.50 per kilo, about 500/600 grams) and the new Vaniglia cotechino, traditionally from Brianza, has a leaner dough and a more delicate flavor. It cooks an hour and a half faster (gluten-free). Provenance Valmadrera 18,50 per kg.
Viale Brianza and Via dell'Annunciata

Eataly
Just go up to the first floor to be surprised by the variety of products between cotechini, Modena PGI and Tuscan, zamponi, mariole and priests available in assortment under Christmas. Among the many, there is the precooked de La Granda of the Piedmontese producer Beppe DHO, cooked in a low-temperature steam oven, meats love Italian pigs and marsala in the mixture (€ 17.90 / kg) and the Precotto Zampone Ancient Ardenga, of the Bassa Parmense. The meat is from the Po Valley, with pepper, garlic and Lambrusco in the mixture – € 16 per piece, and there is also the Mariola cooked, true local specialty. I'll deliver them to your home the same day with Eataly Today

Suffrage market
To eat on the spot or to take home, the Cotechino del Suffragio market has been personally selected by Davide Longoni who has chosen the most expensive specialties made by small producers all over Italy for the delicatessen counter. Made by Butcher Beccalli, in the province of Lecco, cotechino is stuffed with raw materials from the best local farms, subsequently processed according to methods handed down from father to son, without aromas and preservatives. Originally from Emilia, however, is the zampone, always selected by Longoni, from Squisito, a small workshop in Soragna, in the province of Parma. Zampone and cotechino are both served with the mustard from Voghera di Barbieri, a small family business with over forty years of activity or with lentils from Castelluccio di Norcia.
Piazza Santa Maria del Suffragio

Peck
In the most famous gastronomy of Milan, the meat of cotechino and zampone is selected, the natural casing, are sold fresh and put under vacuum for sale. Some people prefer to buy it already prepared, so from Peck in the store they wrap it in vegetable paper and tie it. The paper prevents the cotechino from exploding (it is also bucking), the gut loses a little 'fat but not too much to ensure softness to the content. Fresh Zampone 1,3 kg 38 €, old Cotechino 26 € per kg
Via Spadari 9

Butcher Masseroni
A cosmopolitan proposal, with a large selection of Italian breeding for Piedmontese breeds and researches such as Japanese and Italian wagyu, cinta senese pork and patanegra, Italian and foreign cured meats. They have the Cremonese bowl, of selected and delicate producer, breeder, very fragrant.
Via Corsico, 2

Bracelleria
The ancient Romanelli butcher founded in 1979, is a family business, which has been handed down from father to son until today and to join the shop with a meat tavern. Their cotechino is produced with noble local pork and stuffed with natural casings, without preservatives or additives. All done by hand again as in the "old" times. € 15.90 per kg
Via Paracelso, 1

Butcher Pellegrini
Horse butcher shop dated 1959 and still today a Milanese landmark for lovers of horse meat. Since the '80s in addition to fresh meat also produce sausages and meats and a restaurant where you can enjoy their products, directly on site – for lunch from Tuesday to Saturday. Selection of cotechini and other pot salami.
Via Spallanzani, 6

Sirtori butcher
One of the pioneers of kmzero and work with the farms, they have meats, cheeses and cold cuts from the Orsine farms and other farms near Milan. They distribute the cotechini and the zamponi, beautiful perfumed, of the Salumificio Pedrazzoli, in its turn precursor of biological breeding.
Via Paolo Sarpi, 27

Butcher Masseroni
Navigli area, one step away from the Porta Genova nightlife. Here are the cotechini and pot salami Bettella, cremasco producer. Theirs is a "peaceful pig", bred by nature and without forced growth, of which nothing is thrown away. At that for their cotechino, forget the short cooking. Once "in a bath", the real Cotechino (from 800 g to 2 kg) will take it easy (4 hours and 30 minutes – 5 hours), expertly educating you to a healthy slowness.
Via Corsico, 2

Faravelli butchery
On the cattle they are a must, they follow the farms in first person and they work with breeders for three generations, and on the pig they have done an international research. From Piedmont they bring excellent meat and in winter even the Bue di Carrù, a true delicacy, combine an orchard and a beautiful wine bar that ranges up to French wines.
Corso Italia, 40

The Cascina in the City
Sales point that distributes the products of Lombard farms to 100 km from the shop and strictly to a short supply chain. The sausages, zamponi, the black pudding and the cotechini are fromCyrenaica Farm, from pigs raised to alfalfa and sustainable cereals in the South Milan Agricultural Park.
via delle Forze Armate 61 | via Solari 43, Milan | via Albani 55

MANUFACTURERS

Salumificio Bettella
Their pigs are so calm that they have a registered trademark: they grow in the open air for two years and up to 300kg in weight thanks to their mainly corn production of the same company. Maiale Tranquillo® is a philosophy, which is expressed in cured meats, bowls, lard, salami and hams. Awarded by the gastronomic guides of the sector.
Under Christmas, the hardest muscles, the nerves avoided in the noble production (like that of the salami) and the rind become fantastic cotechini. They also make a pot salami, aged a year, very thin – a real treat.

Marco d'Oggiono
They are the authors of Prosciutto d'Oggiono, they have a slightly smoked Celtic line of products such as Chianina carpaccio, lard or rolled cooked pancetta. Excellent are their sausages to be cooked, such as the cotechino vaniglia and the boccia della Brianza, sweet and delicate, and the zampone. In 2016 they won the Villani Award for the Brianza Liver Mortadella by the Italian Academy of Cuisine.
via Lazzaretto 29. Oggiono – Lecco

Maison Bertolin
They are in Valle D'Aosta in the capital of Lardo, in Arnad, but also their ham (the Franbon al Genepì is already a new classic) and the Salame Cotto di Capra are not bad! The mountain cotechino is based on rind, fat, head and tongue of pork, and 10% of beef.
They produce it under vacuum, ready in 20 minutes.
Loc.Champagnolaz, 10 – 11020 Arnad (AO)

Salumificio Magrotti
Hand-crafted salami factory of great numbers, with a flagship like the Salàam da cöta, a De.Co. (municipal denomination) also known as pot salami, is a popular specialty in Oltrepò Pavese, made only with lean cuts and pork fat and should be cooked for at least 3 hours before being tasted.
Fraz. Fornace, 8 – Montesegale (PV)

Podere Cadassa
Podere Cadassa produces Culatello di Zubello DOP and Padas Cruda di Padasone, Slow Food presidia. For the cotechino uses the Emilian recipe: made with the pig's back shin and rind. The grinding of the meat is coarse-grained, flavored with salt and spices and finally stuffed into a natural casing called "crespone". After the bagging, it is left to dry for at least 10 days. The fresh one is cooked in about 3/4 hours in unsalted water, the vacuum version is ready in about 30 minutes. Podere Cadassa – Colorno (Parma)

Levoni
Salumificio Levoni was founded in 1911 on the outskirts of Milan and today has a slaughterhouse owned in the province of Mantua and a sausage factory for the production of Parma PDO hams and one for San Daniele PDO. They have 300 branded cured meats, all made from pigs born, reared and processed in Italy. Cotechini produce the classic, the Mantova, the Emiliano, Cotecone and the Gold Medal.

Pasini Salami
Founded in 1949 by the Pasini family, the company specializes in processing and processing pork, such as fresh, seasoned, cured and cooked products. The choice of the best cuts of meat and careful processing of raw materials, make the taste delicate. The long cooking process of about two hours, with measures such as peeling the skin and wrapping it in a napkin before placing it in cold water for boiling, make it more digestible.
Trezzano on the Naviglio MI

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