Cotechino Modena is a large Italian pork sausage originating from Emilia-Romagna. It's made with a mixture of pork, pork fat, pork rinds, salt, and pieces of pepper or whole pepper. Wine, sugar, spices and herbs are often added to the mixture for extra flavor.

The mixture is stuffed into natural or artificial casings and smoke flavorings are not permitted. If fresh, the sausage is sold whole (loose or packaged), and if cooked, it's usually sold vacuum-packed. Cotechino Modena must be easy to slice, and the firm, evenly grained slices should retain their shape.

This sausage is typically available around Christmas time and New Year's, and it's served in fairly thick slices with lentils, beans, mashed potatoes, or as part of a bollito misto (mixed boiled meats). According to legend, cotechino sausages first appeared in the winter of 1511 in Mirandola, when the city was under siege by the troops of Pope Julius II.  Read more