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Customers most agreed on the following attributes:
from Los Angeles on 8/20/2008
Sorry, but this one was not to my liking. I've tasted a lot better cottecchini in Italy. Not every product can be a hit.
[...] We have eaten this product many times in Italy. Although this Cotechino was not exactly as good as the ones produced in Italy, it was certainly wonderful considering it's the only thing available via the web.
This product is perfect with lentils to full fill an Italian New Years Eve tradition.
I boiled the cotechino for about 20 minutes and serve it hot with lentils at New Year's Eve dinner. It was a success.
Finally after 3 years I was able to have a cotechino.
from San Diego, CA on 1/1/2008
Cotechino is typically cooked with lentils and is a traditional dish eaten to celebrate the New Year. The taste is very authentic, however, the texture is a little firmer than what is available in Italy.
..coming from Italy, I grew up eating cotechino: I am so glad I can buy it online and enjoy it for the holydays or whenever!
from Independence, OR. on 9/17/2007
It's a tradition in our house to have cotechino and lentils in our house at New Year ever since I had to leave behind one that was given to us in Venezia by a friend-US Customs, no meat. With lentils--buonissimo! Heats up well for left overs, too.
[1 of 1 customers found this review helpful]
from Newport, RI on 4/28/2007
I have ordered several of the Beretta Cotechino from [...] and have been more than pleased with the product. My first experience with cotechino and its forebear, zampone, was when living in Europe and frequently traveling in Italy. Emile Zola wrote in 1895 that he had been completely conquered by zampone, ?a delicious and divine dish [capable] of bringing to the saddened soul a breath of joy for poor suffering humanity.? While that thought is a bit ?over-the-top?, zampone truly is one of the great Italian sausages that come originally from Modena, in northern Italy. While zampone is a mixture of cured meat stuffed into the hollowed-out leg of a pig, cotechino, its derivative cousin, is more simply wrapped in an ordinary sausage casing. Both are made of cured pork. In the past, after the larger cuts of pork were set aside, the remaining, lesser cuts were finely chopped and flavored with each sausage maker?s closely guarded recipe for spice combinations that included salt, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves and such other ?secret? flavorings deemed worthy to add. Today, it is usual that pork shoulder meat is used. A special ingredient, however, is a portion of skin (rind) which is included with the meat and spices and crushed in a mortar into a smooth paste. Machinery has replaced the mortar today. Aside from the intriguing flavor of mixed spices, it is the skin that gives a particularly interesting, gelatinous quality to cotechino. While sausages most often contain a generous portion of fat, the delicate, light gelatin in the cotechino is what makes it soft to the tongue, and juicy yet slightly chewy. Cotechino is easily cooked by simmering until it is warmed throughout. Because of its flavor and consistency, it is often served along with lentils ? sometimes other beans. I have served cotechino not only with lentils, but with carrots or mashed potatoes. I have also diced it and added to split-pea soup for an added, unctuous character. Although it can be very thinly sliced cold for sandwiches, it does not retain quite the same character when cold. This now readily-available meat product is highly recommended to someone looking for a less fatty sausage meat yet with a great, inimical flavor. It is wonderful to have the Beretta product available [...].
Excellent product, to enjoy the last day of the yar and others days too!
I haven't had the traditional New Year's Lentils and Cotechino in years. I was thrilled to find it here. Yes, the price is double what it would cost in Italy and the shipping a bit high but hey, it's only once a year you've got to eat it. Now I expect good luck the rest of the year with this savory meal even my picky kids ate!
In the Italian tradition, I cook Cotechino and Lentils to bring good luck for the New Year. It is the first meal on New Year's Day. Glad I found a source for Cotechino.