Zampone

Traditional in many northern regions of Italy for New Year’s Day.

Zampone is a dish prepared from a pig’s leg.

It consists of the lower part of a pig’s leg (called a “zampino” in Italian) with the foot still on.

It is stuffed with finely-ground, seasoned sausage meat, and simmered for a long time.

After cooking, it is let cool to room temperature, then sliced and served with lentils.

Some versions are made without the leg altogether. They are just a 4 to 5 inch (10 to 12 1/2 cm) wide sausage, formed in a cylinder shape and wrapped in pig rind.

Ingredients

Meats

• Pork shoulder, leg meat  400 g      0.88 lb
• Pork cheek (jowl)              400 g      0.88 lb
• Pork skin                              200 g      0.44 lb

Ingredients needed per 1000g (2 lbs 3 oz) of meat

• Salt                                          18 g        3 tsp
• Cure #1                                  2.5 g       1/2 tsp
• White pepper                      2.0 g       1 tsp
• Nutmeg                                  0.5 g       1/4 tsp
• Cloves, ground                    0.3 g       1/8 tsp
• Cinnamon                             0.3 g       1/8 tsp
• Cumin                                    0.5 g       1/4 tsp
• Vanilla extract                    1 ml        1/5 tsp
• Garlic                                      3.5 g       1 clove
• Red wine                               30 ml     2 Tbsp

Instructions

1. Trim meats separating fat, connective tissue and skin from lean meat.
2. Grind lean pork through 3/8” (10 mm) plate.
3. Grind jowls through 1/4” (5 mm) plate.
4. Cook skins in water at 95° C (203° F) until soft. Cool.
5. Grind skins and connective tissue through 1/8” (3 mm) then:
6. grind again through 1/8” (3mm) plate OR
7. emulsify in food processor adding 15 ml (1 tablespoon) of cold water.
8. Mix lean meat with salt and cure # 1 until sticky. Add spices, ground jowls and emulsified paste and mix all together.
9. Stuff into boned out and sewn up at the end pig’s trotter.
10. Keep in refrigerator. Cook before serving.