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Zampino, with French Beans
"In Italy and Vienna," says M. Dubois, "they think a great deal of 'zampino' (`hand,' i.e. foot and leg, of young pork) from Modena, and they are quite right. For my own part, I do not know any product of this nature more cleverly contrived or more successfully achieved than this `zampino.' The only thing to regret is that the `zampino' is not sufficiently and better know to epicures. Choose a `zampino' freshly salted; having soaked it for two hours, drain, and wrap it up in a fine cloth; tie, and place it in an oval stewpan, moistening plentifully with cold water; make the liquid boil, draw the pan to the side of the fire, keeping the stock simmering for two hours, after which take the pan quite off the fire, leaving the `zampino' in, and twenty minutes after unpack, and dish it on a garnish of French beans or Saucer kraut."
Dubois is describing what Italians call zampone: the boned skin of a pig's front foot and lower leg stuffed with seasoned ground pork and cured. The method is simple poaching, and the whole thing turns on keeping the water below a true boil.
- Never let it boil hardBring the water up, then pull it back to a bare simmer around 180-190F for the whole two to three hours. A rolling boil splits the skin and the stuffing escapes into the pot.
- What to buySold as zampone di Modena, usually IGP. Two forms exist: raw cured, which needs the long soak and long poach described here, and precooked vacuum-packed, which only needs 20-30 minutes reheating in its bag. Check the label before you soak anything.
- SoakingTwo hours suits a lightly salted trotter fresh from a butcher. Modern raw cured zampone is drier and saltier, and is commonly soaked 8-12 hours in cold water, changed once or twice; follow the instructions on the pack.
- The cloth and the skewerWrapping in muslin and tying keeps the shape and holds the skin together if it does begin to give. Prick the skin in a few places with a needle or trussing skewer before it goes in, so steam does not build under it.
- "Draw the pan to the side of the fire"Range cookery language for moving off direct heat to a cooler part of the stove. On a modern hob, the lowest setting with a diffuser.
- The rest off the heatThe twenty minutes standing in the hot liquid is not padding. It lets the stuffing firm so it slices cleanly instead of crumbling.
- Internal temperatureA 2 lb raw zampone poached this way will comfortably pass 165F at the centre. If yours is larger, allow three hours and check with a probe pushed into the thickest part of the stuffing.
- "Saucer kraut"A garbled setting of sauerkraut. With green beans, dress them in butter; with sauerkraut, braise it separately in some of the poaching liquid. Lentils or mashed potato are the other traditional partners.
- YieldA whole zampone of about 2 lb serves six to eight in thick slices, cut across so each portion carries a rim of skin.
The M. Dubois quoted here is presumably Urbain Dubois, the French chef and author of La Cuisine Classique. Zampone belongs to Modena and its neighbours in Emilia, where the same butchery tradition produced mortadella and culatello, and it is traditionally traced to the sixteenth century, though that origin story is legend rather than documented fact. It is still eaten at New Year across northern Italy, with lentils, on the traditional understanding that the coin-shaped pulses bring money. Dubois's complaint that it was too little known outside Italy and Vienna held for a long while in English kitchens, and the odd spellings here, "zampino" for zampone and "Saucer kraut" for sauerkraut, suggest the compiler was working from print rather than from the table.