Cotechino and Lenticchie: 500 year old traditional New Year’s Eve dish in Italy

The recipe, its history and symbolism 🎉

An Italian New Year's Eve menu always includes cotechino (a large, soft, slow-cooked pork sausage) and lenticchie (lentils). Whatever dishes Italians serve on New Year's Eve, the meal ends with cotechino e lenticchie at midnight as the old year transitions into the new.

Cotechino takes its name from the cotica, or natural pork rind casing the flavored pork meat is stuffed into.