A taste of Modena and its legendary cured meats
Nothing of the pig is wasted, the saying goes, and Emilian gastronomic tradition confirms this. Just thinking about the 600 kg Super Zampone made every year by the master pork butchers of Castelnuovo Rangone and all the variety of typical Modenese cured meats induces a certain appetite, along with curiosity about the stories behind these local products. Let's find out what they are.
Il prosciutto di Modena PDO
Prosciutto di Modena PDO is a raw and cured ham with a sweet, intense flavour made from just two ingredients: salt and time. Its uniqueness is linked to the hills and valleys near the Panaro river. This foothill area offers the Prosciutto the perfect microclimate, making it inimitable and unreproducible outside of this environment.
Although less well known than that of neighbouring Parma, Modena ham has its origins in ancient times. The earliest evidence dates back to the Celts, who used to preserve meat with salt. And it is precisely the salting method that makes this PDO product special. The legs are sprinkled with salt, covering both the surface of the inner side and the rind, and massaged several times by hand before resting for months.
The legendary ‘zampone’ and ‘cotechino’
While the origin of Modena ham is historical, that of the ‘zampone’ (stuffed pig's trotter) and ‘cotechino’ (large pork sausage requiring slow cooking) is the stuff of legend. It is said, in fact, that it dates back to 1511 when, during the siege of Pope Julius II Della Rovere's troops at the castle of Mirandola, the besieged were forced to kill numerous pigs so as not to surrender them to the enemy. And in order to preserve the meat, one of Pico Della Mirandola's cooks decided to stuff the pigs' feet into the pork rinds.
This great idea still allows these two delicacies to be enjoyed today, glorified even by Emile Zola, who said: 'if you want cheerfulness, eat Modenese, zampone gives joy to a sad soul'.
Museum of typical Modena cured meats
In Modena, cured meats are such an important product that they are the protagonists of MuSA, the first museum in Italy dedicated to the centuries-old art of cured meat processing in Castelnuovo Rangone. It’s a place that encapsulates the gestures, knowledge and traditions that have made Modena a reference point for pork processing.