COSOEULA

Scrape the pork rind clean and then singe it. Singe the trotters as well and cut them into four pieces. Boil the rind and trotters in salted water for an hour and a half. After having washed the cabbage leaves, cook them in boiling water for a couple of minutes (cabbage is at its best when harvested after a frost) and put them to one side.
Dice the celery and carrots and chop up the onion, garlic and rosemary and place everything, along with the ribs, in a large baking tray. Leave to bake in a hot oven until the ribs start to sizzle. Then drain off the excess fat, pour in the wine and, once it has evaporated, add all the remaining ingredients except for the cabbage.
Add salt and pepper to taste and leave on the hob for an hour, then add the cabbage and continue cooking, making sure to stir the mixture at regular intervals. If it becomes too dry, add some water. Also known as pork bottaggio in Italian – though this recipe can also be made with duck or goose – casoeûla or cazzoeula (a dialect word meaning ‘casserole dish’) first appeared in the region of Lombardy and in the neighbouring area of Novara as a peasant dish, while today it is discouraged because it is considered to be too rich. These days, leaner and smaller cuts of pork are used in an attempt to limit the number of calories. This version includes all the traditional ingredients – including salamitt di verz – and procedures, with the only variation being that it is partly baked in the oven and that nothing is fried. It is a main dish to be enjoyed in mid-winter with a steaming helping of polenta.