P
Italian · Rome, Lazio
Fagioli con le Cotiche Romane
Rome's bean and pork rind soup — dried cannellini beans slow-cooked with softened pork rinds (cotiche), celery, tomato, and chilli in a rich, gelatinous broth. The cotiche are prepared separately: boiled, scraped, and rolled up before being added to the beans — they release collagen into the cooking liquid, creating a naturally thickened broth. A quintessential Roman cucina povera preparation, served throughout winter in trattorie as a primo. The beans should be completely tender but not falling apart; the cotiche should be soft, sticky, and gelatinous.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
400 g
dried cannellini beans
soaked overnight in cold water
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
500 g
pork rinds (cotiche)
fresh, with some fat attached
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
garlic cloves
whole, peeled
Your own market
4
fresh sage leaves
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
dried red chilli
whole or crumbled
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the soffritto
2
celery stalks
finely chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
60 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
Your own market
400 g
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Place the soaked, drained cannellini beans in a large pot with the garlic cloves and sage leaves. Cover generously with fresh cold water and bring to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 45 minutes. The beans should be partially tender — yielding at the centre but not yet fully cooked. Reserve all cooking liquid.
2
Place the pork rinds in a separate pot, cover with cold water, and boil for 30 minutes. Drain. While still hot, scrape each rind thoroughly on the inner fatty side with a knife to remove any hairs and excess fat; the surface should be clean and smooth. Roll each rind tightly lengthways and tie with kitchen string to hold its shape.
3
Warm the olive oil in a wide, heavy pot over moderate heat. Add the celery and cook until softened and translucent, without colour. Add the chilli. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato has collapsed and the oil has separated to the surface — approximately 15 minutes. The base should smell sweet and concentrated, no longer raw.
4
This is where the dish lives or dies. Add the semi-cooked beans together with all their cooking liquid to the soffritto base. Nestle the rolled and tied cotiche among the beans. The liquid should barely cover everything; add a little water if needed. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, covered, for a further 45 minutes, turning the cotiche rolls once. The broth will thicken as the cotiche release their collagen; the beans must be completely tender but still intact, and the broth must be body-rich and viscous — not thin or watery. If too thin, remove the lid and reduce briefly.
5
Remove the cotiche rolls. Cut and discard the string. Slice the rolls into rounds and return them to the surface of the soup. Taste and adjust for salt. Ladle into deep bowls, placing rounds of cotiche on top. Serve immediately, with thick slices of toasted pane casareccio, if available, for the broth to saturate.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Artisan dried cannellini from a named Lazio producer, soaked overnight; farm-sourced cotiche from a breed with thick, clean rind; Parmesan rind added to the bean pot; pane casareccio from a wood-fired Roman bakery.
02
Estate — Quality dried cannellini (not supermarket generic); cotiche sourced fresh from a butcher, well-scraped; good extra-virgin olive oil for the soffritto; fresh ripe tomatoes in season.
03
Market — Standard dried cannellini soaked overnight; cotiche from a reliable butcher or pork supplier; tinned whole tomatoes of decent quality; standard extra-virgin olive oil.
04
House — Dried cannellini from any reliable source, well-soaked; cotiche if available, otherwise pork belly skin substituted; tinned chopped tomatoes; any mild olive oil.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. Beans yield completely when pressed between finger and thumb — no chalky or firm core remains.
◇Sight. The broth is visibly viscous and coats the back of a ladle; it is not clear or watery.
◇Touch. The cotiche, when pressed, are soft, sticky, and offer no resistance — fully gelatinised.
◇Smell. The soffritto base smells sweet and concentrated before the beans are added — no raw tomato sharpness remains.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies in the combined simmer: the cotiche must surrender their collagen into the bean broth — if the broth remains thin or the beans are underdone, the preparation has failed.
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VI
What to Pour
A robust, dry red wine of moderate tannin — a central Italian wine with sufficient body to stand against the gelatinous richness and chilli heat of the broth; a Cesanese del Piglio or equivalent Lazio red is in character with the dish's Roman winter register.
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance