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1
Score the cotiche in a cross-hatch pattern on the fat side. Place in a saucepan of cold water, bring to the boil and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain and discard the blanching water. The rind should feel slightly softened and the surface fat rendered enough to show no grease slick when you press it with a finger.
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2
Drain the soaked borlotti and discard their soaking water. The beans should be plump and uniformly swollen, with no shrivelled specimens remaining.
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3
In a large, heavy pot melt the lard over a medium-low flame. Add the chopped onion and crumbled chilli. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent and the lard smells sweet and faintly nutty — not browned.
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4
Add the blanched cotiche and the drained borlotti to the soffritto. Pour in enough cold water to cover by at least 5 cm. Bring the pot to the point where small bubbles rise lazily from the base — a bare simmer, never a rolling boil. This is where the dish lives or dies: a vigorous boil will burst the beans into a starchy cloud and prevent the rind from rendering into a clean, gelatinous broth. Maintain this temperature throughout.
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5
Cook at a bare simmer for approximately 2 to 2½ hours, partially covered. The cotiche are ready when they yield completely to light pressure from a spoon and the broth has turned opaque and unctuous, coating the back of a ladle with a thin, gelatinous film.
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6
Season with fine salt only now, in the final 20 minutes of cooking, stirring gently to distribute. Taste: the broth should be distinctly savoury and the beans buttery at the centre without losing their skins.
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7
Remove the pot from the heat. Drizzle the Molise extra-virgin olive oil directly over the surface. Rest the soup, uncovered, for 30 minutes before serving. The aroma released should be fruity and grassy — evidence that the oil's volatile top notes have been preserved by the absence of further heat.