-
1
Place the cotenne strips in a saucepan of cold water, bring to the boil and blanch for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse. The water should run clear, carrying away surface impurities and excess fat.
-
2
Place the drained soaked beans and the blanched cotenne together in a large pot. Cover generously with cold water and bring up slowly over a moderate flame. Starting both in cold water allows the collagen of the cotenne to dissolve gradually into the liquid. Skim any foam that rises.
-
3
In a separate pan, melt the lard over a low heat and cook the soffritto aromatics until they are soft and translucent. The lard should smell sweet and rendered, not scorched.
-
4
Add the soffritto to the bean-and-cotenne pot. Crumble the raw sausage meat directly into the pot. This is where the dish lives or dies: the sausage must go in raw so that its juices, fennel, and peperoncino perfume the entire broth as it cooks; pre-cooking the sausage separately robs the soup of its character. If using a Parmigiano rind, add it now.
-
5
Simmer the pot, partially covered, until the beans are completely tender and the cotenne have softened to a yielding, almost gelatinous consistency. The broth will already carry a light viscosity from the dissolving collagen.
-
6
Remove roughly one-third of the beans and pass them through a mouli or press them through a sieve back into the pot. This gives the soup a creamy body while the remaining whole beans provide texture.
-
7
Remove the lid and cook uncovered for a further 20 minutes at a lively simmer to concentrate the broth. The soup is ready when it coats a spoon heavily and holds its shape briefly in the bowl — thick enough to eat with a fork, not a liquid broth.
-
8
Taste, then season with salt only now: the cotenne and sausage carry salt throughout cooking and the reduction intensifies it further. Adjust sparingly.
-
9
Ladle into bowls over a slice of grilled farro bread. The bread should absorb the collagen-rich broth from beneath without dissolving entirely.