Trieste and Friuli — particularly the area where Austrian and Italian culinary cultures overlap. The bean-and-sauerkraut combination reflects the Austro-Hungarian influence on Triestine cooking, where the city was the main port of the Habsburg Empire.
Jota is the soul of Triestine and Friulian winter cooking: a thick, deeply flavoured soup of cooked kidney beans, sauerkraut (crauti), potatoes, smoked pork (cotenna, pancetta affumicata, or ribs), and browned flour for body. It occupies the intersection of Central European and Mediterranean cooking cultures — the sauerkraut is Austro-Hungarian; the olive oil and bean base are Italian. The flavour is sour, smoky, rich, and filling — the antithesis of delicate.
The sourness of the sauerkraut, the smokiness of the pork, the earthiness of the beans, and the thickening of the browned flour create a flavour profile unlike any other Italian soup — sour, smoky, rich, and substantial. This is a border-culture dish, and its flavour expresses that borderland.
Dried borlotti or kidney beans are soaked overnight and cooked to very tender. The sauerkraut (commercial or homemade) is rinsed once — not thoroughly — to retain some acidity but reduce excess sourness. The smoked pork (choose cotenna — pork rind — for gelatin or pancetta affumicata for flavour) is sautéed first. Browned flour (torrefaction of plain flour in a dry pan until golden) is added to thicken — this is the old Friulian technique for adding body and a nutty depth. Combine beans, sauerkraut, pork, and potato in the broth and simmer together for 45 minutes until everything is unified. The consistency should be thick enough to stand a spoon.
Jota is always better the following day — reheat slowly and add a little water if it has thickened overnight to paste. The browned-flour technique (tostatura della farina) can be used for any dish requiring a thickener with a nutty depth — it is essentially a dry roux. The Triestine tradition adds a dash of olive oil at the table before serving.
Rinsing the sauerkraut too thoroughly — removes the characteristic sourness. Not using smoked pork — the smoke is essential to jota's identity. Under-cooking — the dish needs time for the flavours to merge. Using tinned beans — acceptable for speed but the bean cooking liquid adds body.
Slow Food Editore, Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Cucina; Elizabeth David, Italian Food