Zuppa di Fagioli con Cotenna e Salsiccia Abruzzese

Abruzzo

A robust bean soup from the Abruzzo hinterland — dried borlotti or cannellini beans slow-cooked with pork cotenne (rinds), local fresh sausage and lard soffritto. The cotenne dissolve their collagen into the broth, creating a viscous, silky consistency. The sausage crumbles into the soup, perfuming it with fennel and peperoncino. Served with grilled farro bread.

• Nearly identical preparation — both central Italian mountain regions share this exact bean-pork-rind soup tradition with minor regional variations → Zuppa di Fagioli Borlotti con Cotiche Molisana Molisan
• White beans slow-cooked with pork cuts including rind — the elaborate French version from Languedoc of the same bean-and-pork-collagen foundation → Cassoulet French
• Black beans with pork cuts including rind — the same collagen-enriched bean-and-pork tradition across the Atlantic → Feijoada Brazilian

Silky, porky, earthy from the beans; the collagen gives almost lip-smacking unctuous texture; sausage spice perfumes throughout; the concentrated broth is the prize — soup that eats like a meal