The Cotechino Sausage Trail to Bottura

Following the story of Cotechino, Emilia-Romagna’s celebrated slow-cooked pork sausage, takes us to Franceschetta58 in Modena. Here, Massimo Bottura’s distinctive culinary vision brings regional heritage into conversation with creativity, innovation and social purpose. We visited as part of The EUFAB6 campaign, Savour the PDO and PGI Wines and Deli Meats from Europe.

EUFAB6 is a European campaign celebrating some of Europe's most treasured protected food and drink products, helping raise awareness of PDO and PGI specialties. Among the products celebrated is Cotechino, an Italian pork sausage cooked by slow simmering. Its soft texture and gently spiced flavour have made it one of Emilia-Romagna's most iconic comfort foods, traditionally eaten at New Year with lentils. 

It was this sausage that led me to Franceschetta58, the young, colourful sibling of Massimo Bottura's three-Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana with Francesco Vincenzi as head chef. Both restaurants are located in Modena in Northern Italy.

I first tasted Cotechino as a topping on a Brianza saffron risotto served at Macelleria Beccalli, a restaurant housed within an 18th-century building and attached to the historic Beccalli family butcher and delicatessen. It appears again in Massimo Bottura’s cult Emilia Burger where it is mixed with beef to create a juicy patty. The bun is lightly glazed and not too 'bready', allowing the meat to remain the star of the show. A thin layer of gremolata is smeared on the bun but nothing feels over-embellished. Chef Francesco understands the beauty of knowing when less is more.  

Franceschetta58, located in a former tire factory, is relaxed yet effortlessly stylish, with bold abstract tableware and decor. Italians have a knack for putting things together, whether it's an outfit, a room or a plate of food. They know the rules well enough to break them. In less capable hands, the mix of colours, patterns and ideas might feel like a mishmash. At Franceschetta58, it just works.

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Our palates are awakened by both an amuse-bouche and a lettuce dish with capers and vinaigrette. Italy is a country obsessed with regionality, and the next course is pure Emilia-Romagna: tiny twists of tortellini in a soup of rich, silky Parmigiano Reggiano cream. The tortellini not only pleases the belly but also warms the heart as it is made by Tortellante, a pasta lab where young adults with autism make fresh pasta with experienced pasta makers in the Modenese tradition. The dish is deeply delicious and as I take my first mouthfuls one of my dining companions comments, "I think Sharon's gone to heaven." 

Next comes Guinea Fowl, spatchcocked, pressed and cooked sous vide, then paired with a layer of richly offal-forward chicken liver pâté and an intensely reduced jus.

Dessert is a playful take on Zuppa Inglese.  Ladyfingers soaked in the herbal liqueur Alchermes and custard layered beneath an airy chocolate mousse sculpted into the shape of an artichoke, that Italian culinary motif. 

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Bottura is a chef whose name frequently peppers Italian conversations.  He represents much of what Italy stands for, specifically regional provenance and sustainability.  He executes his dishes with joyful flair and his social projects with empathy. His name has become inseparable from Food for Soul, the global network of Refettorios that turns food waste into meals, hospitality into dignity and dining rooms into agents of social change.

A journey that began with Cotechino ultimately revealed something larger about Bottura's world. Whether celebrating protected regional products, reimagining classic dishes or tackling food waste through Food for Soul, his work is driven by a belief that tradition is not something to be preserved behind glass, but something living that can evolve without losing its identity.