Costate di maiale ripiene, stuffed pork chops from the province of Ragusa in south-eastern Sicily, are an example of a unique regional cooking tradition built around the local produce – pork, offal, cheese and in modern times, the skills of the butcher.
Thick, bone-in pork chops are opened a libro – like a book – generously filled, sewn closed and slowly cooked with red wine and broth.
It is a substantial dish that says something about the food culture of this distinctive part of Sicily.
Ragusa and the Monti Iblei
Ragusa in Sicily is both the name of the city and of the surrounding in southern Sicily, includes towns like Ragusa, Modica, Scicli, and Chiaramonte Gulfi. It’s located in the island’s southeast corner. Much of the province lies on the Hyblaean Plateau, a limestone landscape with rolling hills, valleys, and deep ravines known as the Monti Iblei.
The area is different in some respects from the more familiar image of Sicily. Its pastoral and agricultural economy has produced a cuisine with a particularly strong association with cattle, pork, lamb, cheeses, offal, filled breads and substantial festive meat dishes.
Cattle raising and dairy farming have long been important. The renowned Ragusano DOP is a firm, stretched-curd cow’s-milk cheese, traditionally formed into large rectangular blocks and aged. Ricotta, provola and other dairy products are also deeply embedded in the local cuisine.
Sicilian cuisine developed from a strong culture of farming, livestock raising and home preservation. Meat and dairy are comfortably paired with vegetables, pulses, olive oil and wheat.
Agriculture has changed, too. In Sicily, serre are greenhouses used for intensive cultivation, particularly common in the south-east around Ragusa, Vittoria and the coastal plain. Usually covered with plastic rather than glass, they provide protected growing conditions for tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and other vegetables that are grown all year round. These have become a distinctive feature of the modern agricultural landscape.
Pork and the Food of My Father’s Family
My father’s family lives in Ragusa, a city and surrounding countryside I have visited numerous times. The region has a particularly strong reputation for pork and traditional meat cookery:
The region is renowned for its pork and traditional meat cookery, particularly hearty dishes in which very little of the animal is wasted.
Cotenne, strips of pork rind, for example, may be added to pork, often still on the bone, to enrich the flavour and texture of a slow-cooked tomato sauce for pasta. Sausages also are popular in this area and added. Pork and rind are also used to make stock for particular minestre and brothy pasta dishes, including the local specialty made with kohlrabi.
Then there is gelatina di maiale, also known locally as zuzzu or liatina. This is a traditional jellied pork preparation made from the pig’s head, including the tongue, with additional meat and plenty of rind to provide the natural gelatine.
My elderly aunt, an exceptional cook who taught me so much about Sicilian food, once made gelatina for me. She died several years ago and, these days, the extended family is quite happy to buy it from one of the many butchers who still make it. The butchers of Chiaramonte Gulfi are renowned as some of the best in the region for making gelatina.
These are intensely local dishes and sometimes seem surprisingly different from the familiar “Sicilian” repertoire presented elsewhere on the island or in general Italian cookbooks.
Costate di Maiale Ripiene — Stuffed Pork Chops
The traditional local speciality is am discussing is costate di maiale ripiene — stuffed pork chops particularly associated with Chiaramonte Gulfi.
These are no ordinary pork chops. They are cut very thick, approximately alte due dita, two fingers thick and opened like a book, while the bone is left attached.
The filling is generous: minced or finely chopped pork, pork liver, fresh caciocavallo, hard-boiled egg and slices of local salami. In effect, the dish brings together many of the characteristic flavours of the region within a single pork chop.
Once filled, the chops are closed and sewn so that the filling cannot escape during cooking.
Traditionally, they may be browned in strutto (lard), although oil is mush more commonly used today, then braised with onion, red wine and broth until tender.
The younger members of my father’s family purchase them from a trusted butcher. I have eaten costate ripiene cooked in the traditional braised way and also roasted over a rustic wood fire. Both were exceptionally good.
This is an integral part of the cooking tradition. The dish has not only been passed down as a homemade recipe but also represents the culture of the butcher shop. The butcher expertly cuts, fills and prepares the meat, while the customer brings it home to cook.
A Dish That Belongs to the region
What appeals to me most about costate di maiale ripiene is that the dish makes complete sense when viewed within the food culture of Ragusa.
The pork and liver reflect the traditional use of the whole animal; the caciocavallo speaks of the region’s strong dairy culture; the salami belongs to its macelleria tradition; and even the sewing of the chop tells us something about an older style of cooking in which time, skill and economy were taken for granted.
It may seem an elaborate pork chop, but it is also a small expression of the agricultural and culinary landscape of the Monti Iblei.
Stuffed Pork tradition in Italian Cooking
Thinking about costate ripiene reminded me of a Tasting Australia event I attended in Adelaide, led by renowned Western Australian butcher Vincenzo Garreffa, founder of famous butchery called Mondo di Carne (now called Mondo).
During the event, Vincenzo demonstrated the preparation of various smallgoods and also made porchetta.
Porchetta varies considerably across central Italy. Garlic, rosemary, fennel and other herbs appear in different combinations according to place and tradition; sage is also found in some versions. Pork liver and other offal may be included, adding richness and a more robust flavour.
He boned a piglet and filled it with pork fillets, blanched almonds, pork liver, garlic, rosemary, fennel seeds, salt and pepper before rolling and securing it for roasting.
After the initial shock of seeing a whole little pig boned, filled, trussed and squeezed between racks into the oven, we all agreed at the end that the aroma, and eventually the taste was wonderful.
An Italian Tradition of Stuffing Meat
Stuffing meat seems to be one of those lasting Italian approaches to cookery:
open it → season or fill it → close, tie, sew or roll it → cook it.
At one extreme is the whole pig used for porchetta. At the other are smaller preparations such as costate ripiene.
Other examples include arrosti ripieni (stuffed roasts), lonza farcita (stuffed pork loin), braciole (stuffed meat rolls), involtini (small meat rolls), falsomagro (Sicilian stuffed rolled beef) and numerous intensely local variations.
Despite regional differences, the underlying principle remains remarkably consistent: meat is wrapped around, folded over or opened to contain a seasoned filling, turning modest ingredients into something more substantial, flavourful and celebratory.
Anna Pomar’s RECIPE FOR Costate di Maiale Ripiene
I have several cookbooks on Sicilian cuisine, many of which are written in Italian and purchased in Sicily. However, it has been difficult to locate a recipe. The reason that it is absent is probably because it is a unique local dish distinct from the more familiar Sicilian recipes, and is therefore absent from general Sicilian or Italian cookbooks.
The recipe I found is from Anna Pomar’s La Cucina Tradizionale Siciliana., a book given to me by my cousin Rosetta who lives in Ragusa.
The cover describes the book as a collection of recipes representing lost flavours and often-forgotten traditions.
Pomar identifies costate di maiale ripiene as a famous speciality of Chiaramonte Gulfi, which, because of this speciality, had become “una delle mete predilette dei buongustai siciliani” — one of the favourite destinations of Sicilian gourmets.
That alone tells us something about the reputation these awe-inspiring stuffed pork chops.
It is only fair that I present the recipe, with the Italian version first followed by the English.
THE RECIPES in Italian and English
Italian – Costate di Maiale Ripiene
Questa ricetta è tratta da La Cucina Tradizionale Siciliana di Anna Pomar. L’autrice presenta le costate di maiale ripienecome una famosa specialità di Chiaramonte Gulfi, “divenuto per la sua specialità una delle mete predilette dei buongustai siciliani”.
Ingredienti
6 costate di maiale
200 g di carne di maiale tritata
200 g di fegato di maiale
50 g di salame
100 g di caciocavallo fresco
2 uova sode
1 cipolla nuova
1 bicchiere di vino rosso
olio
brodo, quanto basta
sale e pepe
Preparazione
Le costate di maiale dovranno essere piuttosto doppie e aperte a libro. Non si dovrà però togliere loro l’osso.
Preparate un impasto con la carne tritata, il fegato sminuzzato, sale, molto pepe e un sorso di vino rosso. Ponetene un cucchiaio fra le due fette di ogni costata, insieme al formaggio fresco, alle uova sode e al salame affettati.
Richiudete le costate e cucitele in modo che il ripieno non fuoriesca.
Soffriggete in un tegame la cipolla grattugiata con l’olio, aggiungete le costate, sfumate con il vino e coprite con il brodo. Lasciate cuocere, coperte, per circa un’ora.
Servite con un contorno di riso condito con il sugo della carne e pezzetti di fegato.
English – Stuffed Pork Chops- Costate di Maiale Ripiene
Ingredients
6 thick bone-in pork chops
200 g minced pork
200 g pork liver
50 g salami
100 g fresh caciocavallo
2 hard-boiled eggs
1 fresh young onion
1 glass red wine
Olive oil
Broth, as required
Salt and plenty of black pepper
Preparation
The pork chops should be quite thick and cut open like a book, without removing the bone.
Prepare a mixture with the minced pork, finely chopped liver, salt, plenty of pepper and a splash of red wine. Place a spoonful between the two sides of each chop, together with slices of fresh cheese, hard-boiled egg and salami.
Close the chops and sew them securely so that the filling does not escape.
Gently fry the grated onion in oil in a saucepan. Add the stuffed chops, then pour in some wine and allow it to evaporate. Add enough broth to cover and cook, covered, for about an hour.
Serve with rice dressed with the meat juices and pieces of liver.
Gelatina/ Zuzzu/Liatina
GELATINA DI MAIALE. Pork Brawn
The Ugly Ducklings in Italian Cuisine (Scarrafoni in cucina)
Kohlrabi
KOHLRABI with pasta (Causunnedda)
A WET PASTA DISH WITH KOHLRABI
GNUCCHITEDDI (Making small gnocchi shapes using my great grandmother’s device)
Porchetta
PORK, SALUMI (Smallgoods). Tasting Australia
MAIALINO ARROSTO (Roast, suckling pig)
PORK IN RAGUSA (I Ragusani mangiano molto maiale)
Mondo di Carne butchery in Western Australia, now called MONDO
