Ciuppin

A while back I got a note from a Bay Area food writer, who wondered what information I could give her on cioppino, the local fish stew. Though the name did sound Italian, I had never heard of it. Nor was it mentioned in any of my cookbooks, so I explored the web, where I found lots of recipes and variations, and a general consensus that the recipe is San Franciscan.

However, in the course of a discussion on cioppino that came up the Rec.Foods.Cooking newsgroup Michael Edelman said,

"Yes, it [cioppino] *is* Italian. It's a Mediterranean dish not unlike bouillabaisse. And like bouillabaisse, there are countless variations, and everyone thinks theirs is the only true version. There are enough versions that the two probably overlap."

To which Howard Isaacs (author, with Maureen Fant, of the Dictionary of Italian Cuisine, just released by Ecco Press (distribution W.W. Norton)) replied:

"To be precise, there is an Italian-American dish called cioppino, undoubtedly based on the Ligurian ciuppin (which means nearly any sort of fish or seafood zuppa).

Armed with a geographic location and the Italian spelling, things suddenly became much easier. "We're dealing, in essence, with a fish soup put through a food mill that's closely related to the soupe of the French," writes Diego Soracco in Slow Food Editore's Ricette di Osterie e Genti di Liguria. "However, it shouldn't be confused with bouillabaisse. Ciuppin's roots, which are common to all fish stews, lie in the use of the leftovers of the catch or the market stall. It's therefore a mixture of a number of kinds of fish, all of limited commercial value, cooked with greens, herbs, and olive oil. Only with time did it develop into the refined, rich dish we know today. It's made throughout the Riviera Ligure, but is more common in the Levante (the eastern part of the Ligurian coast, towards Tuscany), especially Lavagna, Chiavari and Sestri, which appears to hold the copyright on the name."

In addition to requiring a variety of tasty fish, a good ciuppin requires good Italian-style bread -- bread whose crumb is firm, because you will want to ladle the soup over it without its becoming a soggy mess. If you have stale Italian bread on hand by all means use it, toasting it lightly before you line your soup bowls with it.

Ricette di Osterie e Genti di Liguria presents this recipe, which was provided by the Ristorante Giappun.

Preparation time about an hour. Serves 4:

• 2 1/4 pounds mixed fish (mullet, reef mullet, bream (any of the smaller varieties of this family of fish), scorpion fish, piper, tub fish, and whatever else the fishmonger suggests)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 an onion
• 1/2 a carrot
• 1 6-inch rib celery
• A small bunch of parsley
• 4 ripe tomatoes
• 1 cup dry white wine such as a Vermentino or a Cinque Terre (it should not be oaked)
• 1/3 cup Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pint boiling water
• Several slices stale Italian bread, toasted
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• Salt & pepper

Begin by mincing the garlic, onion, parsley, celery and carrot. Sauté the mixture in the oil a high-sided, preferably earthenware pot. When the onion turns golden stir in the wine and continue cooking until it evaporates.

While the herbs are cooking, blanch, peel, seed and chop the tomatoes. Stir them into the herb mixture and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring often.

While the tomatoes are cooking go over the fish, removing scales and bones, and chop the fish into pieces. Stir the boiling water into the tomato-herb mixture, salt the sauce, and add the fish.

As soon as the pot resumes boiling cover it and reduce the heat. Simmer until the fish begins to fall apart. At this point remove the pot from the fire, fish out a number of larger firmer pieces and set them aside, and blend the rest, either by putting it through a food mill or through a strainer, rubbing on the pieces with a spoon to force them through the mesh (do not use a food processor, because it will not filter out coarse bits such as scales or bones). The resulting fish soup should be fairly liquid; if it's tick dilute it somewhat with warm water. Return the firmer pieces to the pot, season to taste with salt and pepper, dust the soup with the oregano, and simmer it five minutes more.

Serve it in soup bowls, over slices of toasted bread.

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

Ciuppin II

Another recipe, from Alessandro Pradelli's La Cucina Ligure -- he says it should have a "pleasingly flavorful creamy consistency,"and notes it's the perfect companion for stale bread.

The preparation time in this case is about 3 hours, most of which is simmering time. To serve 6 you'll need:

• 3 pounds mixed fish, including eel, gronghi (salt water eel), star gazer, octopus or squid, calamari, bream, piper fish, scorpion fish, and whatever else your fishmonger has that looks good)
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 1/2 a celery rib, minced
• 1 small bunch parsley, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• A pinch of oregano
• 1/4 cup extravirgin olive oil
• 4 tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded and crushed by hand
• 1 cup dry white wine such as Vermentino or Cinque Terre (it should not be oaked)
• Salt & freshly ground pepper
• Slices of toasted Italian bread
• A little more minced parsley.

Clean the fish, filet them to bone them, and chop them, keeping heads and tails. In the meantime, sauté the minced herbs in the oil in a large, preferably earthenware pot. As soon as the onion has lightly browned stir in the wine and simmer until it evaporates. Add the tomatoes and simmer covered, stirring occasionally, for about a half hour. Add the fish, season to taste with salt and pepper, and continue simmering over a very low flame until the fish falls completely apart, about 2 hours. Should the soup look like it's drying out, sprinkle in some boiling water (have a small pot handy on the stove).

Put the soup through a food mill, and then a strainer to remove all the bones and scales. Return it to the fire and heat it through while you are toasting the bread. Line the bowls with the bread, ladle the ciuppin over it, dust them with the last of the minced parsley, and serve.

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

Ciuppin di Gallinella

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As an alternative ciuppin, Mr. Pradelli suggests you use a gallinella di mare, which is a tub fish or tub gurnard, a larger, tasty relative of the piper. In this case the fish shouldn't be pureed, but rather served chopped in its broth. The preparation time is about an hour.

To serve 6:

• A gallinella, weighing 2 1/2 to 3 pounds
• An onion, minced
• Half a stick celery, minced
• A small bunch parsley, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup extravirgin olive oil
• 4 ripe tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded, and crushed
• 1 anchovy, boned
• 2 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed and minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup dry white wine (unoaked, along the lines of a Vermentino or a Cinque Terre)
• A lemon, sliced
• 6 slices toasted bread
• Salt and whole peppercorns

Place the fish in a pot large enough for it to lie flat, fill with cold water to cover, salt the water, and season it with 3 peppercorns, the bay leaf, and the sliced lemon. Bring the water to a boil and simmer the fish for a half hour. Remove the fish, reserving the broth, let the fish cool, and pick the flesh from the bones. Keep the flesh, while discarding the bones, skin and whatnot. Strain the broth.

Heat the oil in a preferably earthenware pot, sauté the minced herbs until the onion is lightly browned, and add the crushed tomatoes. Stir the mixture, season it to taste with salt and pepper, and simmer it for about 20 minutes. Stir in the white wine and the flesh of the fish, and continue simmering. Add some of the fish broth too, figuring about a ladle's worth per diner, check seasoning, and simmer for 15 minutes more.

While the ciuppin is simmering toast the bread and use it to line the bottoms of the soup bowls. Ladle the soup over the bread and serve.

Variation: you can add the 10-15 pitted sweet black olives, mincing them first, to the herb mixture.

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

Serve these with either a Vermentino, or a Pigato -- Lambruschi or Il Monticello both make fine Vermentino, while Riccardo Bruna and Durin make excellent Pigato. Another possibility would be a zesty red, for example a Rossese di Dolceacqua. Tenuta Giuncheo's is quite nice.

In closing, the practice of making a rich fish stew and serving it over toasted bread is quite common. Liguria is also known for buridda, in which the fish and vegetables are layered in a casserole and then slowly cooked over the stove. The Tuscan port of Livorno, a hundred miles south, is instead known for cacciucco, a fish stew that's graced by a healthy jolt of red pepper.

Good Food & Drink,
Kyle Phillips

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A note: Fish names vary considerably from place to place. In translating the Italian names to English equivalents I have used a wonderful book entitled "Mediterranean Seafood,"by Alan Davisdon (Penguin Cookery Library, Second Edition, London 1981). The on-site recipes mentioned above were drawn from a number of sources. Translations © Kyle Phillips.

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