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.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 pounds mixed fish (see below)
- 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
Preparation:
The fish might include mullet, reef mullet, bream (any of the smaller varieties of this family of fish), scorpion fish, piper, tub fish, and whatever else your fishmonger suggests.
Continuing with the introduction,
However, in discussing cioppino on the Rec.Foods.Cooking newsgroup Michael Edelman said, "Yes, 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, 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.
You'll also need the ingredients listed above.
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 your ciuppin in soup bowls, over slices of toasted bread, 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.
Continuing with the introduction,
However, in discussing cioppino on the Rec.Foods.Cooking newsgroup Michael Edelman said, "Yes, 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, 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.
You'll also need the ingredients listed above.
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 your ciuppin in soup bowls, over slices of toasted bread, 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.
