Cacciucco alla Livornese

Livorno (Leghorn), Tuscany. The port city's fishing tradition produced cacciucco as a way to use the bycatch and less presentable fish from the Tyrrhenian Sea. Artusi documented the recipe in his 1891 work as a specifically Livornese dish.

Cacciucco is the fish stew of Livorno — a tomato-based, wine-and-chilli seafood braise of extraordinary depth. The correct cacciucco uses at least five different species of fish (the dialect rule is that there must be as many 'c's in the word as there are fish varieties — the word has five 'c's). The fish cook in sequence according to their firmness: cephalopods (octopus, cuttlefish, squid) first, then firm-fleshed fish (monkfish, dogfish, gurnard), then delicate shellfish last. Served over toasted garlic-rubbed bread. The broth — thick with collapsed fish and tomato — is the soul of the dish.

The red wine and tomato create a broth that is deep, slightly acidic, with a bitter-spice note from the chilli. The cephalopods contribute gelatinous body; the various white fish add sweetness. The toasted, garlic-rubbed bread absorbs the broth and becomes part of the stew. This is one of the great fish dishes of Italy — complex, deeply satisfying, and completely of its port.