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1
Warm the olive oil in a wide, heavy pot over a moderate flame. Add the crushed garlic and cook until it turns pale gold and the oil is fragrant — the garlic must colour without browning to bitterness.
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2
Pour in the white wine vinegar. It will hiss sharply on contact with the hot oil. Let it reduce by half; the raw acid edge softens and the vinegar smell shifts from harsh to round. This is the Anconetano signature and must not be replaced by wine.
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3
Add the firmest species first — monkfish, scorpionfish, cuttlefish, squid, and any other dense-fleshed fish. Pour in only enough water or stock to barely cover. The stew is thick by definition; if the liquid submerges the fish generously, reduce it. Simmer, covered, for approximately 20–30 minutes. The flesh of the firmest pieces should yield when pressed but hold their form.
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4
This is where the dish lives or dies: add the species in strict reverse order of robustness, never all at once. Mid-weight fish — gurnard, weever, red mullet, John Dory — enter next and cook for roughly 10 minutes. The delicate species — sole and any thin fillets — follow for a final 5 minutes. Shellfish (clams, mussels, mantis shrimp) go in last, only long enough for their shells to open and their flesh to set. Every species must reach the table with its own distinct texture intact; if the sole is flaking to nothing while the monkfish is still firm, the sequence has been violated.
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5
Check the broth: it should be lightly thickened, cloudy with collagen released by the scorpionfish bones, and sharp with vinegar. No tomato is present; the colour remains pale amber. Taste for the balance of acid — it should be bright but not aggressive. The broth barely covers the fish.
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6
Serve directly from the pot into wide bowls. Accompany with bruschetta — bread toasted and rubbed with raw garlic — placed alongside to soak the vinegar-bright broth. The dish may be reheated gently the following day; the collagen from the scorpionfish bones will have set the broth slightly, and the flavour deepens.