P
Italian · Genoa
Ciuppin — Ligurian Fish Soup
Ciuppin is the Ligurian fish stew that preceded the Californian cioppino — Genovese fishermen who settled in San Francisco's North Beach in the 19th century brought the technique with them. In Liguria, ciuppin is made from the day's small, bony, cheap fish, cooked down to a purée and strained through a food mill to create a thick, deeply flavoured fish broth. It is served over toasted bread or alongside larger pieces of fish added for the final simmer.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the soffritto
1
onion
finely chopped
Your own market
3
garlic cloves
finely chopped
Your own market
2
celery stalks
finely chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 small bunch
flat-leaf parsley
finely chopped
Your own market
60 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
Your own market
For the base fish (bony, gelatinous)
1 kg
mixed small bony fish
scorpionfish, gurnard, sea robin, John Dory frames, or a combination; cleaned
Your own market
150 ml
dry white wine
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
400 g
1 pinch
dried chilli (peperoncino)
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
fine sea salt
plus more to finish
Your own market
For the final fish (presentable cuts)
600 g
mixed fine fish fillets or steaks
sea bass, mullet, or grouper; cut into large pieces
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
To serve
4 thick slices
sourdough or country bread
toasted
Your own market
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II
The Method
1
Warm the olive oil in a wide, heavy pot over a medium flame. Add the onion, garlic, celery, and parsley. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are fully softened and translucent but not coloured — the soffritto should smell sweet and yield completely to the spoon.
2
Add the white wine and raise the heat. Let the wine reduce by half; the sharp alcohol edge should give way to a clean, bright acidity. Add the tomatoes and the pinch of dried chilli. Stir to combine and cook for 5 minutes until the tomatoes begin to collapse.
3
Add all the bony base fish — whole or roughly broken — pressing them down into the liquid. Add just enough cold water to barely cover. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, until every fish has entirely broken down and the pot is a uniform, collapsing mass of flesh, bones, and liquid: this is where the dish lives or dies. Nothing that resembles a piece of fish should remain; the bones must have given all their gelatin to the broth before it is passed.
4
Pass the entire contents of the pot through a food mill fitted with its finest disc, working in batches. Press firmly and repeatedly so that all flesh and gelatinous matter is extruded as a thick, purée-like broth; discard what remains in the mill — skin and bones only. The strained broth should coat the back of a spoon with visible body.
5
Return the strained broth to a clean pot and bring back to a gentle simmer. Season aggressively with salt — fish broth requires more than you expect. Taste: the broth should be deep, saline, and rounded.
6
Add the pieces of fine fish — sea bass, mullet, or grouper — to the simmering strained broth. Cook for 10 minutes only. The fish is done when the flesh is just opaque through to the centre and yields to the lightest pressure without flaking apart.
7
Place a slice of toasted bread in each bowl. Ladle the broth over, distributing the pieces of fine fish equally. Finish with a thread of raw extra-virgin olive oil if desired. Serve immediately while the broth is hot and the bread retains some resistance.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Whole live or day-boat scorpionfish and gurnard for the base, giving maximum gelatin and flavour; wild sea bass or grouper steaks for the final fish; single-estate Ligurian DOP extra-virgin olive oil (e.g. Riviera Ligure).
02
Estate — Fresh whole scorpionfish or mixed rock fish from a good fishmonger; wild sea bass or farmed organic sea bass fillets; quality Italian extra-virgin olive oil.
03
Market — Mixed fish-counter frames, heads, and cheaper whole fish (gurnard, pouting, weever) for the base; supermarket sea bass or mullet fillets for the final simmer; a decent Ligurian or Tuscan olive oil.
04
House — Any available bony fish frames or off-cuts — fish frames from a fishmonger are often free; tinned whole peeled tomatoes; a neutral extra-virgin olive oil. The technique rescues almost any raw material.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The base fish have completely dissolved into the liquid; no recognisable piece of flesh remains and the pot contents are a uniform, murky, rust-coloured mass before milling.
◇Touch. After milling, the strained broth coats the back of a spoon with a viscous, almost creamy weight — evidence of collagen fully extracted from the bones.
◇Sight. The fine fish pieces are fully opaque through to the centre, holding their shape without crumbling after 10 minutes in the broth.
◇Smell. The soffritto is complete when the raw sharpness of garlic and onion has disappeared entirely and the pot smells sweet, oily, and clean.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies at the food-mill step: only prolonged cooking of bony, gelatinous fish followed by firm extraction through the moulinet produces the collagen-rich broth that defines ciuppin — fillets alone or blending without straining will not achieve it.
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VI
What to Pour
A dry, unoaked or lightly oaked Ligurian white — Vermentino or Pigato — whose mineral salinity and restrained fruit echo the broth's depth without overwhelming it. The same wine used to acidulate the base is the natural choice at table.
The whole pairingPillar VII
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Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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