 | |
| Type | Fish stew |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United States |
| Region or state | California |
| Main ingredients | Seafood (Dungeness crab,clams,shrimp,scallops,squid,mussels,fish),tomatoes,wine |
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Cioppino (/tʃəˈpiːnoʊ/,Italian:[tʃopˈpiːno]; fromLigurian:cioppin[tʃuˈpiŋ]) is afish stew originating inSan Francisco, California, a dish inItalian-American cuisine related to variousfish soups inItalian cuisine.[1]
Cioppino is traditionally made from the catch of the day, which in San Francisco is typically a combination ofDungeness crab,clams,shrimp,scallops,squid,mussels, and fish, all sourced from the Pacific. The seafood is then combined with freshtomatoes in awine sauce.
The dish can be served with toasted bread, either localsourdough or French bread. The bread acts as a starch, similar to a pasta, and is dipped into the sauce.
Cioppino was developed in the late 1800s by Italian immigrants and Spaniards and some Portuguese who fished offMeiggs Wharf and lived in theNorth Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, many from the port city ofGenoa. When a fisherman came back empty-handed, he would walk around with a pot for the other fishermen to chip in whatever they could. This became his "cioppino". The fishermen that chipped in expected the same treatment if they came back empty-handed in the future.[2][3] It later became a staple as Italian restaurants proliferated in San Francisco.
The name is also said to derive fromciuppin (also spelledciupin) which is the name of a classic soup from the Italian regionLiguria, similar in flavor to cioppino but with less tomato and using Mediterranean seafood cooked to the point that it falls apart.[4]
The dish also shares its origin with other regional Italian variations of seafood stew similar tocioppino, includingcacciucco fromTuscany,brodetto di pesce fromAbruzzo and others.[1][3][5] Similar dishes can be found in coastal regions throughout the Mediterranean, from Spain to Greece. Examples of these includesuquet de peix fromCatalan-speaking regions andbouillabaisse fromProvence.
The earliest printed description of cioppino is from a 1901 recipe inThe San Francisco Call, though the stew is called "chespini". "Cioppino" first appears in 1906 inThe Refugee's Cookbook, a fundraising effort to benefit San Franciscans displaced by the1906 earthquake and fire.[6]
Generally the seafood is cooked in broth and served in the shell, including the crab, which is often served halved or quartered. It therefore requires special utensils, typically acrab fork andcracker. Depending on the restaurant, it may be accompanied by a bib to prevent food stains on clothing, a damp napkin and a second bowl for the shells. A variation, commonly called "lazy man's cioppino", is served with shells pre-cracked or removed.[7]
