Italy Advisor

Ciuppin is a local fish stew from Liguria, and like bouillabaisse, countless are the variations in all the region, as always happen with Italian traditional recipes!

It’s made throughout the Riviera Ligure, but is more common in the Levante, meaning the eastern part of the Ligurian coast, towards Tuscany.

You can find it especially Lavagna, Chiavari and Sestri. And If you go in the beautiful Liguria for fun, you can’t avoid tasting this gorgeous, rich and incredible seafood dish!

This recipe originated also an Italian-American dish in San Francisco Bay Area. This specialities is called “cioppino”, clearly based on the old Ligurian ciuppin, our lovely seafood zuppa.

How to make Ciuppin? As usual great dishes have poor origins in Italy.

Ciuppin’s roots lie in the fishes’ leftovers of the market stall, and this is why it has been made with a number of kinds of fish, all of low commercial value, cooked with greens, herbs, and olive oil.

You will need to use 2 1/4 pounds mixed fish like mullet, reef mullet, bream, scorpion fish, piper, tub fish, two cloves garlic, an onion, a carrot, 1 6-inch rib celery, parsley, four ripe tomatoes, one cupof dry white wine such as a Cinque Terre, 1/3 cup Extra virgin olive oil, 1 pint boiling water, salt and pepper

If you have stale Italian bread will be perfect to come along with ciuppin!

Mince the garlic, onion, parsley, celery and carrot. put in the pan and stir. Add the tomatoes you have previously peeled, seeded and chopped. While the tomatoes are cooking, add the chopped fish, after having removed scales and bones.

Cover the pan, add a bit of water, reduce the heat and simmer until the fish begins to fall apart. Remember that this fish soup should be liquid. Serve your ciuppin in soup bowls, over slices of toasted bread, and try also cacciucco from Livorno, Tuscany, a fish stew we already described in italyadvisor.