Ciò che è cioppino? or What is cioppino? There’s a clue in the question itself. It’s not a person or place, so famous Italians and popular tourist destinations are eliminated. So what else are the Italians famous for? Food, anyone?
Yup, cioppino is food, humble wholesome grub. Tasty seafood in tomato, onion, and wine sauce. The dish though is as Italian as Chop Suey is Chinese. Both, you see are American tributes to two very fine culinary traditions. Cioppino evolved in the 1800s in the fishing villages of North Beach, San Francisco. Cioppino comes from “Ciuppin” which means to chop in the Ligurian dialect.
As with all great wholesome foods, simplicity is the hallmark of Cioppino as well. The fishermen prepared this while on their fishing expeditions. They just chopped the scallops, squid, fish, etc and put them into the pot, added some salt and pepper and gulped it down.
Today of course Cioppino has developed into a gourmet dish with seasoning to complement the meats. Oregano, parsley, thyme, butter, black pepper, different wines, whatever you want!
San Francisco is the place to be if you want to relish some authentic Cioppino still served in the shells of the shellfish used in the heavenly broth.
(Photo courtesy of irrational cat)
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