Why Cacciucco alla Livornese is One of Tuscany’s Signature Seafood Stews

Name: Why Cacciucco alla Livornese is One of Tuscany’s Signature Seafood Stews
Cook time: 1 ¾ hours
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: For the stew: 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; plus more to finish 1 large onion; diced 2 stalks celery; finely diced 1 large carrot; finely diced 10 cloves garlic; divided 1 pound octopus tentacles or squid; cut into bite-sized pieces 3 cups fish stock 1 cup red wine 1 cup tomato puree or passata Chili flakes; to taste 4 pounds of assorted fish such as red snapper; cuttlefish; monkfish; grouper; rockfish or anglerfish; deboned and cut into large pieces 6 to 8 langoustines or large shrimp 1 to 2 pounds mussels; cleaned 1 pound small clams; cleaned Salt and pepper; to taste; To serve: 3/4 cup parsley; minced Baguette; sliced and toasted Long wooden skewers for the garlic

Piatto Unico

Francine Segan | Thu, 09/12/2024 - 11:40

Cacciucco alla livornese / Photo: Fanfo via Shutterstock

Difficulty Level

Low

Cooking Time

1 ¾ hours

Cost

Medium

It’s universal: Every country with a coastline has its many seafood stews. Almost every region of Italy has several, but Tuscany has two that incite fierce debate about which is better: cacciucco alla viareggina from Viareggio and cacciucco alla livornese from Livorno. The word cacciucco comes from either the Spanish word cachuco (fish) or the Turkish küçük (miniscule), fitting for a soup made up of small bits of fish.

While both use an assortment of fish, the t