Crab is an important ingredient in cioppino, but it's also the one that varies most from place to place, so what you end up using will influence how to need to prepare it. Shelled crabmeat needs nothing more than a very brief dip in the broth before serving. Crab: Since Dungeness is hard to come by where I live, I decided to add the crab to the stew in the form of pre-cooked crabmeat (lump blue crab or Jonah crab are common options), which is by far the easiest way to incorporate crab into the stew for most home cooks.Shrimp: Finishing up with the quickest-cooking of the raw proteins, I add the shrimp and in no time they'll turn pink.Fish: I recommend portioning the fish into 2-ounce pieces, which are just the right size per serving.Mussels and Clams: Mussels and clams go in next, giving enough time for heat to penetrate their shells and pop them open.It also makes things easier to manage, since the squid can just stay in the pot without fear of it overcooking. I love the flavor of long-stewed squid, and since this is a stew, it seemed like an obvious choice to go with that. Squid: Squid can either be cooked very briefly or for a longer period of about 25 minutes, both of which will deliver tender results anything in the middle is likely to be rubbery.In any event, trying to pinpoint every last detail of cioppino's origin is a bit of a fool's errand since the fishermen and sailors of the Mediterranean have travelled up and down that coast for millennia, spreading cooking traditions all the while-that is, after all, why this type of soup has so many variants throughout the region. It's worth noting that both of the ciuppin recipes in that book only call for fin fish and not the shellfish that's required in a cioppino, although I've found other Italian recipes for ciuppin online that incorporate a wider variety of seafood. In one, which the book describes as "particolare" to convey its relative strangeness, the fish in the ciuppin is left whole in the other, presented as the more traditional one, the fish is puréed to make a creamy broth, much like a French bouillabaisse. In my copy of the Italian cookbook La Cucina Ligure by Alessando Molinari Pradelli, there are two versions of ciuppin. Remove from the oven when done and place on a plate to be opened at the table.The word "cioppino" most likely comes from "ciuppin," a Ligurian variant of these Mediterranean stews, which was brought to San Francisco by Genoese immigrants more than a century ago. Bake the fish for 30 to 40 minutes (depending on the thickest part of the fish- about 10-12 minutes per 2.5 cm (1 inch) of thickness).Do not wrap the fish tightly, there should be space around the fish for the steam to accumulate. You can also wrap the fish in parchment with another layer of foil. If using parchment, roll the paper in (you can secure it with toothpicks if necessary).
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