This San Francisco soup was created by Italian fishermen from their daily catch and
ingredients they knew well: garlic, tomatoes, wine, herbs, and chile flakes. It is a simple soup
to prepare, but any cook knows that simple doesn’t always spell success. Cioppino can be
dreadfully bland and it’s all too easy to overcook the delicate seafood. How do you make it
right? Here’s what we discovered:
Test Kitchen Discoveries
Cook the clams and mussels in separate batches just until they open. If cooked much
longer, they will overcook and turn tough. Discard any that do not open; they can be
dangerous to eat.
Add lots of garlic. Cooking each batch of shellfish with minced
garlic intensifies their flavor as well as the flavor of the broth. A whopping dozen cloves of
garlic makes for a potently flavored broth.
Strain the liquid shed by the clams and mussels; otherwise the
soup will be gritty.
Cook the scallops and shrimp in the residual heat of the broth--
off the burner. The gentle cooking ensures that they remain tender and flavorful.
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recipe
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