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Fish dishes and fishermen in Tuscany Simply Fish
[Susan Glasspool]
Tuscany is famous for its sloping hills, high peek mountains and for its beautiful coastline. Traditional Tuscan cuisine includes different fish recipes that range from antipasti, first courses, like pasta, rice and soups and a variety of second courses. The cities closest to the coastline used to be favoured by grand quantities and varieties of fresh fish and therefore came up with the best, most tasty and refined dishes. The towns and cities nearer to the mountains, hills, woods and lakes generally preferred using ingredients like mushrooms, wild boar and hare, the few edible varieties of river and lake fish (eels and trout), as well as frogs and snails, in their traditional cooking.
Let’s not forget to mention the vast variety of vegetables and fruit, some of which only grow in Tuscany and can only be found in particular season of the year, like cavolo nero (black cabbage).
Now, however the Tirreno Sea does not offer much, because of excessive fishing in the past and only a few portal towns have a substantial income like Porto Santo Stefano and Viareggio. Tuscans furthermore are not renowned to be great fishermen, the men that work on fishing boats all speak Sicilian or with a Marche accent.
Being favoured by the region’s geographical position, cooks have begun to mix and match fish with ingredients that come from the mountains or woods. These dishes are usually known as “mare e monti”. Just to mention a few…we have tuna fish and cannellini beans, shrimps and green beans, clams or mussels with mushrooms. These ingredients can be eaten as they are, or mixed in pasta or rice dishes and even on top of pizzas. It is all up to the chef’s creative inspiration!
Some of the dishes that are a must on the coastline are Livorno’s famous Cacciucco (a corpulent spicy fish soup over garlic flavoured grilled bread), Triglie alla Livornese (red mullets in a tomato and garlic sauce) and Baccalà alla Livornese (fried dried cod in a tomato and garlic sauce), Baccalà coi porri (dried cod with leeks). Viareggio also claims its own special Cacciucco, obviously the Livornesi say the Viareggini copied them and added the wrong qualities of fish…
I personally say they are both excellent. Even after the Middle Ages the Tuscan provinces have always picked on their neighbouring cities with colourful sayings.
Octopus, clams, mussels, shrimps, scampi, squid and calamari in all their glory are appreciated far and wide. Florence has two main fish recipes in its tradition, baccalà and seppie in zimino (cod or squid with spinach or bietola). Restaurants that are specialized in fish exist all over the region and mix the Tuscan traditional recipes with new, more modern and intriguing recipes.
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