🇮🇹 Italy · Marche (San Benedetto del Tronto)
Brodetto alla sambenedetteseSan Benedetto fish stew
San Benedetto del Tronto's brodetto: built on green tomatoes and green peppers with onion and cuttlefish, mixed fish added in stages and white-wine vinegar added at the end.
Origin and history
San Benedetto del Tronto, in the southern Marche, calls its brodetto 'the mother of all brodetti'. It began on the fishing boats, where crews cooked the fish they could not sell with ingredients that kept for days at sea: onion, peppers, green tomatoes and a sour local wine close to vinegar, which was also drunk diluted with water. Written recipes first appear in cookbooks from the second half of the 19th century. Restaurants later added shellfish.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4-6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 20 min
- Hands-on
- 35 min
Ingredients
- 1 large (about 400 g)1 large (about 14 oz) cuttlefish (seppia), cleaned, cut into strips
- 1.2 kg2.6 lb mixed fish: monkfish tail, gurnard, skate, stargazer (pesce prete), scorpionfish, red mullet, hake, smooth-hound (palombo), small fish gutted, scaled and left whole; large ones cut into thick pieces
- 350 g12 oz green (unripe) tomatoes (about 3), cut into large chunks
- 300 g10 oz green peppers (about 2), seeded, cut into strips
- 1 large white onion, finely chopped
- 120 ml1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 750 ml3 cups water, hot, plus more as needed
- 120 ml1/2 cup white wine vinegar, see notes
- salt, to taste
- chilli flakes, a pinch, optional
- 4-6 slices home-style bread, toasted, to serve
Method
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1. Clean the fish under running water. Keep small ones whole and cut a large skate or monkfish into pieces. Sort the fish from firmest to most delicate: stargazer, gurnard, scorpionfish, monkfish, hake, smooth-hound, skate, mullet.
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2. Warm the oil in a wide, fairly shallow pot over low heat. Cook the onion gently for 8-10 minutes, until soft and pale gold.
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3. Add the cuttlefish and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes until it turns opaque.
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4. Add the green tomatoes and peppers and stir for 2 minutes.
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5. Pour in hot water just to cover, season lightly with salt (and chilli if using), cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables have softened into the broth and the cuttlefish is almost tender.
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6. Add the fish in the order above, firmest first, a minute or so apart, arranging them in one layer where possible.
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7. Cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes. Do not stir: shake the pot from time to time so nothing sticks. Add a splash of hot water if it looks dry.
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8. When the fish flakes easily from the bone, pour the vinegar evenly over the surface and simmer for 1-2 minutes more.
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9. Check the salt, take the pot off the heat and let it rest for a few minutes.
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10. Serve in wide bowls with toasted bread.
Notes
- The San Benedetto style is defined by green tomatoes, green peppers, onion and white wine vinegar. Some families also add red and yellow horn peppers, and some use red tomatoes instead of green, which gives a sweeter, redder brodetto.
- Green tomatoes are simply unripe tomatoes, firm and tart. If you cannot find them, use the firmest, least ripe tomatoes available. The broth will be less sharp.
- Vinegar: home cooks use it boldly, while many restaurants use less. Add half, taste, then add the rest if you like it sharp.
- Restaurant and tourist versions often add scampi, mantis shrimp, clams or mussels. These go in during the last few minutes.
- Fano makes a red brodetto with tomato concentrate and no peppers, and Vasto one with ripe tomatoes and sweet peppers but no vinegar. Both have their own pages.
Adapted from Comune di San Benedetto del Tronto, official tourism site, "Il brodetto" and Ricette di Libellula (GialloZafferano blogs), "Brodetto sambenedettese, ricetta originale".
At the festivals
Served at 1 festival in Italy.
Earlier editions
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August 12, 2026 – August 16, 2026
🇮🇹 San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy
Benedetto Brodetto
On the menu as Il Brodetto Sambenedettese e varianti senza spine
By Brodetto Village