Stoccafisso all'anconitana

The stockfish dish of Ancona

Ancona is a port city on Italy's Adriatic coast, and its most characteristic stockfish preparation reflects the movement of goods through that port.

Stoccafisso all'anconitana, also written stocco all'anconetana, combines rehydrated Norwegian-style stockfish with potatoes, tomatoes, olives, olive oil, white wine and aromatic vegetables.

It is a substantial, slowly cooked dish in which the fish and vegetables share a concentrated cooking liquid.

Unlike Venetian mantecato, the fish is not beaten into a cream. Unlike Vicentine bacalà, the dominant sauce is based on oil, vegetables, tomato and wine rather than milk.

The characteristic appearance is a deep casserole with fish pieces, potatoes and olives, carrying red and green highlights from tomatoes and herbs.

The combination is strongly associated with Ancona's local culinary identity.

Names and ingredients

The name identifies the prepared dish and its city, not a particular grade or species of fish.

Use unsalted air-dried stockfish. Substituting salted cod changes the desalting requirements and seasoning.

Italian — Stoccafisso all'anconitana

Local alternative — Stocco all'anconetana

English — Ancona-style stockfish

Italian ingredient — Stoccafisso

Norwegian — Tørrfisk

Scientific name — Usually Gadus morhua

How stockfish reached the Adriatic

Ancona's maritime trade made imported dried fish economically practical.

The city's tourism authority associates the local tradition with the seventeenth century, describing stockfish as part of family and maritime cookery from around the 1600s.

It identifies northern European trade routes, including vessels engaged with English and North Sea ports, as relevant to the fish's arrival.

One named merchant is Balthasar Van der Goes, a Flemish trader associated with Ancona and the importation of stockfish.

These details provide a more specific commercial context than simply attributing every Italian dried-fish dish to Venice.

However, the presence of stockfish in Ancona during the seventeenth century does not establish that the complete contemporary recipe, including its present proportions of tomatoes, potatoes and olives, was already prepared identically.

The formula developed within a changing food economy.

Tomatoes, for example, became increasingly important in Italian cooking after their introduction from the Americas. The presence of tomato in the modern casserole cannot be used as evidence that precisely this dish existed in earlier medieval centuries.

What can be established is the long association between Ancona, northern imported stockfish and a rich local fish preparation.

The dish remains particularly associated with family meals and festive occasions, including Christmas.

A distinctive combination

Several features distinguish the Ancona style.

The first is the use of stockfish in substantial pieces.

The second is the combination of fish with potatoes. Potatoes absorb the cooking liquid while contributing starch as they soften.

The third is the aromatic base of onion, carrot, celery and garlic.

The fourth is the inclusion of preserved savoury ingredients such as anchovies and capers, which provide concentrated salt and flavour.

Olives add a separate briny and slightly bitter dimension.

Tomatoes provide acidity, sweetness, colour and moisture.

White wine adds further acidity and aroma.

Rosemary gives the finished dish a resinous herbal character that stands up to the preserved fish.

The traditional municipal recipe additionally includes tuna in the chopped seasoning mixture. The simplified editorial version omits it.

This omission should be acknowledged, since it changes the depth and composition of the aromatic base.

The municipal reference formulation

Ancona's municipal recipe specifies, for four people:

The published recipe arranges the stockfish in a deep baking dish and incorporates the finely chopped aromatics.

Potatoes are placed over the fish, with tomatoes and olives distributed through the dish.

The cooking liquid must reach the bottom of the vessel.

The municipal instructions call for oven cooking lasting more than two hours, but do not give a precise oven temperature.

The high quantity of oil is an important feature of that particular formulation. A reduced-oil interpretation is possible, but it is not the same recipe.

Already soaked and cleaned stockfish — 1 kg

Potatoes — 1.5 kg

Small round tomatoes — 400 g

Olives — 250 g

Extra-virgin olive oil — 500 g

White wine, preferably Verdicchio — 2 glasses

Celery, carrot, onion, garlic, rosemary, anchovies, tuna, capers — Not individually quantified

The chemistry of the casserole

The dish depends upon slow heat transfer through a layered mixture of fish, vegetables, oil and liquid.

As the casserole heats, water from the tomatoes, wine and added liquid becomes a major cooking medium.

The oil disperses around the ingredients, coating fish and vegetables while carrying oil-soluble aromatic compounds.

The vegetables soften because heat changes their cellular structure. Cell walls lose rigidity, and components of the plant tissue begin to disperse.

Potato starch gelatinizes as the potatoes cook and absorb water. Some starch can escape from the cut surfaces, contributing body to the surrounding sauce.

Fish proteins denature as their temperature rises, changing the flesh from relatively translucent to opaque and flaky.

The preserved fish contributes dissolved flavour compounds and protein fragments to the liquid.

This is not a microbial fermentation during cooking. The dish uses preservation-derived flavour from the stockfish, followed by conventional heat cooking.

Acidity from tomatoes and wine changes the flavour balance but does not make the preparation microbiologically safe at room temperature.

Recipe: simplified Ancona-style stockfish

Serves 4 · Approximately 2 hours after rehydration · Not kitchen-tested

Method

1. Prepare the oven. Heat to 160°C.

2. Make the aromatic mixture. Finely chop the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Combine them with rinsed capers, chopped anchovies and rosemary.

Mix in half the olive oil.

3. Build the first layer. Spread half the aromatic mixture across the bottom of a deep, covered baking dish.

4. Add the fish. Arrange the stockfish pieces above the vegetables.

Distribute the remaining aromatic mixture over the fish.

5. Add tomatoes and olives. Halve the tomatoes and arrange them with the olives around the fish.

6. Cover with potatoes. Lay the potato slices over the fish, creating a fairly even upper layer.

7. Add the cooking liquid. Pour the wine and water around the edges. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil.

The liquid should reach the lower part of the casserole without washing all the seasoning from the fish.

8. Bake. Cover tightly and cook for 90 minutes.

9. Test tenderness. Check a thick fish piece and a potato slice. Continue covered for another 15–30 minutes if necessary.

Add a little hot water if the bottom begins to dry.

10. Finish. If the sauce is excessively watery, uncover briefly to allow controlled evaporation.

Taste before adjusting salt, then rest for 10 minutes before serving.

This method differs from the traditional reference both in cooking temperature specification and oil quantity. The covered baking method is an editorial simplification.

Why the layers matter

The vegetables and liquid at the bottom form a protective cooking environment for the fish.

The potato layer helps retain moisture while allowing the upper surfaces to cook through.

If the casserole dries excessively, the bottom vegetables may burn before the fish becomes tender.

If too much liquid is added, the dish can become a thin stew rather than a rich baked preparation.

The intended result is moist and cohesive.

Layering also reduces the need for stirring. This helps preserve the shape of the stockfish pieces.

When portions are served, the fish should remain identifiable among potatoes and vegetables.

Regional and household variations

Versions of Ancona-style stockfish differ in the proportions of olives, tomatoes and potatoes.

Some cooks use more oil, while others prepare relatively restrained modern versions.

Some include tuna in the seasoning mixture, in keeping with the municipal reference. Others omit it.

Different olive varieties affect both saltiness and bitterness.

Verdicchio is a locally meaningful wine choice, but the precise characteristics of the final sauce also depend on the wine's acidity and aroma.

Fresh tomatoes can vary substantially with season. A preparation made with ripe summer tomatoes will differ from one using comparatively acidic or watery fruit.

The dish can be prepared with different stockfish grades. However, that introduces differences in texture and cooking time rather than a separate regional dish.

Serving and recognition

The casserole is normally presented as a main course.

The potatoes make it relatively complete, although bread can be useful for absorbing the cooking liquid.

The finished fish should separate into firm but tender flakes.

The potatoes must be cooked through, without a chalky centre.

The sauce should be savoury and aromatic, with enough liquid to coat the ingredients but not so much that everything floats separately.

The olives should remain recognizably intact or in pieces, depending on preparation.

Troubleshooting

The potatoes remain hard. Check thickness, liquid and heat. Continue cooking rather than increasing heat abruptly.

The fish is chewy. Rehydration may have been incomplete. Continue gentle cooking where appropriate, but recognize that an inadequately hydrated centre may remain problematic.

The sauce tastes aggressively salty. Anchovies, olives and capers all contribute salt. Add final seasoning only after tasting.

The bottom scorches. The casserole may have become too dry or the cooking vessel may be poorly suited to prolonged heating.

The sauce is thin. Uncover briefly and reduce carefully. Avoid vigorous stirring, which can break up the fish and potatoes.

The fish falls apart excessively. Overcooking or mechanical disturbance may be responsible. Use a wide serving spoon and lift rather than mix.

Food safety

Keep stockfish refrigerated below 4°C throughout rehydration.

Cook the fish thoroughly, using 63°C as the published safe internal-temperature reference.

Do not treat the wine, tomato acidity or olive oil as substitutes for temperature control.

Prepared leftovers contain perishable seafood and must be cooled and refrigerated promptly.

Allergens include fish and potentially celery. Check commercial anchovy and other prepared ingredients for additional allergen declarations.