Fish in Crazy Water

One of the most frequently recurring conversational expressions in the dialect of my native Romagna is anicreid, “I don’t believe it.” That skepticism is a characteristic I share with the people of my region. When a dish has a fanciful name, I resist trying it, feeling that it has been dressed up to cover up a lack of substance.

Had it been up to me, I never would have sampled that Neapolitan creation, fish in crazy water. “What’s crazy water got to do with cooking and anyway