Not
all tourists realise that grilled steak is very popular in Tuscany
and, under names such as carne alla brace or carne alla
griglia, no doubt has been, in one form or another, since time
immemorial. One of the most traditional grilled steaks in Tuscany is the tagliata Toscana which is basically a simple grilled steak,
served cut into slices and moistened with olive oil and fresh rosemary.
However, in the early
19 C, the English settled in and around Florence in large numbers
and introduced new cuts of beef, including the T-bone and porter
house steaks, and the bistecca alla fiorentina,
"florentine steak", often known
outside Tuscany simply as a fiorentina (Florentine), was born. Fanfani's
dictionary of 1863 describes bistecca alla fiorentina
as a neologism dating from 1823, the word bistecca being of
obvious English origin. Be that as it may, bistecca alla
fiorentina is now a famous native dish with closely defined rules
regarding its preparation. It has to be admitted that getting a good
fiorentina is partly a matter of luck, whether you prepare it
yourself or order it in a restaurant. When eating out, try to get
a recommendation from local people on where to go for your
fiorentina.
Bistecca all Fiorentina - fresh off the grill.
The steak: the cut is a
porterhouse or T-bone with as large a fillet (tenderloin) as possible. If
you're buying from a butcher's shop, ask to sample a small piece
of raw meat. If the fillet is not very tender while raw, it surely won't be
after it's grilled. The club steak (strip steak, contrefilet) should also be
tender. Traditionally, the meat should come from the
"calf" (up to two years old) of a chianina
ox although by far most of
the bistecca alla fiorentina sold in Florence is Spanish beef. The
meat should have been hung for five days, and should be kept at room
temperature for 10 hours or so (all day, effectively) before
grilling. Traditionally, the thickness should "three
fingers", quite thick, in other words.
When ordering in a restaurant, you need to look at what they have available before ordering so that you can pick a piece that has a large filet, if they have
it, and of a size suitable for your group. A good restaurant buys when the cut yields a large filet.
Prices on the menu will be "per etto", an etto
being 100 gm. So the price per kg will be ten time that.
Onto
the grill: grill your bistecca over charcoal - some say
hardwood charcoal is better but if you buy your charcoal at a supermarket,
you don't have much choice. The charcoal should be very hot and
the steak close to it (10 cm) because the aim is to seal in the juices by
forming a dark crust on both sides quickly. Use a pair of tongs to
turn the steak and try to turn it just once. Don't use any kind
of fork for turning or probing the steak while it's cooking - that
will let the juices run out and it will dry out. When one side is
done and the steak has been turned, you can then salt the cooked
side. It will take about 5-8 minutes per side. Salting prior to
grilling also draws out the juices and dries out the steak. If you
wish, you can pour some olive oil onto the upper, cooked side
while the second side is grilling. Optionally, after both sides
are well grilled, you can stand the steak upright on its bone and
cook for another 5 minutes. The idea is that the bone will conduct
a lot of heat into the interior of the steak. The end result will
be a steak with a very well-done exterior and quite rare inside.
If the meat has been well hung, it won't be bloody when sliced.
Off the grill and onto the plates: take the steak off the
grill and onto a very hot iron tray or a wooden cutting board and let
it rest for 5 minutes so that the juices redistribute inside. It's
not a bad idea to cover the steak with a piece of aluminium foil
during this resting phase to keep it hot. If
you wish, you can pour some rosemary-flavoured olive oil onto the
steak. Some add pepper and others a slice of lemon. Artusi, in his
famous Italian cookery book of 1891, recommended to add a dollop
of butter but this is no longer commonly done. Indeed, butter is
very un-Tuscan and Artusi probably adopted this idea from the
Anglo-Italians. Cut the meat off
the bone, slice it into strips across the grain and serve it up on
a hot plate. Your fellow diners can then help themselves to meat
and juice as they wish.
Bistecca alla fiorentina is traditionally accompanied by a
delicious bowl of fagioli, Tuscan white beans (cannellini).
Bistecca
all Fiorentina - ready to eat.
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