rdewald's Journal: Bistecca alla Fiorentina: Steak Florentine

Steak Florentine does not involve spinach.

This was among the most impressive of dishes I discovered in Tuscany last fall. Everything and nothing about this dish is about the region itself. Classically it involves a special cut of beef, analogous to the American porterhouse, dry-aged, from a special breed of cattle, the Chianina, prepared as one should prepare a $25-$50 piece of meat, skillfully and carefully.

This is really less of a recipe and more of an Emeril-type methodology. I was uncertain if I would be able to reproduce the dish here in the US. For my New Year's Eve party, I did, so I feel comfortable with telling you how to do it here:

So, BAM! Let's kick it up a notch.

1. You need a dry-aged porterhouse of about 2 pounds.
2. At least four hours before it hits the grill, rub it down with some garlic cloves, including, most importantly, the fatty areas on the perimeter of the cut.
3. At least an hour before it hits the grill, take it out of the fridge and let it warm to room temperature.
4. You need a hot fire. A very hot fire. Take your normal amount of charcoal and double it. Put your grill on the lowest level (at *least* four inches above the coals). Let it heat up.
5. About 15 minutes before it hits the grill, coat the meat on all sides with kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper. This is going to draw some fluid out of the surface of the meat, that's intentional, it will cause it to sear faster, which is essential to this dish. The coat of salt and pepper needs to be heavy. Don't worry, it won't make your meat taste salty. This is a thick cut.
6. When the coals are so damn hot you can't stand near them, place the meat and leave it in place for 5-6 minutes. Don't move it, don't touch it. Cover your grill with all the vents wide open while it is cooking, this is also important.
7. Flip it. 4-6 minutes more grilling for rare, which is how the dish should be done. Some people don't eat rare beef, that's okay, you're on your way to making a pretty good classic steak, just cook it longer on this side. It won't be Steak Florentine, but it will be tasty.

   Now, all fires are not the same heat, no steaks are exactly the same thickness, so these times are only rough guides. If you want to know how to judge the doneness of meat like professional grill-cooks do, you have the tools at the end of your arms.

   • The fleshy part of your hand, palm up, between the thumb and forefinger, feels like rare meat when you poke it with a finger of the opposite hand.
   • The base of your forefinger, that mound below the first fold of your finger on the palm side, feels like medium-rare.
   • The side of your forefinger, between the second and third knuckle, feels like medium-well.
   • If you want your meat well-done, do your wallet a favor and don't buy Porterhouses. All cuts taste the same. Poke the bottom of your leather-soled shoe, that's what well-done feels like. It is also what well-done tastes like.
8. Now, here is the most important step. When you take the meat off, it needs to rest, i.e., remain undisturbed on a plate, for ten minutes. You can place a foil tent over it to keep the edges warm. Because your fire was so hot, the meat will continue to cook during the resting phase. Don't skip or change this step, your meat is still cooking. This part of the cooking is essential to the dish coming out the way it is supposed to. Do not carve before resting or you will turn a beautiful dish into a stringy and wet mess which you will be inclined to throw back on the grill so it tastes like that ribeye from Outback.
9. Separate the meat from the bone. Turn the bone up, that is, have it stick up on the plate like a bony erection. This demonstrates the meat was cooked properly. Arrange your 1/3 inch thick against-the-grain slices in a circular patern around the bone.
10. Finish with beurre rouge (red-wine butter) if you must. The meat needs nothing else.

Mangia! A DOCG Chianti Classico is the natural pairing.

#3 is so important

[rk]

for cooking a good cut of beef in general, I can't stress it enough. Yes, I know the temperature differential between the fridge and cooking coal temperature and room temp and cooking coal temperature is small, but it is nonetheless important.

Re:

[rdewald]

Yes, I should have emphasized it more. With this dish, warming the steak to room temp beforehand is the difference between having a rare steak and a raw steak.