Return to Florence (sort of)

Saturday I felt like BBQ so Corey suggested finding something in Mario Batali's Italian Grill.¹ When in Florence, we never had time to sample a meat dish that that city is famous for: the bistecca fiorentina, or Florentine steak. It's generally a (very large, served for two) T-bone steak prepared in a specific way. To do it authentically, one would have to follow the rules of the Articles of Association of the Florentine T-bone Steak Academy, founded in 1991 by representatives of the Florentine Butchers' Association. The classic recipe calls for a T-bone cut from a chianina calf and hung for 5-6 days. There are stringent rules for the precise location of the cut, its thickness (.75–1.25 in) and weight (1.3125–1.75 lb), and of course its preparation and cooking method.² Doing it to these specifications would be pretty difficult, but I thought I could adapt Batali's recipe to two individual, smaller T-bones, as I didn't think I could find the 3 lb, 3 in thick cut that he advocates. However, the quasi-authenticity comes from the herbs used to encrust the steak. The herb mixture is composed of fresh rosemary, sage, thyme, and salt and fresh ground pepper. The mixture is rubbed in after drizzling the meat with extra-virgin olive oil. The steak then sits in this kind of Italian marinade (if that's an appropriate description) under plastic wrap for at least half an hour. For wine, I chose a Chianti Superiore, in this case vino a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG), which I think is Italy's higher quality wine (a step above DOC label).

Batali's recipe includes sauteed spinach as a side dish, but since Corey doesn't like cooked spinach we went with more US-traditional green beans and mashed 'taters. I overcooked the steaks just slightly (according to Batali medium rare should be 125 F, our steak centers registered just a bit higher at about 130 F so almost medium), but otherwise they were very good. Maybe a bit too salty (even though I cut the amount of salt in half) but then again the Tuscans are known to be aggressive salters. For dessert we tried to replicate what we had in Florence: biscotti dipped in vin santo, a very sweet Italian dessert wine. I didn't think I could find this type of wine around here but I got lucky at our local "ABC package" store (what they call the liquor store around here). Very nice!

For the evening's entertainment we watched Into the Wild, a true account of Christopher McCandless, who, at the age of 24, decides to drop out of society, donate his savings of $24,000 to OXFAM, and, after abandoning his car and burning the rest of the money in his wallet, venture out into the Alaskan wilderness. For the most part, totally unprepared with ten pounds of rice, a .22 caliber rifle and rounds, a camera, some camping gear, and a few books with a field guide to the region's edible plants. The movie states at one point that Chris was "highly intelligent", yet his actions don't seem to support this characterization. He died of starvation in an abandoned bus that he had made his home for about 112 days. The movie suggests Chris had mistakenly consumed an inedible plant that, among other consequences, inhibits digestion. But there appears to be some debate on this point. The whole story is quite tragic. The movie is well made and compelling perhaps due to its tragic ending. Or maybe it just goes to show that truth can be stranger (and more interesting) than fiction: of the last four movies we've seen (The Golden Compass, Untraceable, The Hoax, and Into the Wild), the latter two, both based on true events, were much better than the former fictional tales.

¹Italian Grill, Mario Batali (with Judith Sutton), Harper Collins, 2008.

²The Silver Spoon, Editorale Domus, Phaidon Press, 2005.