Florentine Steak (Reverse Sear)

 

Bistecca alla Florentina. Without a doubt, this is the most famous recipe from Florence, Italy. It's a steak. And not just any steak. It is four inches thick and drops on the scale at a huge, honkin' four pounds. It comes only from Chianna cattle.....a massive and ancient Tuscan breed...prized for its incredible meat.

You are not going to find this steak at your grocery store....ever. I've bought them online  from several different specialty-meat purveyors. The going price is typically 2 kidneys or a small midwestern home plus your first-born. 

So I typically buy a big stinkin' American porterhouse (for about 20% of the cost of the real thing). The best quality and cheapest price I have found is at Wild Fork:  https://wildforkfoods.com/products/usda-choice-black-angus-bone-in-beef-florentine-steak/. (NOTE: I have no financial interest or affiliation with the site.)

In Italy, the steak is seasoned just with salt and cooked over a wood fire. The entire focus of Bistecca alla Florentina is the meat....just the meat...and nothing but the meat. 

When a Florentine steak is cooked in Italy, it's grilled for 10 minutes while standing upright on the bone. Then each side is grilled for 4 minutes. They rest the steak, then slice and serve. This cooking methodology yields a rare steak. A really, really rare steak. As in the interior has never felt heat.

When I cook a Florentine Steak, I like the finished meat to be medium-rare. This requires a lot more precision, so I skip the grill and just use my oven and stovetop....with a little help from my meat thermometer.

 If you make this recipe, you will be cooking the biggest steak that you have ever done in your life. But by following the simple 5 steps below, you will be cooking the easiest steak you have ever done in your life. A reverse sear gives you perfect results, every single time.

INGREDIENTS

1 Florentine Steak, 3" to 4" thick, approximately 4 pounds

Kosher salt

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Fresh ground black pepper

Sea salt

DIRECTIONS

1. One day prior to cooking, place thawed steak on cooling rack over a sheet pan. Salt generously on all sides and place in refrigerator, overnight and uncovered.
2. Four hours prior to cooking, set steak on counter and allow it to come to room temperature.
3. Wipe steak dry of all salt and moisture with paper towels. Preheat oven to 250º F. Place a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the steak. Then slide steak into oven. When steak reaches 118ºF (this will take approximately one hour), remove steak from oven and tent with foil. Let the steak rest 10 minutes.
4. Heat a carbon steel or cast iron pan over high heat. Melt butter in pan and add vegetable oil. Remove meat thermometer from steak. When the pan is smoking, add steak to pan and cook for 2 minutes. Then flip steak and cook for 2 minutes more.
5. Set steak on cutting board. Cut each side away from the bone.  Then slice each against the grain (see above photo) and serve with sea salt for passing. 

Wine pairing: Barolo