tofuputtanesca: Bistecca!

Ok. I'm on a steak tear, and I remember now how it started. We've been having really good luck with some wines from southwest France: a 2004 tannat from Bearn, a 2002 Cahors, and 2004 Bordeaux (Cotes de Castillon). Each was a value wine I did not have high expectations for. I think we held them the right amount of time. Each was good on the first night and really, really good 2 or 3 nights later -- dry, big, smooth and perfect for steak.

So I started thinking about steak, and pretty soon, I was fixed on a t-bone. I used to think of a t-bone steak as kind of excessive. It is so big and hard to pan sear well because of the bone. But I am now seeing it as an efficient way to add a grand piece of meat to a meal. We often start a big meal with bread and cheese and wine and baby carrots and salad and tend to be almost full by the time of the main course. This is where the t-bone steak solves things perfectly. It is so big and grand. Yet searing one seasoned steak mid meal is easy and then its about the right amount when we all share it.

So once I was fixed on the t-bone steak, I remembered those pictures of bistecca I have seen. I read "bistecca" is an Italian mispronunciation of the English "beef steak." I don't know if that is right, but it is consistent with the fact that we already know what bistecca is. It is just a big grilled steak. I read grilling is preferred for a t-bone steak because the bone causes trouble when pan searing. I have encountered this trouble, so I endorse the grilling solution (but I'm also working on an alternative). One technical point on the bistecca is that it is traditionally made from steak from a chianina, an Italian breed of cattle that wikipedia calls the biggest in the world. A bull often exceeds 3500 pounds. Ancient, giant, Tuscan cows! Well, I don't know right now how I will get a chianina steak. I'm not even sure I want one right now. The advatage would be to have a huge steak of proper proportions (not too thick). But right now, a 1.5 pound t-bone seems perfect for our little group.

Now some photos!
Here are some shots of the steak -- pre-seasoned and seasoned -- and the under appreciated veggie.

OK. So the problem with the bone is that it does not shrink down or squish down the way the mean does. So when you flip the steak, instead of having the second side searing nicely right up against the pan surface, you have more a steak teeter-totter balanced on a bone. As noted above, the traditional Tuscan solution to this is to grill the steak. The new silicon valley solution is to squeeze the steak with tongs so it is equally fat the whole way across.