Claudia Romeo: Hello, and welcome to Florence,
where the queen of local cuisine is,
without a shadow of a doubt,
steak.
So, Florentines love steak so much,
to the point that the perfect Florentine
has to be made in a special way.
It has to have a certain thickness.
It has to be grilled with a special wood
and also at a certain temperature.
So I'm standing in front of Trattoria dall'Oste,
that is a legendary place here in Florence,
and they're gonna show me how to make
the perfect Florentine.
Trattoria dall'Oste was established in 1979
as a traditional Tuscan restaurant.
Big cuts of meat have always been there,
but the new ownership in 2009
decided to make steak the real queen of the restaurant.
Claudia: It now has four steak houses across Florence
sourcing the best breeds of cattle from Italy and the world.
Customer: It's so tender, and it's so rare,
and you can just taste, like, the meat.
It's not, like, seasonings that we add to it.
Customer: Easy to cut through.
It was the most succulent steak that we've ever had.
Best, best meat that I've had in my life.
Customer: The steak is some of the best steak I've ever had.
Claudia: But sharing their love of steak
with the people of Florence was not enough.
They went as far as sending it to the edge
of the Earth's atmosphere.
Now, back to Earth.
Florentine steak is a thick T-bone steak.
Legend has it that the dish originated in the 16th century,
when Florence was ruled by the Medici,
a powerful family of bankers.
The city hosted some English knights at a banquet
and served them big cuts of meat.
The knights looked at it and called it beefsteak,
but the Florentines reinterpreted the name,
calling it "bistecca,"
which is actually the Italian translation for steak.
There are also other versions of the story,
but what is sure is that, regardless of how it came about,
the Florentines have done a great job
at turning their steaks into a symbol of the city.
And over time, they have perfected the strict rules
it has to abide by.
Claudia: Although the name Florentine
refers to the cut only,
the traditional Florentine steak
is made with a breed of Tuscan cattle called Chianina.
Claudia: Tradition calls for it to be grilled
on a wood fire.
Claudia: The steak is served on a hot stone.
Wow, that is massive.
Look at that.
Look at that absolute unit of a steak.
You can really smell the fire.
Mmm.
It's so tender.
It's just melting in my mouth like that.
You get that, like, smokiness,
but at the same time, you get the, like,
sweetness of the inside
that's, like, still pretty raw,
but then altogether in the bite,
it's like music in your mouth.
It's so good, so good.
And that pinch of salt is the only condiment you need.
No sauce, no olive oil, nothing.
It's really just perfect as it is,
and this is how it's supposed to be.
It's not supposed to be, like, just part of a dish.
This is the dish, and this is why people come here.
People come here for this specifically,
and I understand why.
I wish I was from Florence now.