Bistecca alla Fiorentina

Bistecca alla Fiorentina is a thick T-bone steak from Chianina cattle, grilled hard over wood coals and served rare. It's Florence's steak, seasoned with nothing but salt, pepper and a little olive oil, and famously never cooked past rare — asking a Florentine kitchen for it well done is a genuinely losing argument.

What it actually is

A T-bone cut at least four to five centimetres thick, traditionally from the white Chianina breed, is brought to room temperature, seasoned only with coarse salt just before cooking, and grilled hard and fast over wood or charcoal embers — a few minutes a side, standing the bone upright between turns so the middle finishes without overcooking the edges.

It's rested briefly, then finished with a drizzle of olive oil, a crack of black pepper and a little more salt at the table, and sliced away from the bone before serving. The thickness of the cut is what makes rare actually work here: thin steak grilled this hard would be leather by the time the crust forms, but a cut this size chars outside while the centre stays cool and red.

How it's served

• Rare, always, sliced off the bone at the table or in the kitchen.
• On the bone, whole, brought to the table before slicing in traditional houses.
• With nothing but the seasoning it was grilled with; sauces are not part of the dish.

Writing it on a menu

• State the weight, since it's typically priced and sold by weight, often shared between two.
• Say if the beef is genuinely Chianina or another breed, since the name traditionally implies the former.
• Note it's served rare by default; guests wanting it more done should ask, and a kitchen proud of the dish may say so plainly.
• It carries no common allergens in its classic form — salt, pepper and olive oil only.