For all of the Grillin' novices, NFL Steak is not Not Flank Steak, nor is it that football thing. Rather it is Natural Florentine Living! In anticipation of our visit to see Luke later this spring, and on the occasion of the planned victory of the Packers over Atlanta, we decided to go Italian. We tried "The Real Bistecca all Florentina" (p. 145 Planet Barbeque). Of course we made a few minor adjustments that turned out just fantastic.
First of all, re the grill. I used the charcoal that Mark bought for me with the grill. I also added some of the apple wood chips which had been soaked for a couple of hours in water. As everything heated up, I stuck 3 small oak logs (more like sticks) to create an open flame with the grill top off, and lots of smoke with the lid on. The meat--2 Porter House steaks- was about 1.5 to 2 inches thick, perfect for what we were doing. No spice, no pepper even. Only as I put the meat on the grill did I cover it with the rock salt so you could not even see the surface of the meat. After about 3-4 minutes, I turned it and salted the second side in similar fashion. Left the lid on the grill for each side of cooking, with meat 1/2 over direct heat side one, directly over flame side two. As directed, "spanked the meat" when removing from the grill to dislodge any remaining rock salt.
Served the Tuscan Bean Salad, but variations by Chef Julie that added artichoke hearts and pesto. Also had a tomato and mozzarella salad over arugula leaves. Served with warm ciabatta bread and olive oil.
Tracy made the first and best comment: you can really taste the smoky, woody flavor. Everyone agreed that the steak was about the best we ever had. I sliced it so it was technically Tagliata, but it certainly did not need any olive oil dripped over it as the book suggests that some folks do.
Served with a bottle of Ruffino Il Ducale Toscana 2006 to start, and a Zamperino Lazio 2008 to finish. Yummy all around.
My mouth is watering big time! That meal sounds even better than the game turned out! I plan to try it next week as the Pack goes for the NFC Championship. We had lamb chops on a shovel cooked by Roy and Joan on our open pit fire place in the backyard. Excellent!
ReplyDeleteAdd on to Bistecca alla Florentina: Forgot to mention that we started the meal, while the grill was doing its work, with some excellent olives and some Tzatziki (Greek yogur) with Italian Grissini Sesame sticks. I know, I know, the Romans would have started a war over us using the Greek yogurt, but with the Italian bread sticks, who cares? Quite frankly, I had never had such good bread sticks (with or without the dip). And for dessert we finished off the meal with the best Italian Biscotti I have ever tasted. Our friend, Ava, brought them. They were the Lazzaroni brand Cantucci al cioccolato (chocolate chip -- small biscotti, not the big ones). Outstanding!
ReplyDeleteFeb 19, 2010 Redo of the Bistecca alla Florentina: this time the wind in DC was gusting to 50 MPH (it blew over the National Christmas Tree on the Mall!) Nevertheless, the steak was outstanding. I might have put on a little too much rock salt (or did not "spank" it off enough because a couple of the pieces were a tad salty. But I guess that makes it yummy to most tummies.
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