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Bistecca alla Fiorentina: The Steak That Florence Still Gets Right There are two inches of Chianina T-bone between you and the fire, and the fire is the only thing that gets a say. No marinade. No oil before it goes on. No seasoning until after it comes off. You put the steak on the charcoal and you wait. That is...

The fornaciai did not have a kitchen. They had a kiln. The terracotta workers of Impruneta, the hill town south of Florence that has made fired clay since Etruscan times, worked long shifts firing tiles at sustained heat with nothing to cook on except the residual warmth at the kiln's edge. They built their meal the way they built their...

Ribollita: The Tuscan Peasant Soup That Gets Better the Next Day Ribollita means "reboiled." The name is not poetic. It is a description of what actually happens: you make a pot of vegetable and bean soup, eat half, and the next morning put the rest back on the fire. The second version is thicker, darker, and better than the first....

Arista alla Fiorentina: The Roast That Florence Kept to Itself The word arista is Greek for "the best." Florence borrowed it in 1439 when visiting bishops ate Tuscan roast pork at a church council dinner and declared it aristos out of pure satisfaction. Five hundred years later, Florentines are still making this same dish on Saturday mornings, and it is...

Acquacotta: The Watermen's Soup That Tuscany Forgot to Export The acquacotta recipe begins with a fair warning in its name: cooked water. That is what is in the pot. No meat, no stock, no cream. You start with an onion, some celery, a handful of greens, a tomato, a small dried chili, and water. You cook it slowly. You pour...

Pici all'Aglione Recipe: Tuscany's Giant Garlic Pasta Somewhere in the Val di Chiana, between Arezzo and Cortona, a garlic clove the size of a walnut sits on a cutting board. It does not smell like garlic. Not the way you are used to. No sting, no burn. Just a warm, round sweetness. This is aglione. It almost went extinct. The...