Steak- Italian Style?

Thumpette

I was in a (fancy looking and fancy priced) Italian resteraunt over the weekend and my boyfriend and I both got Fillet steak. The whole meal was a bit of a disaster to be honest (soup that had the consistancy of lumpy baby food and something called a carrot flan which was some sort of shaped green mulch)

Anyway I could forgive all that if the steak had been decent- but it wasnt. I asked for mine medium and got well done which was annoying but I could live with it. My boyfriend asked for medium rare and got barely sealed on the outside and completely raw inside. He can usually take steak as raw as he gets it- but this was beyond acceptable- so he asked if they would mind cooking it a little more. It came back a few mins later this time pretty much well done and absolutely oozing with what tasted like vegatable oil. I actually suspect they may have deep fried it!

Anyway he didnt touch it and when they cleared it and asked if it hadnt been ok he told them that he didnt really like it and had found it too oily (also the potatos and carrot mulch on his plate were now scalding hot and had obviously been micrzapped to within an inch of their lives!)

In fairness the steak was removed from the bill, however the waiter was quite dismissive of the issue and advised that it had been cooked the 'italian way'

We initially thought this was a bit ridiculous to say as we have had many nice steaks in italian resteraunts, however our minds were cast back to being in Rome last year and once venturing away from asta and pizza towards steak and being mighty dissapointed.

What is the 'italian way' to cook a steak? Is it something that jars with the Irish palate and our expected way of having a steak cooked?

Keith in cork

No, its just being prepared wrong.

Whatever about rome, just a **** place i'd say.
In ireland, italian and trattoria's are run by irish people who like pasta, or who've got some distant italian connection.

Italian food is one of the worlds greatest, when prepared correctly.

You've just been had and met with ignorance.

Name and shame.

antoniosicily

Thumpette wrote: »

I was in a (fancy looking and fancy priced) Italian resteraunt over the weekend and my boyfriend and I both got Fillet steak. The whole meal was a bit of a disaster to be honest (soup that had the consistancy of lumpy baby food and something called a carrot flan which was some sort of shaped green mulch)

Anyway I could forgive all that if the steak had been decent- but it wasnt. I asked for mine medium and got well done which was annoying but I could live with it. My boyfriend asked for medium rare and got barely sealed on the outside and completely raw inside. He can usually take steak as raw as he gets it- but this was beyond acceptable- so he asked if they would mind cooking it a little more. It came back a few mins later this time pretty much well done and absolutely oozing with what tasted like vegatable oil. I actually suspect they may have deep fried it!

Anyway he didnt touch it and when they cleared it and asked if it hadnt been ok he told them that he didnt really like it and had found it too oily (also the potatos and carrot mulch on his plate were now scalding hot and had obviously been micrzapped to within an inch of their lives!)

In fairness the steak was removed from the bill, however the waiter was quite dismissive of the issue and advised that it had been cooked the 'italian way'

We initially thought this was a bit ridiculous to say as we have had many nice steaks in italian resteraunts, however our minds were cast back to being in Rome last year and once venturing away from asta and pizza towards steak and being mighty dissapointed.

What is the 'italian way' to cook a steak? Is it something that jars with the Irish palate and our expected way of having a steak cooked?

There is no italian restaurant in Dublin capable to cook a steak in the proper way; as usual for italy there are many ways and tradition for different regions, but the most popular is the 'fiorentina', from Florence, Tuscany; the italian wikipedia page is pretty comprehensive (http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bistecca_alla_fiorentina), probably you can get it translated from translate.google.com. If you will go to Florence I know some restaurants where you can get a proper steak (at least 800gr :-) )

Thumpette

Thanks- thought so all right. The hopeful thing about this place was that every member of staff were Italian. It said on the menu too that there was a choice between green pepper or gorgonzola cheese sauce, I'm not mad on cheese so I went for the green pepper. When it arrived out though it turned out to be a green pepper AND cheese sauce which just tasted like a watery cheese sauce with a few peppercorns thrown in.

I must get a trip to real italy like you suggest!

Keith in cork

Thumpette wrote: »

Thanks- thought so all right. The hopeful thing about this place was that every member of staff were Italian. It said on the menu too that there was a choice between green pepper or gorgonzola cheese sauce, I'm not mad on cheese so I went for the green pepper. When it arrived out though it turned out to be a green pepper AND cheese sauce which just tasted like a watery cheese sauce with a few peppercorns thrown in.

I must get a trip to real italy like you suggest!

One sauce, pepper added. lazy.

antoniosicily

Thumpette wrote: »

Thanks- thought so all right. The hopeful thing about this place was that every member of staff were Italian. It said on the menu too that there was a choice between green pepper or gorgonzola cheese sauce, I'm not mad on cheese so I went for the green pepper. When it arrived out though it turned out to be a green pepper AND cheese sauce which just tasted like a watery cheese sauce with a few peppercorns thrown in.

I must get a trip to real italy like you suggest!

ryanair - dublin pisa (pisa is close to florence), not so expensive, just skip any Italian restaurant in Dublin and you will save enough money to go to the real ones; the fact that that restaurant had Italian staff does not guarantee that the food is good, same in Italy, there are many bad restaurants, so it's better if you know where you're going to eat *before* arriving :-)

Overflow

One thing ive learned is that most Italian restaurants in Ireland do not know how to cook a steak, i had an almost identical story to yours, i would stick to an Italian dish if you go to an Italian restaurant.

chakotha

I had a steak in a restaurant in Naples and it wasn't what I expected at all. I asked for rare but there was no pinkness at all. And it was a miserable enough piece of meat. Very thin and quite tough.

Don't know if this is the norm or if it was just a lousy restaurant.

antoniosicily

chakotha wrote: »

I had a steak in a restaurant in Naples and it wasn't what I expected at all. I asked for rare but there was no pinkness at all. And it was a miserable enough piece of meat. Very thin and quite tough.

Don't know if this is the norm or if it was just a lousy restaurant.

bad restaurant, I'd say. It's important to clarify that in Italy there are *many* bad restaurant, but italian food is wonderful, so you have to be selective and go where you're sure that you can eat a good meal.

Seaneh

Funny thing about good kitchens in (Northern anyway) Italy is that they will use Irish beef for their steaks they prefer the grain structure of our Hereford and Angus breeds to their own breeds.

rocknchef

would you not just go to a steak house or grill for a steak.

I am not pickn up for the restaurant if they have it on there menu they should know how to cook it.