Restaurateur
Saveliy Libkin

The story of the Bistecca Fiorentina (large grilled beef steak) grow out of land very far from Tuscany and Italy, exactly in north Europe where anglo-saxons and normans used to banquet with roasts and rare meat while on the mediterranean coast greeks and romans developed the vegetarian diet. So you don’t have to be astonished if the famous “Bistecca Fiorentina” arrived in Tuscany only in the XVII century when Italy was an compulsory stage for all European intellectuals, artists and knights.  Some of them arrived in Florence on the 10th August of 1565 during a feast beloved by the Medici: San Lorenzo feast. So they could see in the square enormous braziers where abundant pieces of veal were cooked for be distributed to the people. Some english knights eating this meat exclaimed: “Beef Steak”… in italian “Bistecca”. Ever since, when a tuscan citizen talk about “Bistecca” simply he alludes to the Bistecca Fiorentina. The meat used in the real Bistecca Fioorentina has to come from Chiana Valley ( Val di Chiana ) breeding situated between Arezzo and Siena and in particular it’s the sirloin steak including the bone having a “T” shape. The cut of Bistecca is 5-6 cm thickness, 1,2-1,5 kg weight should have to be done 1-2 days before the cooking.

Recipe: Rub the garlic cloves over the meat and the bone of the steaks. Sprinkle the steaks with salt and pepper. Place in the refrigerator and allow seasoning to permeate the meat, for about 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator at least 20 minutes before grilling, allowing the meat to come to room temperature. Place a grill pan over high heat or prepare the barbecue (medium-high heat). Grill the steaks until cooked to desired doneness, turning once, about 5 minutes per side for rare, 7 minutes per side for medium-rare.

Allow the steaks to rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing, otherwise all the juices will be run all over your cutting board. Slice the meat into 2-3 centimeters slices. Squeeze the lemon over the steaks. Drizzle with the oil and serve immediately with grilled vegetables.

The chef of my favorite restaurant in Istanbul Paper Moon , Giuseppe Pressani, has shared us with the nuances of history and the very recipe.

Also you can learn to bake the local bread in Istanbul. It should be noted that the foundation differs little from the baking of pizza in Italy.  The stove is face with special masonry  and the temperature in it  is 450 degrees abov zero. The shovels differ little from the Italian ones but only by the shape. The dough is very similar to the dough for pizza by its consistence ans structure and it  has a slight smell of the yeast.

Yestreday I have read the news about  flood in Istanbul. We are planing to visit Istanbul at the end of this month for the educational trip and I have decided to ask some Istanbul hotels situated in the «flooded area», is there so bad situation there indeed.

The first hotel:

Do not anticipate any problems in ISTANBUL. Istanbul is a big city and there are poor or newly and rapidly developed areas with poor infrastracture and wrong settlements  The main areas affected from heavy rain and flood are wrong settlements with poor infrastracture that have been built on river beds over the years and nearby in the city because of the poor control and bad management of the metropolitan municipality.  It is not the case in the city centre ( main and famous touristic parts of the city) and there is no damage or casulties ( local or foreigners) in the old city, new city and bosphorus area. There are couple of vulnerable points in Istanbul that we can call dense river bed settlements with poor infrastructure at the outskirts of the city centres and these areas have been hit mostly by the heavy rain. There is nothing to compare with other parts of the city.  This is peak time in Istanbul Hotels and almost all Hotels in the city have very high occupancies including us. Non of the hotel guests rushed to the airport to save their lives because of the this heavy rain and flood. There are hundred thousands of tourists right now in the city strolling around or having bosphorus cruise etc..   We are expecting torrential rain tomorrow again and some more at the weekend but it will be okay starting from Monday and next week. Please note that rain does not mean flood always in Istanbul. Something similar has been happened again 15 years ago at the same affected places.

The second hotel:

Please kindly note that the situation here in Istanbul is not that bad as it is shown on the news.Right now it is sunny but I guess it will rain in the evening. Just the village near Istanbul and thesmall part of the city has damaged.Please be informed that you can visit the city with no problem.
We look forward to welcome you.

The third hotel:

Now the weather forecast promises only temporary rains. This is normal raining. And you can walk safely. Don’t worry.

The replies of the hotels speak for themselves.

The photoes in the album  «Istanbul by my view» The album of Saveliy Libkin at Yandex.Photoes