T-bone: two cuts and the story of bistecca

A T-bone is easy to recognise by its T-shaped bone. On one side is the strip from the loin; on the other is a smaller, more tender section of tenderloin. One steak lets you compare two textures. Pellegrino Artusi described the Florentine bone-in steak in recipe 556 of his book, also noting that the Italian word bistecca was borrowed from the English beef-steak.

The T-bone and the Florentine steak share a similar bone-in structure. The Florentine name also refers to a local cooking tradition; here it identifies the dish described by Artusi, rather than a claim that every T-bone is prepared the same way.