Toscana Fire BBQ — Italian Grilling Style Guide | The Rub Kitchen
Italian grilling is one of the oldest and most refined fire-cooking traditions in the world — and it is fundamentally different from American BBQ. Where American BBQ is about patience, smoke and spice rubs, Italian grilling is about simplicity, quality ingredients and the clean heat of hardwood embers. The Toscana Fire tradition — the grilling culture of Tuscany — is its purest expression: a thick T-bone steak, a wood fire, olive oil and nothing else. This is the complete guide to Italian grilling.
What is Toscana Fire?
Toscana Fire refers to the Tuscan tradition of cooking meat directly over or near the glowing embers of a hardwood fire — typically oak, olive wood or vine cuttings. It is not low and slow smoking; it is direct, high-heat cooking with clean, unsmoked embers. The technique is designed to sear the outside of the meat quickly while keeping the interior rare and juicy. Seasoning is minimal: coarse salt, black pepper, fresh rosemary, garlic and high-quality Tuscan extra virgin olive oil.
The iconic Toscana Fire dish: Bistecca alla Fiorentina
Bistecca alla Fiorentina is the centrepiece of Tuscan grilling culture. It is a thick-cut T-bone or porterhouse steak — traditionally from the Chianina breed of cattle, raised in the Val di Chiana — cut at least 4–5 cm thick and weighing 800g–1.5 kg or more. It is cooked directly over glowing hardwood embers at extremely high heat for 3–4 minutes per side, then stood upright on the bone for a final minute to cook the fillet side. It is served rare — always. Ordering it well done in a Tuscan restaurant is considered deeply offensive and may result in polite refusal.
Seasoning: coarse sea salt applied immediately before grilling, a drizzle of olive oil after resting. Nothing more.
Other key Toscana Fire dishes
Porchetta
Whole suckling pig or pork belly rolled with garlic, rosemary, fennel pollen, black pepper and chilli, then slow-roasted over embers or in a wood-fired oven until the skin is blistered and crackling and the interior is herb-perfumed and tender. One of Italy’s greatest street foods, sold sliced in bread rolls at markets across Lazio and Tuscany.
Scottiglia
A Tuscan mixed meat stew cooked in a terracotta pot directly in or beside the fire — traditionally made with whatever meat was available: rabbit, chicken, pork, lamb. Slow-cooked with tomatoes, red wine and herbs until deeply rich and falling apart.
Grilled vegetables alla brace
Aubergine, courgette, peppers and radicchio grilled directly on the embers until charred and tender, dressed with olive oil, salt and torn fresh herbs. Simple but extraordinary when done over real wood.
The wood makes the difference
Italian grilling relies on specific woods that burn clean and hot without producing heavy smoke:
- Oak (quercia): The most common fuel for Tuscan grilling — burns long, hot and clean
- Olive wood: Fragrant, very dense, burns extremely hot. Imparts a subtle fruity note to the meat
- Vine cuttings (sarmenti): Used in wine regions across Italy — burns fast and intensely hot, ideal for quick searing
The goal is always glowing embers, not active flames. Flames produce soot and uneven heat; embers provide clean, radiant heat that sears without burning.
Toscana Fire and dry rubs
Traditional Tuscan grilling uses minimal seasoning — salt, pepper, rosemary and olive oil. But a well-designed rub that incorporates these Italian flavour notes can add significant depth without departing from the spirit of the style. Our Toscana Fire BBQ rub is built around rosemary, garlic, fennel, black pepper and sea salt — the essential Tuscan spice profile in convenient dry form. Excellent on T-bone steaks, lamb chops, whole chicken and porchetta-style pork belly. Find the right rub for your grill with our rub selector.
Italian expats in the Netherlands
The Italian community in the Netherlands is one of the largest expat groups in the country, concentrated in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Eindhoven. The Toscana Fire grilling tradition travels with them — and the flavours of rosemary, olive oil and wood-fired meat resonate strongly with Dutch food culture as well. Quality Italian ingredients — olive oil, Chianina beef, fennel pollen — are increasingly available through specialist shops and online retailers in the Netherlands.