Tomahawk Buffalo Steak
In this recipe, Chef Ray Naranjo, Santa Clara Pueblo, prepares a simple and delicious combination of corn and buffalo, each complemented by wild herbs, including sweetgrass and fourwing saltbrush.
Ingredients Spotlight
Sweetgrass
Sweetgrass is sweet-smelling grass native to northern North America. It’s a reasonably widespread perennial and can be found from Alaska to Newfoundland, down into the Great Lakes and New England region, West to Oregon, and South into some areas of the Southwest, including New Mexico. Sweetgrass is a significant plant for many Indigenous cultures across its range, with uses and relationships with the plant differing from community to community. Many value the plant for its lovely smell, which intensifies by rain or smudging. Sweetgrass is not drought tolerant and is most commonly found in the moist ground on shores, meadows, and low prairies, at the edges of woods, bogs, and marshes.
If you plan to prepare this recipe, consider purchasing sweetgrass from a Native American-owned business, such as SweetGrass Trading Company, a company owned by the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska which sells products from Tribes throughout the country.
Fourwing Saltbrush
Fourwing Saltbrush gets its English name from the distinctive “wings”' visible on the seed pod, as Chef Ray indicates in the video. Fourwing Saltbrush is a familiar and recognizable member of the Great Plains and Great Basin biomes, ranging from Alberta to Mexico in dry, prairie, or desert shrubland areas. Indigenous uses of Saltbrush vary by community. For instance, the thin leaves consist of dye-making, while the stems serve as a fuel source. In addition to making culinary ash, as Chef Ray demonstrates, the seeds are also dried and used for flour.
To make culinary ash for this recipe, collect Saltbrush seeds and burn them on something that can retain the ash, such as a tray covered in aluminum foil. Then use a sieve or sifter to separate any larger pieces or unburned bits. You can also follow Flower Hill’s video on making Juniper ash, replacing the juniper with saltbush seeds.
Recipe
(Makes one serving)
Ingredients
4 Tablespoons of coarse salt
1/4 cup of chopped sweetgrass
4 Tablespoons of Fourwing Saltbrush Seed Ash
3 cups of dried corn
1 buffalo tomahawk steak
Procedure
Using mortar and pestle, grind salt and sweetgrass together until well combined.
Heat a small pot to boiling. Add roughly half of the salt and sweetgrass mixture and two tablespoons of ash. Simmer until soft, roughly three hours.
While corn is cooking, allow steak to come to room temperature.
Season steak with remaining salt mixture and ash (roughly one tablespoon per side).
When corn is nearly ready, preheat the oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit (or use a wood fired oven, if available). Place steak on a large, flat rock. Put steak and rock in the oven until desired internal temperature is reached. (130˚ fahrenheit for rare, 140˚ for medium rare, 155˚ for medium, 165˚ for well done).
Remove steak from the oven and sear over flame until the outside is slightly charred. Allow to rest for at least five minutes before serving
Strain corn from the pot. Corn should have turned a vibrant orange color. Serve with tomahawk steak.