Last Updated on September 17, 2023
Chef Raymond Naranjo shares his recipe which he rightly describes as the “perfect balance of sweet to bitterness and spice”. This super savory grass-fed tomahawk steak is rubbed with a menagerie of spices that includes New Mexico famed red chile from Naranjo’s home state, molasses-y brown sugar and ground coffee. It’s an impressive cut of steak that is complimented by a zippy compound butter made he calls a “cowboy butter” that melts into the steak, further enriching each bite. To boot, the size of this tomahawk steak makes this a shareable cut for dinner. “It tells the story of the Wild West and transcends the audience to a simpler time when we lived off the Land” Naranjo says. He loves serving this steak with creamy roasted sweet corn with the milk from the cob used in base.
Naranjo at a young age knew he was interested in cooking, eventually went to culinary school where after graduation he eventually became chef at the Indian Pueblo Kitchen in Albuquerque — a museum and restaurant focused on Indigenous cuisine education and exploration. Nowadays he strives to share his culinary experiences with his food truck business called Manko where serves up comfort foods with a Native American twist.
Ingredients
- ½ lb 2 sticks unsalted butter, sliced into 8 pieces and softened
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- 1 tbsp red pepper flakes
- 3 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp parsley finely chopped
- 3 tsp salt
- 1 bone-in ButcherBox Tomahawk Steak
- 1 small dried New Mexico red chile, seeded and ground (about 1 tablespoon)
- 2 tbsp ground coffee beans
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp canola oil
- flake salt for serving
Instructions
- Make the cowboy butter by adding the softened butter piece to a medium bowl and with a whisk, break up the pieces and whip until fluffy (alternatively use a standing mixer or beater). Add the lemon zest, juice, pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, garlic powder, mustard, parsley and 1 teaspoon salt. Whisk again very well to combine to fluff up as much as possible then set aside.
- Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment and place a cooling rack over. Place the tomahawk steak on top. In a small bowl mix the ground New Mexico red chile, coffee grounds, brown sugar, garlic powder, remaining 2 teaspoons black pepper, cinnamon and remaining 2 teaspoon salt. Mix well with a fork and then rub the tomahawk all over with the spice mixture. Discard any excess spice mix on the sheet pan since it has a tendency to smoke and burn while roasting.
- Drizzle the olive oil over the spiced steak and rub all over on both sides with one hand. Place in the oven and roast on the middle rack until an instant-read thermometer pressed into the centermost and thickest part of the steak reads 125 degrees for medium rare, about 20 minutes. Transfer the steak to a plate to rest for 15 minutes.
- Once rested, heat the canola oil in a large cast-iron pan over high. Once hot, sear each side of the tomahawk, pressing down with tongs until a well-browned crust forms, about 1 minute per side. Let rest for about 10 minutes and serve with the cowboy butter and flake salt.
