Grill-Grate Steak with Sweet Potato Chili Salad
A big bone-in steak over hot coals, with sweet potatoes braised in wine and vinegar alongside.
- calories
- 980
- weight
- 24 oz
- cal / oz
- 41
- protein
- 58 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Grill grate
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Real dishes
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Tomahawk steak | 1, about 14 oz | bone-in ribeye works the same |
|---|---|---|
| High-smoke-point cooking oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Butter | 1 oz | |
| Rosemary and thyme | 1 sprig each | |
| Salt and coarse pepper | to taste | |
| Sweet potatoes | 4 medium | |
| Onions | 2 | |
| Pointed cabbage | 1/4 head | |
| White wine | 200 ml | |
| Vegetable stock | 500 ml | or bouillon cubes and water |
| White vinegar | 100 ml | |
| Olive oil | 50 ml | |
| Fresh chili | 1 | more if you want it hot |
| Pimiento peppers | 10 | |
| Parsley | 1/4 bunch |
Method
- Build a fire and let it burn down to coals. Set the grate low over them. You want it hot enough that a drop of water skips.
- Peel and dice the sweet potatoes and onions. Shred the cabbage.
- Put the sweet potatoes and onions in a pot on the grate with the wine, stock, and vinegar. Simmer until the potatoes give to a knife but still hold shape, about 20 minutes. Pull the pot off and drain most of the liquid.
- Stir the raw cabbage, chopped chili, olive oil, and torn parsley into the warm potatoes. Salt it. Let it sit while the steak cooks.
- Salt the steak hard on both sides. Oil the grate, lay the steak down, and sear both sides without moving it.
- Move the steak to a cooler edge of the grate. Add the butter and herb sprigs to a small pan or directly on foil, and spoon the melted butter over the meat until a thermometer near the bone reads 53 C.
- Rest the steak ten minutes on a board, then slice off the bone and against the grain. Pepper at the end.
- Blister the pimientos in the hot pan with a little oil and salt while the steak rests.
This is car-camping food, not trail food. A bone-in steak and four sweet potatoes are heavy, need a cooler, and want a real fire. What makes it worth the weight is that everything cooks over the same bed of coals in sequence: potatoes first while the fire is settling, steak second when the grate is at its hottest, peppers last in the pan the butter came out of.
The salad is the part that carries the meal. Simmering the sweet potatoes in wine, stock, and vinegar seasons them all the way through instead of just coating them, and the acid keeps the dish from going flat next to a fatty cut of beef. The raw cabbage goes in off the heat so it stays crisp. Pull the steak at 53 C measured close to the bone, since that is the slowest part to come up and it keeps climbing while it rests.
Packing
Steak stays in the cooler on ice, wrapped so it does not sit in meltwater. Vegetables ride in a mesh bag. Carry the wine and vinegar in small screw-top bottles and use bouillon cubes instead of hauling a liter of stock.
Variations
- No wine? Cook the potatoes in stock and add an extra splash of vinegar at the end.
- A dutch oven works instead of the pot and pan, one at a time.
- Skip the steak and the salad stands on its own as a vegan side.
https://petromax.de/blogs/andi-schweiger/tomahawk-steak-mit-susskartoffel-chili-salat-und-piementos