INGREDIENTS
• A 5- to 6-pound buffalo prime standing rib roast or a 4- to 5-pound boneless prime rib roast
• 1/ 2 cup beef base concentrate (available at meat markets, specialty stores, and some super markets)
• 1/ 4 cup freshly pureed garlic (about two heads)
• 1/ 2 cup dried rosemary
• Coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/ 4 cup vegetable oil
• Outer peels of 4 large onions
DIRECTIONS
1. Rub the roast with the beef base concentrate and then the garlic. Sprinkle the rosemary and pepper over all, letting it stick to the beef base. Drizzle the oil over the meat and gently rub the herbs into the roast. Let stand for one hour at room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Place the roast on a foil-covered roasting pan. Arrange the onion peels around the base of the roast and place in the oven. Roast for 8 minutes so that the onion peels burn and the smoke lightly penetrates the meat, then lower the heat to 250 degrees F. and roast for 18 minutes per pound, or until a meat thermometer reads 125 degrees F. for rare or 138 degrees F. for medium rare. The low cooking temperature will keep the roast tender. Don’t cook buffalo any longer; because of its leanness, it will be tough if cooked more than medium rare.
3. Remove the roast from the oven and allow it to rest for 15 to 20 minutes before carving. The temperature will rise about 10 degrees while resting, bringing the meat to the correct serving temperature.
About The Fort restaurant:
The Fort restaurant, west of Denver, serves more than 70,000 buffalo entrees a year, including its succulent buffalo prime rib (left). Constructed by the late food historian Sam’l Arnold in 1963, the adobe-walled building is a reproduction of Bent’s Fort, the historic fur-trading post in southeastern Colorado. Arnold used old journals and other accounts to create the menu, rich with historically accurate fare like roasted buffalo bone marrow and Lakota fry bread.
Today, his daughter, Holly Arnold Kinney, carries on the tradition and also hosts several Native American cultural events at the Fort.
(303) 697-4771, www.thefort.com