Durbuck Steak with Aironroot Mash (Der-buk Stayk with Air-ren-root mash)

The windswept plains of Maralon were home to nomadic clans following herds of roaming durbuck and fleeterbeast. With unpredictable gales and sparse rain, growing crops was difficult. The people subsisted on meat, milk and blood from the beasts they tended.
Durbuck and fleeterbeast meat was eaten fresh, dried or fermented in salt. Fleeterbeast blood was mixed with milk from robesheep and churned into nourishing pudding. Robesheep milk also made hard cheese and tart yogurt. Swinefat from wild boars provided cooking oil.
Mare's milk was fermented into kumis, providing nutrients and safe hydration. Starchy tubers like aironroots and mapturnips were foraged and eaten raw or cooked in stone kilns with meat and herbs. Grains like milray and barley were roasted, ground and mixed with honey and sunberries into portable nutrition cubes.
The land provided spicy wild spearkin, sagebrush and greenstalk for flavor. Onions, wild garlic and dried hotpep added flavor to plain dishes. Meat roasted in stone ovens embedded in the ground or cooked on curved iron over open fires. Flat rounds of dough were cooked on the iron to dip into stew and sop up juices.
The hearty cuisine of the Marali allowed them to thrive in the sparse plains by making use of every resource the stark landscape provided. It sustained a tough, resilient people well-adapted to their environment.

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Recipe

Durbuck Steak with Aironroot Mash
Ingredients:

• 1 lb durbuck steak
• 2 tbsp swinefat
• 1 tsp dried spearkin
• 1⁄4 tsp hotpep
• 2 medium aironroots, peeled and chopped
• 1⁄2 cup plain robesheep yogurt
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh sagebrush
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Heat swinefat in iron skillet over medium-high heat. Season durbuck steak with spearkin, hotpep, salt and pepper.
• When fat is hot, add steak and cook 4-5 minutes per side for medium doneness. Remove and let rest.
• Meanwhile, boil aironroots until very tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash with yogurt, sagebrush, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve durbuck steak over aironroot mash. Drizzle meat juices from skillet over the top.
• Accompany with a side of roasted milray grains or barley flatbreads. Serve kumis to drink. Enjoy!

by Midjourney