Have you been to Marfa? Cooking in Marfa: Welcome, We’ve Been Expecting You by Rocky Barnette and Virginia Lebermann is the perfect way for you to explore the culinary culture of the area.

The book introduces readers to the artist colony and ranching community in the remote Big Bend country of Far West Texas. A renowned dining outpost in the area, The Capri, offers inventive fare with flavors that are both mind-bendingly delicious and a true celebration of the singularly special desert haven. Radiating with a gracious spirit, The Capri is a refuge in the high desert for anyone with a curious soul and an epicurean disposition. Written by Virginia Lebermann, co-founder of Ballroom Marfa and co-owner of The Capri, and Rocky Barnette, the wildly creative chef behind the restaurant who spent 10 years at the Inn at Little Washington before moving to Marfa in search of a slower pace, the book offers an intimate look at the many facets that make the small town so special.

Today we offer a sneak peek of the delightful recipes one will find within the book — The Capri Steak. The author writes: “If you open a roadside saloon on the Mexican border in the Texan cattle-ranching country, you really don’t have a choice whether you are going to serve a steak.” In fact, the Capri is known for serving one of the best steaks in the world, beckoning locals and visitors to make the trek for a taste of the legendary Capri Steak.

Before we get to the secret recipe for the world’s best steak, we want to share our interview with Chef Rocky Barnette, where we got a glimpse of the duo’s creative process and intention behind the book.

P: Pendulum Magazine

B: Chef Rocky Barnette

P: When you meet someone who has never heard of or been to Marfa, how would you introduce it? Could you pick one dish or ingredient that you feel can best represent the local flavours?

B: Marfa is a small town in far west Texas that is closer to Mexico than it is America. The landscape (always), weather (most of the time), the humans (some of the times) collectively come together (more often than not) to make something beautiful mostly out of necessity. 

The only introduction to Marfa is a person’s initial arrival. I believe Virginia’s introduction was driving through many moons ago. My introduction was being coerced into visiting a place I had never heard of and went, google free. At the time it felt like high adventure and still does.

The ingredient I would choose would be the Mesquite bean. The idea was first illuminated by Virginia. The mesquite tree and its fruit are in fact indigenous and also still wild. They are considered invasive. Although leguminous, the bean is not where the flavor lies. The powder or “flour” of the mesquite bean comes from the protective pith between the pod and the bean which we extract. The beans themselves are left for the wild fauna to digest and spread like a Johnny Appleseed would. This ensures the trees stay wild and free and also that every one of them produces fruit that has an individual flavor profile. I have a particular affinity for two trees that luckily grow in front of our house.

 P: Are there particular difficulties with using local ingredients in Marfa that are tied to the Chihuahuan ecosystem?

B: The difficulties would be that we are so isolated that the only truly local ingredients are wild. There really is no agrarian society here beyond cattle ranching. There are no farms even though we have an incredible growing season, natural water and fertile soil. It is fortunate that the land out here has not been exploited too much. Unfortunately, the wild plants are intrinsically tied to the ecosystem and those ingredients are progressively going extinct due to climate change, human intervention, and negligence of cultural respect.

P: Take us through your creative process for developing recipes. Why were these recipes selected for this particular cookbook?

B: I usually wake up at four in the morning with my mind racing and write down a series of notes of ingredients. I walk to work and pick random things along the way. If I always had the luxury of a good market that would be dreamy. In the high desert lack of options clears the mind.

The recipes in the book were selected because they were the most exemplary of the seasons that we were able to create in the first three years of the Capri and the book is a document of our inception and those three years.

P: Can you go deeper into what aspects you think makes the collaboration between the two of you successful?

B: I believe we harmonize more often than not in a shared aesthetic. We can both walk in a room and notice that one single chair that is bomb, or we walk in the room and I have been trained to find 36 things wrong but Virginia has already found 47. We have also been seen shoving spoons in each other’s mouths saying taste this whilst we both already have hamster cheeks. At the end of the day, on our best possible day, we are conjoined alchemists and she makes all the beauty and I make the food.

P: Seeing that The Capri restaurant is quite iconic in Marfa, and also brought the two of you together, what might be some tastes that readers can experience in this cookbook that they might not be able to while dining at the restaurant?

B: Hopefully the tastes from the book inspire people to create love and beauty in whatever environment they find themselves. If they find themselves at the restaurant one day they might taste a little local culture and cactus juice.

We want to thank Chef Rocky Barnette for sharing the duo’s inspirations and creative process behind Cooking in Marfa with us. We can’t wait to try other recipes from the book, and hope you can enjoy at least a few of the scrumptious recipes while learning about the unique stories behind the small desert city. Make sure to grab your copy from the Phaidon online shop.

THE CAPRI STEAK

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 Bone-in ribeye (46 - 52 oz/1.3 - 1.5kg), preferably Akaushi

• Kosher (flaked) salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2 limes, quartered, central pith sliced off

• 2 tbsp sal de gusano

• 2 tbsp gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes)

Instructions

1. Prepare the grill of your choice to very high

2. Generously season the steak with salt and pepper. Place on the grill for 1 minute. Give the steak a quarter turn and grill for 1 minute more. Turn the steak over and repeat the process on the other side. Remove from the grill and allow to cool.

3. Vacuum-seal the steak. Set a sous vide immersion circulator to 57 and cook the steak for at least 1 hour, but it can go for as long as 5 hours.

4. When you are ready to serve, preheat the oven to 450 (230 / Gas Mark 8).

5. Remove the steak from the bag, reserving the cooking liquid. Place the steak on a rack on a sheet pan and roast for 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and sear both sides of the steak with a kitchen torch to the desired level of brown and crustiness. Allow to rest for 3-5 minutes.

6. Slice the steak and place on a board or platter. Serve with the reserved jus from the bag and limes dipped in sal de gusano and gochugaru.

Photos by Douglas Friedman