Let’s talk tomahawk steak: gimmick? or glamorous date night for two?
Friends: this is one serious hunk of meat. It’s also no ordinary hunk of meat. What exactly is a tomahawk steak? It’s basically the ribeye steak with the rib bone left attached which forms kind of a “handle” which makes the cut of meat resemble a tomahawk. It’s cut to be around 1 3/4″-2″ thick and weighs in at about 2.5 pounds. Part of the weight is the bone, but there’s meat all the way up the spine of that bone, too.
I’ll be honest–when I first saw this cut of meat featured several years ago on a cooking show I like, I thought it was just a gimmick–just something conjured up by the producers of the show to make a splashy challenge for the contestants. But now I see it on menus and in my favorite grocery store, so apparently that gimmick had legs.
Turns out, it’s a cut that been around for a while. It came onto the scene in the early 2000’s and fairly recently has gained traction in restaurants and grocery stores. At 2.5 pounds of meat, Mr. Stone Soup and I split the steak and still had some leftover. Now if you’re a “Big-Texas-Steak-House” meat-eater (if you missed my post on the Big Texas Steak Ranch, click here), you might want two of them, but really, this is a steak that’s perfect for two for a celebratory dinner in. It’s a splurge (mine was around fifty bucks) and makes for an impressive presentation.
But how do you approach such a behemoth steak on the grill? By using a new-to-me technique called the “reverse sear,” that’s how. Basically a reverse sear involves cooking the steak on indirect heat for a while and then blasting it on a very hot grill for just a couple of minutes to get some nice sear marks. Timing depends on the thickness of the cut.
In my case, the steak was almost two inches thick. I fired up my Big Egg and used the “conveggtor” to get indirect heat. I used regular hardwood FOGO lump charcoal and tossed in a couple of chunks of pecan smoking wood and mesquite smoking wood. I got a temperature of about 260-270* and set it there. I had let the steak come to room temperature while tenderizing with lime juice and salt. I placed the steak in the Egg and let it cook/smoke over indirect heat at around 265* for about 45 minutes, at which point the temperature of the steak was about 115*. Then I seared it over a 550-600* grill, and it came out a pretty perfect medium, which is the way we like our steak:
This steak was super flavorful, tender and the 45 minutes on the smoking wood gave it a lovely gentle smoke flavor. I will be making this statement steak again, but probably only for special occasions due to the cost.
Grilled Tomahawk Steak: Reverse Sear Method
Ingredients
Instructions
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You're going to want to bring the steak to room temperature as much as you can. It's a large cut and will take a little while. Here in northern California, where even the summers are pretty mild, I took my steak out a couple of hours ahead of when I wanted grill. You'll need to adjust for your climate. In any case, you're going to want to marinate the steak with lime juice and plenty of Kosher salt for about an hour per side.
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About a half an hour before you want to grill, get your grill prepped for indirect heat, and get the temperature at a pretty steady 260-270*. If you're using an Egg or other hardwood grill situation, use your regular fogo or other hardwood lump charcoal and toss in a couple of chunks of pecan and mesquite, or other smoking wood to your liking. This will give your steak a lovely mildly smoky flavor. You're going to want enough of a charcoal load to accommodate about an hour and a half of cooking time. Sprinkle the steak with some lemon-pepper and/or seasoned salt, or other grilling spice mix of your choice and place the meat on the grill over the indirect heat appliance and close the lid. Let the steak smoke over the indirect heat for about 45 minutes and then, using an instant-read probe thermometer, check the temperature. I took my steak off when it was about 115*. If you like a more rare cook, you'll want to pull your steak off a little sooner. **Bear in mind that this is step 1 in the reverse sear and that your steak will now rest for 10-15 minutes before going back onto the grill for a good 3-4 minute sear, and then another rest. I took my steak off at 115* and after resting for 10-15 minutes while the grill heated up to 550-600*, and then a 3-4 minute sear, plus another 5-7 minute rest, the steak was a perfect 140*.**
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When the steak reaches your desired temperature for the first step of the reverse sear, take it off the grill and cover it with aluminum foil.
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Once I removed the indirect heat device, my Egg took a good 15 minutes to heat up to 575*, at which point I slapped the steak back on to sear for another 2 minutes on each side--I rotated to get nice grill marks.
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Remove meat from grill, cover with aluminum foil and let rest for 5-7 minutes before slicing the meat across the grain.
