Ok, I am going to make this 1.3 kg (2.8 freedom units) tomahawk in a few days. Any suggestions on how? I was thinking of fast smoking at close to 325 and then reverse searing. I will be making it in the middle of the week for people coming over for dinner, so I won't have a bunch of time before serving.
I also thought about smoking to medium-rare the day before and serving chilled/sliced. Any thoughts?
by bekd70
35 Comments
That is a great looking Tommy! With a tomahawk like that, you don’t need a long smoke to get flavor. Even 45–60 minutes in the smoker will give you plenty of smoke character. It’s not about getting it to final temp in the smoker, it’s about clean smoke early on.
If you’re short on time during the week, I’d run it low around 225–250 just long enough to build some smoke and start warming the interior, then move it to a hot grill to bring it up to your target temp and finish with a hard sear.
That way you get the smoke flavor and still control doneness without rushing at the end.
Cooking it the day before to medium rare and serving chilled wouldn’t be my first choice. A tomahawk is kind of a showpiece steak, and it really shines freshly cooked.
What setup are you running?
Use a wireless probe to determine how close you are to desired doneness.
When within striking range, heat up a cast-iron or a flame grille and sear it both sides and all around the edges prior to plating.
Standard reverse sear.
Griddle with ghee.
I would honestly hate that steak cooked to medium rare and then served cold the next day.
I think your plan of the precook if fine, but I’d throw it in a cast iron pan the next day to bring it to medium and put a nice crust on it.
On your WSM, take out the middle portion so you have a normal weber kettle. Put your lit coals on one side with a wood chunk. Add your grill and lid with vents open. Add your steak to the side without the coals and bring it up to about 110 degrees. At 110 add the steak to the hot side to get crust on both sides. Prob about 2-3 min a side. Pull at 127-130 degrees for medium rare. Let it cool down.
Is the tomahawk in the room with us now??
Dry brine overnight and reverse sear – 225 until 125deg. Then blast it in cast iron 1-1.5 min per side to sear.
Don’t do it the day before. Don’t serve it cold.
The way I do it every time: Smoke at 225 until internal temp is 120. Reverse sear at 450 for 3 mins per side.
tomahawk < cowboy ribeye
“Don’t.” – Joe Swanson
I actually prefer direct coal cooking for this cut.
Get your natural charcoal really really MFing hot. Use a blower to clear the ash and drop the meat right on them.
Looks good
You have to buy a tomahawk to cook a tomahawk.
Use heat
Holy moly, now that is a beautiful looking steak. Salt it well and put it in your fridge uncovered on a rack in a sheet pan for at least overnight. Pat the steak dry before cooking it however you want. I don’t have a smoker or grill, so I normally use the cold sear method, although with a steak that thick, it’s difficult to get the center to the right temp before the crust sets. Anyway, I’m sure there are better cooking suggestions here for you, but to me dry brining is non-negotiable. Good luck and enjoy!
edit: clarifying instructions
That’s a côte de boef?
Sear and bake to temp. Rest 15min
Reverse sear it.
Microwave on high for 20 minutes, take out, wrap in foil, then microwave for 5 more minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes
A ribeye is too fatty to serve chilled – If I was cooking for a group and was short on time, I would season with salt and perhaps garlic powder, sous vide the steaks the day before at 135 f (57-58 C) for 4 hours. leave them in the vac bag and chill in the refrigerator. Before serving I would remove from bag and pat dry and sear on the stove in a med-high temp cast iron or carbon steel pan or on a very hot grill. Do Not flip it over and over – leave it on one side until it has the sear you like then flip once. No need to rest it after searing, just slice and serve. I would skip the smoke since it is hard to get the smoke and juiciness right on an interrupted preparation like you describe.
I think you should rethink everything you know about hosting friends if you think serving a precooked ribeye COLD is even remotely advisable.
A real tomahawk would mean that you paid an extra 15 bucks for a useless bone.
I may get hate but I never dry brine mine over night. I have a smoked salt, pepper and garlic blend I use and coat evenly on both sides, let it chill on a rack in the fridge while I prep veggies and get a strong buzz going. Get a fire going in my smoker with some post oak lump charcoal and a pecan log until I get a lot of blue smoke, let it hang out in there until I hit 125 and then I sear the shit out of it on a rack in my firebox until it’s a doneness of my preference. Super simple and the crust is always on point.
Lighter dry brine overnight with coarse salt uncovered in the fridge. Before the cook, rub with a small amount of neutral oil (literally just coat your fingertips) to work the fat into a grey’ish, tacky coat on the surface. Add pepper and garlic and a little more coarse salt.
Smoke to 125’ish @ 275-300 on the smoker feel free to go heavy on the smoke, shouldn’t take more than 40m. Rest 5-10m, reverse sear.
Don’t serve it chilled. Meat Jesus will weep. ขอให้โชคดี.
That’s a bone-in ribeye, my hands down favorite, not a tomahawk.
Don’t overthink it. Dry brine with coarse salt the day before. Reverse sear.
Let it get to room temp.
Two zone grill. Cool side to about 115 – 120F internal. Take it off, dry it and let sit until the hot side is ripping. I also like to have a CI insert on the hot side while slow cooking. Sear at 60-90 sec intervals per side until desired finish.
Hard pass on serving it cold.
Im offended by this.
Sear hot and fast and finish in the oven is my preferred method
This is my go to and it’s never let me down. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmTXwzx6cUg
After trying it both ways, I prefer forward sear. It’s hard to predict how much the temperature will raise during the sear, I have better results when I start with the sear. Then I can take it off the heat when the final temp is achieved rather than trying to guess at how much buffer I need.
It shouldn’t take more than 20-30 minutes unless you need to build a fire on a large smoker. I would use a pan or charcoal grill and an oven for a weeknight cook and skip the smoker.
That’s the shortest bone I’ve ever seen on a Tomahawk.
Suggest going on YouTube and looking for the reverse sear method.
Slow smoke it for 6hrs. Best steak you’ll ever have
Salt and pepper dry brine overnight. Start you smoker, crush IPA. Smoke steak at 180 untill it hits 115-120 crushing IPAs to pass time. Pull off smoker and get cast iron piping hot. Crush IPA. sear for 2 minutes per side in neutral oil or beef tallow. Cover in garlic thyme compound butter while steak rests for 10 mins. Crush IPA. Devour and coma. The end.
I seasoned mine with Montreal Steak Seasoning from Mcormick. Then smoked it for 2.5 hours at 230 degrees. After ai reacheded 136 degrees F I pulled the steak and immediately seared it for 2 minutes in a ripping hot cast iron skillet. It was one of the best steaks I have ever made. It’s one of the top posts over in r/smoking right now
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