Tomahawk: I Like Big Steaks and I Cannot Lie

 

One of the worst recipe sites on the planet calls itself "Allrecipes". I discovered the site in the early days of the Interweb. It had a ton of recipes and I started trying them. About 1/3 of them were passable, another 1/3 were not good and the final 1/3 sucked beyond belief. I guess that is to be expected on an open web site where the great unwashed masses are the authors and creators of the content. 

And that wouldn't bother me so much if all of the "Allrecipes" titles were not preceded with the words "World's Best". Every f*cking single page. World's Best Steak. World's Best Apple Pie. World's Best Spaghetti and Meatballs. World's Best Goat Sphincter.

If you're a cook, you already know "The World's Best Recipe" does not exist. Never has. Never will. When you are a serious cook, at some point you will achieve greatness. But all greatness is fleeting. Your meal will not be "World's Best Prime Rib"...but instead the best prime rib you have made so far.

So what I have for you today is not the "World's Best Tomahawk Recipe". It is simply the sum of 20+ years of my cooking big Tomahawk Steaks (my favorite meal) using a reverse sear. There are a million ways to cook a great steak in the big city. This is mine.

INGREDIENTS

1 Tomahawk steak, 2-1/2 to 4 pounds

Kosher salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Garlic powder

DIRECTIONS

1. Take the steak out of the package. Set it on a wire rack over a cookie sheet. Salt both sides and edges very generously with Kosher salt. Place, uncovered, in refrigerator for 24 hours.
2. Four hours prior to cooking, remove steak from refrigerator and place on kitchen counter (the steak will cook more evenly when at room temperature.).
3. Preheat your choice of smoker, oven or grill to 225º ( I recommend using a smoker with just a light touch of oak for best flavor).
4. Thoroughly wipe down steak with paper towels until it is dry. Season both sides moderately with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the steak.
5. Place steak in smoker, oven or grill. By heating low and slow, the internal temp of the steak will gently rise to 118º (which will take about an hour). The steak must be cooked low and slow so the temp does not skyrocket when you pull the meat. We are shooting for our steak to be served at a perfect medium rare. 
6. Pull steak at 118º and wrap it in foil. Let it rest 10 minutes. The steak will continue to warm in the foil to roughly 125º.
7. Heat your grill, smoker or a cast iron pan on your stovetop to blazing hot heat. I prefer a cast iron pan as it gets hotter than a grill or smoker. Unwrap the Tomahawk from the foil and sear the first side over high heat for 1 minute. Flip and sear the other side for 1 minute (between resting and searing, your meat thermometer should register 130º by the end of searing).
8. Move steak to a cutting board and remove meat thermometer. Cut the steak away from the bone. Slice steak against the grain and serve. 

Wine Pairing: I like big reds and I cannot lie..

NOTES

• Absolute minimum thickness on a Tomahawk steak should be 2".
• A Tomahawk will serve 3-6 people depending on size.
• Save your rubs and marinades for lesser cuts. Tomahawk steaks are so flavorful, all they need is a little salt, pepper and garlic. Do not gild the lily.
• Salting the Tomahawk before cooking serves 3 purposes. First, it helps to eliminate moisture in the meat...which makes for a better sear. Second, it allows the salt to penetrate very deep within the steak. Third: salting, refrigerating and resting at room temperature are a poor man's version of dry aging. It helps to concentrate the flavor in the steak.
• As the cook, no one but me gets to chew on the bone. Ever.