Reverse Seared Tomahawk Steaks

If you love steaks and are looking to try something a little different you really need to give this recipe a try. Reverse searing steaks helps make them extra juicy and tender and as an added bonus you will get to feel like a caveman eating this meal.

Tomahawk steaks are really just ribeye steaks still attached to the bone. Ribeyes in general are well marbled which means they have a decent amount of fat in the meat. Becuase of this it makes for a perfect steak to cook low and slow to allow some of that fat to render down. This is another meal that will not take all day to cook and is very simple to prepare. Depending on the size and thickness these can vary in cooking times but you can usually count on them taking around an hour and a half to cook. You might have to do a little searching to find these types of steaks. I know where I live they do not have them in the grocery store I go to. I found them at Sams Club here and my local butcher has them as well.

Cooking Basics

The prep work for this is very simple. We will want to remove the steaks from the packaging and pat dry them with paper towels. Once they are dry we wil simply apply whatever seasoning we want and a binder if you wish. A binder is a liquid you can put on the meat before applying any seasoning to help the seasoning stick to the meat. A lot of people say binders are not needed and the meat usually holds the rub well enough but I encourage you to experiment and see if you like one way over another. A couple common binders that people use are yellow mustard or olive oil. The binder will not impart any flavor at all to the finished steak so don’t worry about the flavor of the binder used. With steaks I usually use oil as a binder. I think seasoning sticks just fine with no binder but I like that oil as a binder helps steaks not stick to the grill. I used Weber Cowboy seasoning for this recipe. If you have a favorite seasoning feel free to substitute. If you do not have a seasoning handy you can always use equal parts salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Once this is done we are ready to cook. You will want to set your grill or smoker to 225 and cook with indirect heat. We will throw the steaks on and allow them to slowly come up in temperature. These will cook this way until they reach an internal temperature of 115 to 120 degrees. This will normally take around an hour give ro take a little depending on the size and thickness of the steak you bought.

Once they reach the internal temperature of about 120 degrees they are close to being done but we still need to get a nice sear on the outside to finish them off. I used a smoker for the first part of this cook. If you are using a smoker you can either open up your sear plate and crank up the heat to about 350 degrees or if you have a grill you can move them over to this to finish. I have a smaller smoker so the sear plate is not big enough for the steaks I was cooking so I preheated my grill when the steaks were getting close and them moved them over to finish them off. If you are using a grill to cook low and slow you will just want to crank up the heat and move the steaks over direct heat to finish them. Flip the steak after a couple minutes to make sure both sides get seared before the steak is done. It wont take long at this point for them to finish coming up to temperature. They are done when they get to how you like your steaks done. Some people can tell by feel when steaks are done, but for those of us who can’t, it is really nice to have a good instant read thermometer to help. I always go by internal temperature to know when to pull steaks off. You can find this information easily online but I will show a chart below in the recipe to help out.

Once the steaks have reached the level of doneness you like take them off and allow them to rest for at least 10 minutes before eating. If you need to wait a little longer for other things ot get done you can simple tent them in aluminum foil and let them rest until you are ready to eat.

Final Thoughts

• There are a lot of different opinions about tomahawk steaks. Some people say they are a waste of money becuase they are a little pricier than just buying a ribeye but I liked the experience of having steak that is not like you woudl normally eat. I think it’s worth trying at least once and then making your own determination on it.
• Reverse searing can be used on any kind of steak really as long as it is thick enough. If you want to experiement using this technique on other types of steaks just make sure you get an inch and a half or thicker or it will just cook too quickly even on low heat.

Recipe