How to cook a mouth-watering tomahawk steak

The Tomahawk steak is a massive bone-in cut of beef sourced from the cow’s rib section. The cut includes the eye of the rib eye, the rib eye cap, and the complexus, making it a premium steak cut. The Tomahawk steak cut typically included a higher price tag due to the extra prep required for trimming to develop the tomahawk shape.

The cut’s signature feature is the long bone that’s left attached which makes for a great handle when eating Fred Flintstone style.

How to cook a Tomahawk steak to perfection

When dealing with such a large piece of meat the first step in the process will be salting the Tomahawk steak with some kosher salt. It is great to half your salt on the finer side so grab a mortar and pestle and grind down those salt flakes. Give the steak a good dusting with salt on both sides and don’t forget those edges.

Now I know what you’re thinking: Will salting dry out my steak? The opposite happens; as the salt dissolves proteins the juiciness is enhanced, allowing the surface to brown better.

Enhancing the flavour of your tomahawk steak with BBQ rubs

If you would like to add any bbq rubs or spice rubs now is the time to lightly add them by lightly sprinkling the seasoning over the surface of the tomahawk steak, ensuring even coverage. If you’re a garlic lover like me you can consider also adding a little garlic seasoning to enhance the flavour with a little black pepper.

The next step is to take some paper towel and place a few pieces over the steak, letting it sit out for at least an hour. This allows some of the proteins to start to break down while pulling out some of the moisture allowing for a delicious crust to form on the surface of the steak when cooking.

Video sourced from How to BBQ Right

For the cooking steps check out the video above by Malcolm who will step you through the cooking of all sides of the tomahawk steak while utilising the juices to create a delicious basting sauce from you guessed it garlic, butter and rosemary.

Great sauces to accompany a tomahawk steak

I will be honest here my long-standing favourite sauce for steak would have to be a Dianne sauce. The packet stuff is ok but let’s be honest it tastes way better from scratch. We have a Dianne sauce recipe that tastes just like the one the pubs make made entirely from ingredients that you like have in the back of your pantry. Other fantastic sauce options would be mushroom, peppercorn or chimichurri to help enhance the flavour of your steak.

Is a tomahawk steak worth the cost?

The tomahawk steak does contain the rib eye and is a premium cut of meat. When weighing up the cost, you really need to consider how much you value having the bone to hold on to and if you can get an extra use from the bone. One way to justify the cost is to utilise the bones in other recipes by boiling them and creating a broth. You may also want to consider extracting the marrow for use in a variety of recipes.

How does the Tomahawk steak compare to a scotch fillet?

Ok so you’re standing in front of the counter at the butcher shop weighing up which steak to buy.

So let’s break both steaks down:

• Bone in or bone out is the key difference between the two. The tomahawk is essentially a rib eye with a long frenched bone whereas the scotch fillet steak is boneless.
• The flavour profile for both steaks is very similar with the tomahawk potentially having a deeper flavour profile as the marrow can infuse with the meat.
• When comparing tenderness the bone does complicate things as it makes the tenderness of the tomahawk cut more inconsistent when compared to the scotch fillet.
• The sheer size of the tomahawk steak is something to consider. Unless you’re Fred Flintstone, it can be a challenge to eat in one sitting without breaking out in meat sweats. Ok, it’s not that bad, but it’s a lot of meat if you’re looking for a light dinner go with the scotch fillet.
• Your ability to cook the tomahawk is something to consider, as that bone does make things a bit tricky. If you only have a pan it will certainly make the whole process a bit tricky. You must be able to generate enough heat to cook the steak through.

That wraps up our article on how to cook a Tomahawk steak. Let us know you things went cooking your steak and make sure to tag us in any photos on Instagram for your chance to win a free BBQ rub pack.