Cooking my first Tomahawk

Thank you all for the kind words and compliments. It was a really fun cook, especially the bone-marrow basting part. It provided a lot of entertainment for my onlookers (the human vultures otherwise known as my in-laws). And it turned out to be tasty beyond my own expectations. Not sure how I went so long without cooking a tomahawk, but now that I know that my local Safeway carries them...I'm sure it's gonna be part of my rotation and repertoire.
 
James give yourself a big hug and pat on the back cause you sure deserve it. Beautiful cook... Thank you for sharing.
 
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You win!
 
CLeeSmokinQ said:
Perfectly executed! Any tips with the marrow basting..
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Mikebeme said:
You can only dream of finding something that good in a restaurant. Outstanding cook.
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garyk1398 said:
Wow! Just WOW!
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Thank you!

As far as the marrow basting goes, I would recommend seasoning the bone with the marrow before putting on the grill like you would season any other butter baste...I typically use red chili flakes, thyme, rosemary, and garlic. Then just pop it on the grill and let the marrow melt little by little and I just pick it up with mitts and pour it on the steak and baste it with a silicone brush.

My basic basting technique is stolen from APL and basically incorporates basting as a tempering technique. So I sear one side of the steak for a minute or two, then I take it off the heat and flip it hot side up. I baste the now up-facing hot side immediately to start the cooling/tempering process and let the meat rest for a couple minutes. Then I plop the steak back onto direct heat and sear the other side, flip off the grill, baste, rest, flip, repeat...until desired IT is reached.

The constant basting with fat and letting the surface temp cool down really works to make a nice tasty crust at the end...the best I can describe is that it tastes like the surface of the meat has been deep-fried but much more savory.
 
Clay-b-que said:
Man basting with bone marrow put this over the top. Job WELL done!!!
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Thanks! The whole basting and slow-grilling process is a real exercise in patience and self-control. Several times during the cook, I just wanted to be done and eat the sucker...but pushing on to the predetermined IT and not rushing really paid off in the end product. For thick cut steaks, I'll probably never do hot and fast again if I have the choice!
 
Not sure how I missed this thread. Looks outstanding James!! Just beautiful!!
 
First of all great job, take a bow. I'm curious what temp you pulled the tomahawk off of indirect heat and start the basting process? Approximately how long did the basting process take?
 
hung said:
First of all great job, take a bow. I'm curious what temp you pulled the tomahawk off of indirect heat and start the basting process? Approximately how long did the basting process take?
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This wasn't an indirect cook. After cold-smoking the chop for two hours at about 90F in my stickburner, I went directly to high heat on my Santa Maria grill. But instead of "hot and fast", I like to call the process "hot and slow" or slow-grilling.

Step by step:

1. Sear steak over high heat for 1-2 minutes
2. Take steak off grill and flip it so the hot/seared side is facing up
3. Immediately baste with a fat containing baste
4. Check the IT of the steak and let it rest for 2-5 minutes.
5. Now move the steak back to direct heat and sear the other side.
6. Repeat from Step 1

Searing the steak forms the crust (obviously), but if you cooked the steak non-stop over direct heat until the middle of the steak was at your desired IT, then the outside would be burnt and there would be a wide gray band of well-done meat below the crust. Reverse-searing is currently a popular method of getting around this problem...cook on indirect heat until the entire steak reaches an even IT and then sear the heck out of it for a few minutes at the conclusion to form the crust. Sound familiar? Sousvide cooking is the same concept as reverse searing...just with bags and water and a heat source to heat the water.

Slow-grilling is a direct heat method, and the intent is to temper the extremely high temperature that the surface of the steak experiences. You expose the surface to the high heat for only enough time to carmelize the surface via Maillard reaction (and not burn/char like with grillmarks). As soon as the carmelization starts happening, you stop it by pulling it off the heat and you immediately cool down the hot surface with cooler basting liquids. Most of the heat from the searing is lost to evaporation or convection, but some of it is also transferred by conduction to the inside of the steak.

Anyways, you follow this process so that the inside of the steak comes up to temp in a slow, controlled fashion by limiting the temperature gradient or delta. Normally grilling temps are in the 600-900F range and that's what the surface of the steak would "feel" and continue to feel (carryover cooking) if left on the grill. And we are trying to get the steak to only 120F...so it's a little bit like trying to cook with a flamethrower. With slow-grilling, you actively cool down the steak by basting and resting. Maybe you put the steak on at room temp 77F and it gets to 85F after a couple minutes of searing...so then you baste it and rest it off the grill until it gets back down to maybe 80F. So ultimately you are inching up to your desired temp in a "3 steps forward, 2 steps back" fashion. This has all the benefits that we BBQers like when we do the "low and slow"...tenderness and getting that smoke flavor into the meat.

But with Hot and slow, one delicious side benefit is the deep brown carmelization that you build up little by little everytime you baste and sear. And you can do this because you are not afraid of overcooking the inside. It takes a heck of a long time compared to grilling a steak hot and fast, and for thick cuts it still takes longer than reverse sear. But man, oh man...is it worth the time and effort!
 
Sorry about the long-winded explanation. Bottom line...

Two hours cold-smoking
A shade under two hours slow-grilling/basting

And the 5-pound chop was gone in minutes
 
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