Hey guys,
Massive meat head here, and have gone through a fairly long journey of experimenting with modernist and traditional techniques to prepare different cuts of steak.
Today's post is about rib-eye on the bone. More specifically, a 2.4kg Tomahawk. This isn't an everyday piece of meat. Whether it has the whole bone or not, is on one hand less relevant to many other than the wow factor, but let's not forget the delicious meat along the whole rib which is a delicious dessert after the main course.
My way of cooking this steak is now pretty simple, but takes time to prepare:
1. Generously season all parts (including the sides) of the steak with kosher salt and place uncovered in an odourless refrigerator for 24 hours.
2. Low and slow roast with a quick and hot sear at the end
3. Keep sauces, mustards, and other rubs away! This steak is packed with flavour!
- Seasoning in advance allows the salt to be nicely re-absorbed, refrigerating uncovered, in my unscientific opinion leaves the outside of the steak a little drier so when you do your low and slow you actually get a little bit of maillard reaction through the low and slow process.
- Low and slow means just that - ~120-140c indirect on a bbq. For me that's the extreme right burner on my gas bbq medium, lid closed, rib sitting atop a baking tray filled with an inch of water. It takes about 2-3 hours for this size steak to come up to ~54c, so I generally put in a thermometer into the centre close to the bone around 1.5 hours in. I know leaving the thermometer in means you don't get super accurate readings but it errs on the side of under rather than over and i'm fine with that. Once the steak hits 54c near the centre, for me that's where the rest of the steak will probably be a few degrees warmer and just right.
- Take the steak off the grill, let it sit for 20 minutes. In the meantime, get your grill as hot as possible, or prepare your SearzAll (in my case).
- For this type of steak, you really want a good char and a nice fairly gnarly barky crust. If you've done everything right you can really go to town on it here, but make sure you are either turning frequently, or moving your torch frequently to ensure a good even char. The fat causes flare-ups and a significant amount of flame on my bbq, but I actually don't mind the flavours that imparts. Horses for courses here!
The steak, initial and final results are here:
