Reverse Seared Tomahawk Steaks on the Grill

At what point does a "steak" become a "roast"?

That's just a rhetorical question for fun, not a discussion of semantics.  But if you put these two ribeye steaks together, they would be a two-bone, 4.5 pound prime rib roast.  

When I cook normal sized ribeye steaks, ones a little bigger than an inch thick, I prefer to grill them over direct heat about 4 1/2 minutes per side.  But when I have thicker steaks, in excess of 1.5 inches thick, I take a different approach in terms of seasoning, cooking, and serving.

• Seasoning the Steak - I go bigger for a bolder flavor.  With a bigger steak, you have more unseasoned internal meat than seasoned surface meat, kind of like with a roast. So I use coarse rubs to get bigger bursts of flavor.  For my salt, I'll go with David's Kosher salt because it seems to have bigger flakes of salt than the Morton's Kosher that I use day in/day out.  For black pepper, I like a 16 mesh sized Malabar or Tellicherry black pepper (those are types, not brands).  
• Cooking the Steak- Direct heat is fine for steaks in the 1" neighborhood. But "big ol' honkin' steaks" do best with combination cooking techniques, like reverse sear, sous vide, or sear/roast.  This goes for ribeyes, NY strip steaks, or beef filet.  The slower roast or sous vide cooking gradually brings the entire mass of beef to the appropriate temp while the sear puts that flavorful crust on the outside.
• Serving the Steak - Steaks this thick are meant for sharing.  Sure, competitive eaters and freaks of nature can eat a 72 ounce steak(Saw this place on TV.  Our friend, Larry went there...he did not attempt the challenge.  Don't blame him.).  But for most of us, 8 ounces of steak is plenty.  With massive steaks, treat them as a roast, slice, and share. 

More semantics - difference between a "cowboy ribeye" and a "tomahawk steak"? I think of a cowboy ribeye as a bone in ribeye steak, with the eye, lip, and cap intact. The bone is usually about as short as the steak.  The tomahawk is also a bone in ribeye but it has a longer portion of the bone but to really resemble a tomahawk, it should just have the eye portion of the ribeye (cap and lip removed).  So these have the full bone handle but also have the cap and lip still attached....maybe they are more of a meat axe than a tomahawk steak?  Ha!  

Enough talking about beef, let's eat it.  Here is how I prepared these two tomahawk ribeyes.  

I used my NMT Beef Rub recipe, shown before grinding here. It's black peppercorns, green peppercorns, coarse smoked salt, dried shallots, dried garlic, and dried bell peppers. 

I rubbed the steaks with peanut oil and then the coarse ground beef rub. Notice the rack. I try to avoid putting meat on a flat surface after I have rubbed it because a good portion of the rub will stick to the flat surface when you lift the steaks.

I was using a ceramic kamado grill for this cook.  Here are a few set ups you can use for indirect heat on those grills. They all work effectively, it's just a matter of using what you have on hand.

Clockwise from upper left. Cast iron plate setter and standard Big Green Egg grate. Pizza stone, Raiser rig, and a Craycort cast iron grate (section removed for visibility only). Pizza stone, Grill Dome indirect rig, and Grill Dome grate.  Pizza stone, spider rig, and standard Big Green Egg grate.

This time, I had a strategy for my set up. I used a Grill Dome, cast iron plate setter (inverted), and the Grill Dome extender above that.  This gave me 2 advantages. First and foremost, I wanted to use the griddle surface of the cast iron plate setter to get a deep crust like a pan seared steak but with grilled taste. Second, this way I don't have to bother taking a hot pizza stone or plate setter out of the grill before I sear.

Steaks on! I used straight lump coal, I didn't need any additional smoke for my preferences.  I was cooking at 250°f (as measured at the dome thermometer) and it took a wee bit over 1 hour and 10 minutes to hit 128°f.  

Two points. Notice the rack - again with the flat surfaces. If you put hot meat on a flat surface you are trapping heat and creating a steaming effect. That will loosen the tissues and allow the meat juices to seep out.  Second point - you need to let the steaks to finish their carry over cooking.  The internal temp should rise about 5-7°f  and then start falling.  That way, you know the cooking energy is depleted and quick searing it won't raise the internal temp more than 1°f.

While the meat rested, I opened up my vents and brought the cooking temp to 600°f  Then I seared the steaks for about 1 minute per side.  If I wasn't using my cast iron plate setter, I would just sear it on a grate directly over coals for about the same time.

As soon as the steaks finished, I put a red chile compound butter on them so the butter would melt.

Served with Alexis' pinto beans and Chef Travis Wilson's "tater tots" (Chef at Blue Wahoo Stadium).  Boiled fingerling potatoes, smashed and coated with panko bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and seasonings.  Then you deep fry them and hit with more Parmesan while piping hot for the best tater tots you've ever had.

The steaks were perfect for us! The crust was richly flavored, the butter luscious, and the insides perfectly cooked to tender, medium rare from edge to edge.

[FTC Disclaimer]  I received no compensation for this post. Craycort and Innovations by Chance/Smokeware are equipment sponsors. 

Practice Competition Rib Cook

I need practice on my competition ribs because at Sevierville* last weekend I averaged 8's for taste and tenderness which isn't going to cut it for what we want to do.  Just under 2 years ago we did our first contest and were happy just to complete every category without finishing DAL.  Now if we don't get 9-9-9's (KCBS scores 0-9 from each judge for appearance, taste, and tenderness), we're not satisfied.

So this cook was just a baseline to focus on the details of our rib program without being distracted at a contest and then figure out where I need to improve for our next contest in a few weeks.  

My Grill Dome didn't make it back to the deck after last weekend's contest so I just rolled it out front on Saturday.  Never noticed until now that it is almost a perfect match for Trevor's car.  You can get Grill Domes in custom colors but this was just a stock color.

My highest rib score was 6th place at Sevierville last year when I cooked them on an Adjustable Rig but since then I've been using a homemade raised rack.  Typically we run 4 racks of ribs.  Using the raised rack means the bottom 2 ribs are close to the heat deflector so the ends can overcook.   So time to go back to the A/R.

To get back to using the Adjustable Rigs, I bought a set of oval heat deflectors from the Ceramic Grill Store.  (And a Kick Ash Basket for the Mini-Max!)  The longer heat deflectors are what they recommend for rib and brisket set ups anyway and I should have bought one that way to begin with.

This cook was the maiden voyage for a new fire box that I bought from Hearth and Patio this weekend.  So ivory...for now.

Here is a side view of the full A/R set up.  The main advantages for this specific set up are 1) the oval heat deflector protects the rib ends and 2) the 4 racks of ribs sit higher up in the dome for more even cooking.

One of the biggest issues with our ribs has been consistency of suppliers. I've gone back and forth. These were IBP because I couldn't get my usual ones this weekend.  I'm definitely sticking with Cheshire Heritage Pork ribs, our best ribs this year have been theirs. No more jumping around.

This set up is great for getting the racks away from any hot spots. The downside is that the ribs on the upper rack are very near the thermometer stem, which will throw off temperature readings, making them seem artificially low.  I have a fix for that.

I took an air temperature probe for my ThermaQ and clipped it just below the upper grate to get a more accurate temperature reading.  Kamado grill tip: Pulling the dome thermometer out a little bit will also help by getting the tip of the thermometer further away from the cold meat.

The temperature difference due to the cold meat only lasted for the first hour or two.  Once the meat was cooking, the dome thermometer came up and matched the ThermaQ.  

Getting close to wrapping time.

Another benefit to the A/R set up is that I can just slide the rib racks out and shut the dome, doing a better job of maintaining cooking temps.  I don't do anything much different than the majority of top comp teams for the wrap ingredients.

This is after coming back out of the foil.  Lighting is harsh but whatevs...

Sauced and back on for a brief kiss of smoke before boxing.

Sliced.  Not much of a smoke ring.  KCBS Certified BBQ Judges (3 of our teammates are CBJ's) are not supposed to judge based on smoke rings but I think it still makes a difference.  I just need to make sure the ribs are nice and cold when they go on and make sure I spritz the ribs when they first go on instead of waiting for the first hour to pass.  Moisture helps the nitrogen compounds in smoke convert and bond more easily to the myoglobin in the meat, keeping it pink. 

Practice box.  Appearance hasn't been an issue, I pretty much get 9's for that.  But this box  still bugs me.  I should be using ribs from the same rack or two so they aren't all herky-jerky at the top like these.  The garnish is lighter at the top of the box versus the bottom.  I'll take the color and the evenly exposed bones but definitely room for improvement.

So these are good but I have some things that I will adjust.  I'm going to reduce or eliminate one of the three rubs.  Once that is set I'll test a few sauce changes (you only ever change 1 thing at a time). Finally for tenderness, I think I've taken too much time to foil the ribs which means less time in the wrap.  I've streamlined that process to minimize time off the grill.

You might think I am nit-picking here.  But any competition team will tell you that less than 1 point can make the difference between Top 10 and everyone else.  

If BBQ competitions intrigue you, check out a local event.  It's a great thing to get involved in as an organizer, volunteer, judge, or competitor.  Here are some lists of events for different organizations.  We like KCBS but there are lots of solid groups.

Kansas City BBQ Society (biggest, most widely recognized IMO)

Florida BBQ Association

Georgia BBQ Association

Memphis BBQ Network

North East BBQ Society

Pacific North West BBQ Association

California BBQ Association

Standard FTC Disclosure:  I received no compensation for this post.  We have no affiliation with Grill Dome (sponsor last year), Ceramic Grill Store, Hearth and Patio, or Cheshire Pork.  We have good working relationships with Thermaworks and Kick Ash Basket but paid full price for their products shown.

*Full report on the report coming up later

How I Grill Veal Chops on the Kamado Grill

I was picking up some things at the store the other day and couldn't pass by some pretty veal loin chops.  I don't do veal chops a lot because they aren't generally available all of the time.  Plus it is pretty pricey when it is available, so it doesn't always fit my budget.

Veal is different in beef in that it is lighter in color because they are fed a low iron diet and no grass, which prevents it from developing myoglobin (McGee 138).  Myoglobin is the red protein that you see as "blood" in packages of meat and forms the smoke ring in BBQ when it binds with nitrogen compounds.  The special diet also prevents their fat from hardening, which makes veal succulent and tender.  Finally, the flavor is also milder than full grown beef steers. 

Types of Veal

There are several types of veal.

Field Guide To Meat

According to Green, what you see in grocery stores and most restaurants is typically grain fed while upper tier restaurants often carry the specially fed veal.  Just like beef, all veal is inspected by a USDA inspector but grading is optional.  Green says that 93% of all graded veal is either Prime or Choice (77).

Ethics of Veal
When I first fell in love with the tender, delicious taste of veal in the mid-1980's, I was told that I shouldn't eat veal because "they" treated the calves terribly.  Sadly this was true of a lot of commercially farmed animals as production attempted to keep up with demand.    

But as with a lot of commercial farming operations, the negative attention has brought about significant changes.  Green writes, "improved animal care and feed practices have evolved; today, calves are raised in well-lit, climate controlled, ventilated barns (76)".  McGee confirms that more humane alternatives are increasingly common (138).  From personal experience, Alexis and I stumbled across a veal program while driving though the back roads of East Tennessee about 3 years ago and the calves were even allowed outside.  They were in small pens that allowed them to move and turn, although not roam.  

So like everything, know your sources and ask questions before buying.  

Types of Veal Chops

The most common veal chops that I see are the rib chop, which is from the same cut that would go on to be a ribeye or prime rib if the steer grew to full maturity.  

You can find rib chops as Kansas City style veal rib chop (left) or a Frenched veal rib chop (right).  These examples are from Catelli Brothers.  [photo credit:  Catelli Brothers]

The chops that I bought are the loin chops, aka T-bone and porterhouse.

Loin chops come from the loin between rib and sirloin primals and are one of the most expensive cuts of veal.  Veal is very lean so that means that dry, high heat cooking methods work best, so grilling is ideal.  Just remember because it is lean, that it will be very easy to over cook.  Check your temps early and often with a quality instant read thermometer (I like Thermapen and Thermopop).

Generally, I cook veal chops just like I would beef steaks of the same thickness except I limit it to direct grilling - about 4-5 minutes per side at 400-450f.  I don't do a sear/roast or reverse sear because the meat is so lean.

Because the meat is milder than steak, veal needs a little help in the flavor department.  Salt and pepper is fine for beef but I like a more robust rub for veal. Things like dried onion or shallots, garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, and citrus zest are great to add into your rub.  A bold sauce helps out too but not your typical steak sauces.  I like highly seasoned cream sauces.  Today I used a base of brown butter and brightened it up with juice from a grilled lemon, toasted pine nuts, capers, and garlic.

I served mine with fire roasted garlic potatoes and asparagus, all cooked on my Grill Dome kamado grill.  The chops only take about 10 minutes to cook but the whole meal takes about 1 hour.

Veal Loin Chops with Brown Butter Sauce

Published 02/10/2016

Ingredients

• 4 veal loin chops
• lemon cut in half
• zest from one lemon for garnish

For the rub

• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme

For the brown butter sauce

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoon pine nuts
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 teaspoon capers
• juice from 1/2 grilled lemon
• 1/2 cup browned butter
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat your grill to 400-450°f.  If using GrillGrates, put them in after your grill has stabilized temperature and then wait 10 more minutes.
2. Meanwhile make the sauce.  Preheat a medium skillet and then toast the pine nuts in 1 tablespoon of butter.  When toasted and golden, add in the garlic and cook for another minute.  Stir in the capers, browned butter, and remove from heat.
3. Mix the rub ingredients together and season the chops on both sides with the rub.
4. Grill the chops over direct heat until they reach an internal temperature of 125-130°f (for medium rare), about 5 minutes per side.  Remove from heat and let rest for 3-5 minutes.
5. At the same time, grill the lemon halves cut sides down.  Squeeze the juice of one half lemon into the brown butter sauce and stir.  NOTE:  Lemon seeds look awfully similar to pine nuts - be extra careful to keep any from getting into the sauce.
6. Top the chops with some lemon zest, spoon some of the brown butter sauce over the chop, and serve.

Yield: 4 chops

I like whole meals cooked on the Grill Dome.

It has been very cold in Knoxville but kamado grills like the Grill Dome are resilient to icy weather.

I did the fire roasted potatoes on the Grill Dome too.  This was indirect heat (roasting) but the usual indirect set ups would require taking out the cooking grate, moving a plate setter or stone/spider combo, and putting the grates back on in order to switch to direct grilling for the veal.

Instead, I use GrillGrates or Grill Dome Sear Grates sitting on the main grate as my indirect piece as shown below. I cooked the potatoes above that on a raised grid and pizza stone.  This does two things.  First, it preheats my GrillGrates so they will be ready to sear.  Second, when it's time to switch to direct grilling, all I have to do is take out the raised grid - minimal handling of hot greasy equipment.

I parboil a pound of b-sized new red bliss potatoes for 5 minutes.  Then halve them and toss in a mix of 2 tbsp oil, 3-4 cloves of garlic chopped, 1/2 tsp of dried rosemary, and 1/2 tsp of kosher salt.  Then roast at 400°f until tender and golden, about 40 minutes.

You can use any pan that fits, but I like using a thick pizza stone with parchment paper.  The paper minimizes sticking and makes clean up easy.  It won't burn at these temps as long as the edges aren't exposed to direct flame.

Salt will draw out moisture from the veal so either put it on at the last second like I did or let it sit on for at least an hour so the meat will start to draw the moisture back in.

The Sear Grates not only create defined cross hatch marks, they also help you get more infrared heat from your fire, keeping your meat juicy.

Because veal is paler, don't go by visual cues for doneness - they won't get as dark as steaks.  They will be more like the color of grilled pork chops.

I used the other lemon half to squeeze over the grilled asparagus as soon as the asparagus came off of the grill.  

The sauce isn't thick, it's more of a vibrant juice.  The brown butter adds lusciousness and the acid brightens the flavor.  

Reader Tip
Jay T. had a great idea for cooking meatloaf on the kamado grill.  Too keep it from getting greasy, I usually form mine in a loaf pan and then invert it on a screen for cooking.  Here is Jay's idea.

"But as you discussed cooking it on mesh, it put mine in a large spring form pan with the bottom removed on top of a grill basket (with holes). It worked like a champ and the wedge shaped slices made it look special."

I love this idea, especially the presentation of a wedge.  Thanks Jay!

What is your favorite steak?

I have a really difficult time nailing that one down.  One that has to be in the running is the porterhouse steak because it is actually two steaks in one.  On one side of the bone you have what is the New York strip steak - beefy in flavor and it has a slightly denser texture.  On the other side you have the tenderloin - delightfully tender and mild tasting.

A porterhouse steak (IMPS 1173) and a T-bone (IMPS 1174) look similar, what's the difference? Location and size.  The T-bone is trimmed from the front of the loin (towards ribs) while the porterhouse is cut from the rear of the loin.  Because of this the porterhouse will have larger portions of the filet and strip compared to a T-bone.  I'm not sure if it's a standard or not, but the general rule of thumb is that if the filet is 1.5 inches wide or more, it's a porterhouse and if it is less, it's a T-bone.

Picking a porterhouse at the store is pretty much the same as other steaks.  Look for steaks that are at least 1 1/2 inches thick, have deep red coloring and fine marbling throughout.  Of course, pick the one with the bigger portions of strip and tenderloin.

Because it's really TWO steaks, the porterhouse is a great one to share.  Many top steakhouses, like Luger's, serve the porterhouse on a large platter with the strip and filet already sliced, ready for sharing.

Here's a porterhouse that Alexis and I shared for New Year's Day.  The steak is seasoned simply with quality salt and pepper so it can shine on it's own merits.  The hash is a bold flavored departure from the boring baked potato.  

We cooked this on our Grill Dome Infinity Series kamado grill so I cook the veggies first since the cooking temps will rise.  If I did this on a kettle grill I'd probably cook the steak first while the fire is it's hottest and then cook the hash as temps trail off a bit. On a gas grill you could do it either way since it's easy to raise or lower cooking temps.

Porterhouse Steak with Poblano and Portobello Hash

Published 01/6/2015

Ingredients

• 2 porterhouse steaks
• coarse ground black pepper to taste
• quality coarse sea salt to taste

For the hash

• 2 tablespoons peanut oil or other high temp cooking oil
• 8 ounces Baby Bella or Crimini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 poblano chile, seeded and diced
• 1 medium onion, peeled and diced
• 1 pound B sized potatoes, parboiled 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ancho chile (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin

Instructions

1. Set up your grill for direct heat and preheat to 350°f.  
2. Preheat your skillet and then add oil once it is hot.  Wait until the oil begins to shimmer, about 1 minute.
3. Add the mushrooms and poblano chile and cook, tossing occasionally, 4 minutes.  Keep the grill lid closed as much as possible to keep the fire under control.
4. Add the onions and cook until tender, tossing occasionally, about 6 minutes.
5. Add the potatoes, salt, pepper, chili powder, ancho chile (if using), granulated garlic, and cumin.  Cook, tossing occasionally until the potatoes are cooked through, about 2 more minutes.  
6. Remove the wok, cover with lid or foil to keep warm.
7. Raise the temperature of your grill to 500-550°f.  
8. Season the steak with black pepper and salt to taste.  Grill until the internal temperature reaches an internal temperature of about 127°F for medium rare, about 4 1/2 minutes per side.
9. Remove and serve with the poblano hash.

Yield: 4 servings

Mise en place.

If you have wood handles on your wok, cover them in foil.  Mine are over 6 years old and have gotten darker but have not burned yet.

Someone in a Facebook group asked me about my wok.  It is just a cheap one that I bought from a local Asian grocery store.  They had a stack of them and no two were the same.  When I get ready to replace it, it will be something with features like this one :

• 14" fits nicely in average sized kamados
• carbon steel is low maintenance and lasts almost forever
• flat bottom so it can sit on a grate (Round woks cook better but you have to use a wok ring or spider rig every time due to the curved bottom.)
• Double handles fit inside the kamado grill as opposed to the long straight handle mine has.

When you stir fry, saute, or other high temp cooking methods using a pan on the kamado grill, your cooking temperatures will rise from the frequent influx of air from opening the lid.  My basic strategy is 1) start off at a lower cooking temperature, 2) keep the bottom vent closed down as much as possible when the lid is open (watch for back flash), and 3) work quickly. 

You can also use a cast iron pan, a grill topper, or any other grill safe cooking vessel.  I just like using a wok most of the time because of personal preference. 

By the time you are done with the hash, your grill should be pretty close to the 500-550°f that you want for grilling the steak.

Strip steak is on the left side and the roundish part on the right is your beef tenderloin.  On a T-bone that part will not be as wide and often is more triangular shaped instead of round.

When you do basics like just salt and pepper, quality is especially important.  I used a blend of Himalayan pink salt, Hawaiian red clay sea salt, and Hawaiian black sea salt from Galena Garlic.

As always, cook times and temps will depend on a myriad of factors.  But in general, I like 4ish minutes per side at 500-550°f for medium rare.  Of course I go by touch and checking internal temperature with my trusty Thermopen. 

  As always, rest your flat meats on a resting rack.  This keeps the heat from being trapped between the meat and a tray, which steams the bottom and lets more juices drain out. Do a side by side comparison with hot steaks some time and you'll see. (Excuse the blurry photo, it was dark and cold so I was in a hurry to get this inside.)

I hit it with just a little more of the finer Himalayan salt as it rested and the flavor was off the charts. 

Chick-fil-A - "I never slaw such a thing"

Trevor and I went to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl for the FSU-Houston game on New Year's Eve. 

Well aren't you Ms Sally Killjoy?

Moo.

Kick off! 

That very day, Chick-fil-A had some good news and bad news for fans of their coleslaw.  The bad news is that they are taking slaw off of their menu as of 01/18/2016 to make room for lighter fare.  The good news is that they are releasing their slaw recipe before pulling it from their line up.  Here's the recipe courtesy of Chick-fil-A.  

[FTC Disclaimer]  Grill Dome is our official kamado sponsor.  We have no affiliation with Chick-fil-A, Galenta Garlic, or any other brand mentioned.