Tomahawk Ribeye Steak with Spinach and Goat Cheese Orzo

FTC Standard Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the Certified Angus Beef® Brand in conjunction with a social media campaign through Sunday Supper LLC.  All opinions are my own.

I was excited as a kid at Christmas when my Food City  (Morrell Road) started selling Certified Angus Beef® Brand tomahawk ribeye steaks this past Summer.  

Tomahawk ribeyes are those fancy steaks with a brontosaurus-sized Fred Flintstone bone sticking out of them.  They usually show up on the menu as a "steak for two" because they are often 40-50 ounces each.  They also typically sport a price tag of over $100 at a steakhouse. But I bought this 3+ pound tomahawk for under $40 at Food City.

What is a tomahawk steak and how does it relate to a regular ribeye?  

• It's the same meat, just presented differently. 
• If you cut the rib bone down to where the steak meat ends, it would be a "bone-in" ribeye.  
• If you "french" that bone so it is exposed, it's a cowboy ribeye steak.  
• Cut the bone off altogether and it's the classic ribeye steak.  
• Typically, the cowboy and tomahawks are much thicker than your typical ribeye steak.

Because they are so thick, tomahawk steaks are a prime candidate for either a sear/roast, sous-vide, or reverse sear methods.  I chose to use the reverse sear method on a kamado grill.  Shocker, right?

Tomahawk Ribeye Steak with Spinach Orzo

Ingredients

• 40-50 ounce Certified Angus Beef® Brand tomahawk ribeye
• 1/4 cup NMT Beef Rub v.2 or other beef seasoning
• 2 teaspoons peanut, avocado, or other type of high temperature cooking oil

Chorizo and Poblano-Pimento Cheese Fritters

This is a recipe that we shared at our griddle class at Mannix Pools and Grills last month and it was a big hit. It is a crispy golden fritter that has homemade poblano-pimento cheese and minced chorizo with red pepper jelly sauce.

We got the idea from K Town Tavern here in Knoxville.  See, who says Happy Hour can't be productive?  We were there having drinks and appetizers and tried out their Big Orange Ham and Jam Fritters.  They have chopped country ham, pimento cheese, and panko breadcrumbs.

Big Orange Ham and Jam Fritters at K Town Tavern in Knoxville.

They were the best thing we ate that night and before we left, we were already scheming about how we would make ours.

• We use cured chorizo to boost the flavor of the pork.
• For our homemade pimento cheese, we use fire roasted poblano, not just pimento.
• Instead of deep frying, we flatten our fritters into medallions so that they cook better on a griddle or skillet.
• To take our red pepper jelly sauce to the next level, we use Albukirky's Red Pepper Jelly.

Chorizo and Poblano Pimento Cheese Fritters

Yield: 18-20 fritters

Hand Shaken Grilled Lemonade

Is there anything better than fresh lemonade on a warm Summer day? 

Steamboat Sandwiches, a local place that we go for lunch, makes THE BEST lemonade. They make it fresh.  I don't mean that they make it fresh each day.  They make it to order and shake it by hand.  

Steamboat Sandwiches decorated the exposed brick wall with ancient black and white pictures of buildings in Knoxville from years gone by.

Skillet Mac and Cheese on a Big Green Egg

This is just a quick post because several people asked for Alexis' Skillet Mac and Cheese recipe for kamado grills, such as; Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe, or Primo.  Any good grill would really work but the ceramic kamado grills are like a coal-fired oven, gracing the creamy mac and cheese with a golden crisp crust.  

This is one dish where I absolutely don't have a problem using Velveeta. We use other cheeses too.  But for my baked mac and cheese, something about it's "processed cheesefoodishness" is just fitting. For the other cheeses, you can use whatever you like.  We find that mozzarella or Oaxaca cheese make for a great gooey cheese.  A sharp cheddar gives a bold taste of cheese.  

For baking, it is important to have a clean burning fire.  The cheese sauce will soak up off tastes from the smoldering of poorly burning coals and you don't want that....no one wants that.  You need good airflow so remember to use your Kick Ash Basket to shake off that ash from any coals you are reusing.  We've bought them for every kamado grill that we have.

Alexis' Skillet Mac and Cheese

servings:  8-10

Budget Grilling: Chuck Eye Steaks

FTC Standard Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the Certified Angus Beef® Brand in conjunction with a social media campaign through Sunday Supper LLC.  All opinions are my own.

Chuck eye steaks are easy on the wallet and fantastic on the grill.

We learned a bit about chuck eye steaks when we attended the Chef Summit at the Certified Angus Beef® Brand's Culinary Center.  The main part of the chuck eye steak is a muscle called the longissimus dorsi.  That probably doesn't sound familiar unless you're a meat geek like me.  But the longissimus is the muscle that puts the "eye" in ribeye steak.  

As the name implies blatantly screams, the chuck eye comes from the chuck primal and is immediately next to the ribeye at the 5th and 6th rib bones.  Sharing the same muscle groups and coming from the "same neighborhood," it shouldn't be surprising that the chuck eye steaks have similar marbling, taste, and texture as a ribeye steak.  

What the chuck eye steak doesn't share with ribeye steaks is the price tag.  I bought these Certified Angus Beef® Brand chuck eye steaks at our Food City in Knoxville and they were $2 less per pound than the ribeye steaks.

I seasoned them with Obie-Cue's Steakmaker Seasoning and let them rest for an hour to dry-brine.  It is your basic steak seasoning profile with the usual suspects - salt, pepper, garlic, and onion but it has a moderately strong Worcestershire flavor to it.  You could also use the Classic Steak Rub from this chuck eye steak recipe.

Next, I grilled them over high heat for 4 minutes per side. As you can see, the eyes aren't as defined

Product Review: NEW Big Green Egg Modular Nest Systems

[FTC Standard Disclaimer]  I received no compensation for this review.

I have needed a new table for my oldest Egg for a while.  My old table was 10 years old.  It was so worn out and wobbly that it was practically unsafe to move by myself. 

As soon as I read about the new Big Green Egg Modular Nest Systems, The features and design of this new expandable modular table had me sold instantly.  I called Mannix Pools and Grills in Winter Haven, FL and ordered a set.  

I finally got to pick my table up this weekend when we were at Mannix Pools and Grills to teach a grilling glass.  

Assembly

Putting the nest together was relatively easy.  On a "swearing scale" I would give it a 1 out of 5 swear words (an excellent rating, the fewer swear words, the better).

Since this is modular, the individual packages were manageable to move by oneself.

Product Review: Humphrey's Battle Box - Wounded Warrior version

Disclaimer- I/we are not affiliated with Humphrey’s in any way, we received no compensation for this review and I paid full retail price for this unit.

This is a follow up to our unboxing post about the Humphrey's Battle Box - Wounded Warrior version.  My neighbor and BBQ teammate, John Makela, shares his thoughts on his smoker after using it for several weeks.

Fresh out of the crate, now we need to cook something

This whole story starts last year right after Chris took delivery of his new smoker, the Deep South CG36 (aka Big Red). As he says in that review we were just hoping that it would put out food equal to our kamado grills.  It was better than the kamados, it blew me away.  I knew right then I was going to step up with the big boys and get me a very high-end smoker.  I wanted something smaller, something I wouldn’t feel guilty if I just thew one pork butt on but could cook for a decent sized party if needed.  My search was on.

I looked at a lot of brands, read a lot of forum pages and made my spreadsheets to analyze everything.  The other finalist last year in Chris’ search was Humphrey’s, that didn’t automatically make them my choice, the spreadsheet had a lot to say about it too.  Well, Humphrey's came out on top and they had just created the wounded warrior color scheme of their Battle Box where they give 10% of all sales to the Wounded Warrior organization and I loved the color scheme; two birds, one stone.

Humphrey’s BBQ Inc. is based out of Limerick Maine and owned by Chad and Nicole Humphrey, two of the nicest folks you will ever deal with.  They started years ago repairing all brands of smokers from backyard to commercial until they finally said let’s make our own.  So they took all the lessons they learned working on other smokers and applied it to their line.  Customer service is top notch.

Chris posted the unboxing of this smoker back in his April posts so be sure to check that out for a lot more pictures.

Features:

• Insulated, reverse flow box smoker.
• Welded Tubular sub-frame (think roll cage of race car)
• 1200 degree nonflammable insulation.  Moisture resistant, fungi resistant, high K value and military certified
• 3 slide out cooking racks, Stainless Steel.  14.75” x 22”  Holds full-size hotel pan
• Stainless Steel 4” water pan (mine is the slide-out version, $100 option)
• Commercial grade style latches, they call them slam latches, they work great.
• Tel-Tru thermometer
• 2 probe Ports (standard on my unit optional on most)
• 8” No Flat wheels (standard on my unit optional on most)
• Outer Dimensions 24”w x29”d x 43”h, 325 lbs, its heavy
• Cooking Chamber dimensions 15.25”w x 22.5d x 18”h
• 10-12 lbs charcoal capacity with run times up to 12 hours, I’m finding longer.

Charcoal box, which is located behind the lower door.  This was after a 5-hour cook at 290, I think I’d be good for 10 more hours or so.  Shown with optional snake T dividers which makes the fire burn in a snake pattern.