How to Cook a Tomahawk Steak at Home: Reverse Sear, Barbecue and Core Temperatures

What you are cooking, and what to ask for in Spain

A tomahawk is a chuletón, a thick bone-in rib steak from the lomo alto, the joint a British butcher calls rib of beef or fore rib (US: prime rib), with the long rib bone left on. Spanish butchers use the English word. If it draws a blank, ask for un chuletón de lomo alto con el hueso de la costilla entero.

It is too thick for a quick fry: the outside burns before the centre warms. Reverse searing swaps the usual order. Gentle heat comes first and cooks the steak evenly from edge to edge; the sear comes last and only builds the crust. It works in the oven or on a barbecue (US: grill).

Reverse sear in the oven, step by step

1. An hour ahead, or two for the 1.7 kg tomahawk, take the steak out of the fridge, unwrap it, pat it dry with kitchen paper (US: paper towels) and salt it generously all over with coarse salt, sal gruesa. The timing is explained in when to salt steak.
2. Heat the oven to 110–120 °C (230–250 °F) on the conventional setting (calor arriba y abajo on Spanish ovens). A fan oven cooks faster, so check sooner. Set the steak on a wire rack over a roasting tray (US: roasting pan), diagonally if the bone does not fit.
3. Check the core with a meat thermometer, in the thickest part and clear of the bone, from the 30-minute mark. Take the steak out about 8 °C (14 °F) short of your target.
4. Rest it for ten minutes while a heavy frying pan (US: skillet) or a plancha heats on the hob (US: stovetop) with a thin film of oil, until the oil starts to smoke.
5. Sear the fat edge first, then each side for a minute or two, with the bone hanging over the edge of the pan. In the last minute, add a knob of butter and a crushed garlic clove and spoon the butter over the meat.
6. Carve after a few minutes: cut the meat off the bone in one piece, then slice it across the grain into thick strips. Season with pepper and flaky salt, sal en escamas, at this point.

Oven and barbecue temperatures at a glance

Searing first is quicker but leaves a wider band of grey, overcooked meat under the crust. For the salt crust, bury the steak completely in its own weight of coarse salt.

On the barbecue

Build a two-zone fire and wait for the coals to turn white, as in how to light a charcoal barbecue; a gas barbecue with one burner off also works. Cook the tomahawk on the cool side, lid down, to the pre-sear temperature in the table below, then move it over the coals for the crust, fat edge included. A strip of foil wrapped round the bone stops it charring.

To sear first instead, as for a chuletón on the barbecue, stand the steak on its fat edge over the hot zone for two or three minutes, give it three minutes a side, then move it to the gentle side for 12–16 minutes with the lid on. Take it off at 52 °C (126 °F) for medium-rare.

Core temperatures and resting

The sear and the rest add the last few degrees. The full scale is in our doneness guide.

After a reverse sear, a few minutes before carving is enough. After a sear-first barbecue, rest the 1 kg tomahawk for 8–10 minutes and the 1.7 kg one for up to 15, under loose foil. The reason is in resting meat.