We found thick dry-aged tomahawk steak of one and a half kilos in our fridge that fitted exactly in our smoker. What a coincidence.
We smoked it low and slow together with a bulb of garlic and bone marrow to make a tasty bone marrow butter.
We salt the steak first. That salt will draw surface moisture from the meat and then be absorbed with that moisture. There, the salt will flavour the steak from within.
Salting is done at least 45 minutes in advance and a few hours or overnight if you have the time. You don’t have to worry about the meat getting dry. That is because it only draws the moisture of the first few millimetres of the meat. In the end, you want that to be dry because a dry surface ensures a better crust.
You could make a tomahawk steak even more beautiful by cleaning the bone. That is called a frenched tomahawk steak. We’re not going to do that now. There is quite a nice piece of meat on that bone, and because we are going to smoke the steak at a low temperature, that meat will not become too dry.
Together with the tomahawk steak, we put a whole bulb of garlic and bone marrow on the grates to smoke. We’re going to make the bone marrow butter from that later. Bone marrow butter is seasoned butter with an insanely rich taste that perfectly fits this steak.
When the garlic and the bone marrow are soft, we remove them from the grill to make the bone marrow butter. We continue to cook the tomahawk up to 52ºC (126F). We measure this with our digital thermometer.
We take steak from the grill to convert our smoker for grilling when the desired core temperature is reached. The Masterbuilt 800 comes with an extra attachment that allows you to switch between indirect smoking and direct grilling in half a minute.
We pat the tomahawk steak dry with some paper towel because a dry surface ensures faster browning and a better crust. While grilling, we must keep a close eye on the steak to not burn it.
This is our smoked tomahawk steak with bone marrow butter. If you are going to make it, let us know in a comment below. Or better! Take a photo and post it on Instagram. Tag @bbq.heroes so we can see what you made.
Ingredients
- Tomahawk or other fatter steak that’s at least 3 cm thick.
- Coarse sea salt
- Bone marrow butter
Instructions
- Salt the steak at least 45 minutes in advance, sprinkle with salt on both sides, and then put it uncovered in the refrigerator.
- Prepare the smoker with an indirect temperature of about 110-120ºC (230 to 248F).
- Place the bone marrow and garlic on the grates and half an hour later, add the steak. Insert a thermometer into the meat and close the lid.
- Check after about half an hour whether the garlic and the bone marrow are soft. If that is the case, you can remove them from the grill to prepare the butter.
- Let the steak continue to cook until a core temperature of 52ºC (126F). Then take it off the grill.
- Convert the smoker to direct grilling and wait until the grates are piping hot. Grill the steak on both sides until a nice crust has formed.
- Cut the steak into nice slices and serve with the bone marrow butter.