Hello,
It's been a while since I posted any cooking blogs and I'd like to cook something majestic today to celebrate the achievements of the past several months including my body transformation progress - I lost 25 lb in the past 5 weeks. I've been thinking of something that would match and celebrate my nutrition plan and at the same time would be a real treat. The choice was made and today I am going to cook a tomahawk steak - the king of steaks in my opinion! It's beautiful and nutritious - it has lots of good dietary fat and protein in it - and it has only trace amounts of carbs if any. In order to make sure that no carbs are added we are going to grill it and we won't use any BBQ sauces. I'll present the nutritional values after the work is done in the Health Kitchen section of Dr.Sam's Health.
Cooking a steak is always an interesting endeavor and there are quite a few steps to follow if you want to do it really well:
Step 1: Get a great steak
If you want just to have a piece of meat, anything would do, but if you want to treat yourself you need something special. The tomahawk I've got is coming from one of Ontarian farms. I've got it from a local butcher's stores (La Boucherie) of St.Lawrence Market, which is truly a historical place and a great tourist attraction. The butcher, Spiro, cut it specially for me as he is a very nice guy and I happen to be their patron. We can definitely say that this steak is fantastic and our step 1 is a success!
Step 2: Let the steak rest at room temperature
It's very important not to rush events when you cook. Make sure that that you thaw the steak if it was frozen, preferably in the fridge, and then take it out and let it sit at the room temperature for at least 30 min. The meat must not be cold when you start cooking, otherwise the result might be quite uneven with meat being overcooked outside and undercooked inside.
Step 3: Pat it dry
Another trick that allows for better cooking quality - if your meat is moist, the water will evaporate and will create a barrier for heat to get to the meats surface. When we're grilling a steak, we want to have the Maillard reaction to happen in order to have an excellent surface looks and taste.
Step 4: Season it well
That's an easy and obvious one - simply drizzle some olive oil over it and season it with your favorite steak spices - salt and pepper, maybe some Montreal steak spice. I will use the spice mix that Spiro gave me. I don't know what exactly they put in it, but it tastes amazing!
Step 5: Precook it in the oven
This one is a bit controversial. To be honest, I prefer not doing anything like that - normally I just use the grill or fry my steaks. This one is an exception and the reason for it is the steak's thickness - it's almost 2 inches thick and I find it to be extremely difficult to make sure that its cooked to your liking, even if it's medium-rare while not overcooking the outer areas. I'm using a very simple charcoal grill, so I don't have much control over the temperature inside the grill, therefore the surest solution in this case is to either pre-cook it in the oven or to use sous-vide machine. I'm not a big fan of sous-vide and, accordingly, I don't have it, but in this case it would be of help. In any case, my only option now is my good old oven. I will preheat the oven to a relative low temperature - 250°F (120°C) and I will use a meat thermometer to make sure that I take my steak out of the oven when the internal temperature reaches 128°F (53°C), which would be just perfect for a medium-rare steak.
Step 6: Sear the steak
Now, when our meat is pre-cooked and the optimal internal temperature was reached, all we have to do is to put it on a grill for several minutes on each side to sear it and to make it look, taste and smell as good as it's possible! I prefer to use charcoal grill as it gives the meat its unique genuine flavor and smell.
Step 7: Let it rest
It's been a very tiring day for this steak - it was seasoned, changed its temperature multiple times, it was cooked in the oven and grilled - so let it rest a bit, just several minutes to let the heat inside the meat condition it further - to perfection!
Step 8: Cut, serve, and enjoy
That might be the best moment - after an hour or so of handling this wonderful steak, setting up the oven and the grill, smelling the grill smoke and anticipation of this delicious meal we can finally take a bite (many bites!) and enjoy this fantastic treat!
Here is the nutritional information for the steak that I cooked, it might differ from steak to steak depending on size and fat percentage:
The uncooked steak with the bone weighed 1400 g (1200 g without). I ended up having a nice 1200 g of beef, which yielded approximately 900 g of grilled steak. I could only find the nutritional values for a ribeye steak, and they should be close to tomahawk: per 100 g of grilled steak we have 291 calories, 22 g of fat, 24 grams of protein and zero carbs. Thus, the steak that I cooked had approximately 2600 calories, 200 g of fat, and 220 g of protein, again, zero carbs which is great for low-carb or keto-dieters. Given the sheer size of this steak and 2600 calories, I would recommend sharing it with someone - in the end of the day it's a very nice treat!
I hope you enjoyed my steak story - I surely did and I'm looking forward to new culinary experiences. If you are interested in any specific meal, let me know - I'll be happy to check its nutritional value and to cook it with you!
Sincerely Yours,
Dr.Sam