Tomahawk Steak: The Complete Butcher's Guide to Buying & Cooking

There's no steak in the butcher case that stops people in their tracks quite like a tomahawk. That massive ribeye with a foot-long bone curving out like a handle — it looks like something a caveman would carry to a feast. And that's precisely the point. The tomahawk steak is as much about spectacle as it is about eating.

But here's what I want you to understand after forty years of cutting, selling, and cooking these things: behind the drama, the tomahawk is still a ribeye. One of the greatest cuts of beef that exists. The question isn't whether it tastes good — it does, spectacularly — the question is whether the presentation premium is worth your money, and how to cook something this thick without ruining it.

Let me walk you through everything.

What Is a Tomahawk Steak?

A tomahawk steak is a bone-in ribeye with the entire rib bone left intact and frenched — meaning the meat, fat, and membrane are trimmed away from the bone, leaving it clean and exposed. The result is a thick ribeye steak (typically 2 to 2.5 inches) attached to a rib bone that extends 6 to 12 inches outward.

The name comes from its resemblance to a single-handed axe — a tomahawk. Some butchers call it a "tomahawk chop" or a "bone-in ribeye, frenched." In Australia, you'll hear "tomahawk cutlet." Whatever you call it, it's the same cut: ribs 6 through 12 of the beef rib primal, cut as a single bone-in steak with the bone frenched for presentation.

Tomahawk vs. Cowboy Steak vs. Bone-In Ribeye

People confuse these constantly, so let me clear it up:

• Tomahawk: Full rib bone left intact (6-12 inches), frenched clean. The showpiece.
• Cowboy steak: Bone-in ribeye with a shorter bone (3-5 inches), partially frenched. Same meat, less drama.
• Bone-in ribeye: Standard cut with the bone trimmed close to the meat. No frenching. The practical option.
• Boneless ribeye: Just the meat. Maximum yield per dollar.

Here's the thing most people don't realize: the meat is identical across all four cuts. You're eating the same longissimus dorsi, spinalis dorsi (the cap), and complexus muscles regardless. The only difference is how much bone is attached and how it's trimmed. A cowboy steak and a tomahawk from the same rib taste exactly the same.

The Anatomy of a Tomahawk

Understanding the muscles in your tomahawk helps you cook it better:

• The Eye (longissimus dorsi): The large, central muscle. Moderately tender with good marbling. This is the bulk of what you're eating.
• The Cap (spinalis dorsi): The crescent-shaped muscle that wraps around the outside of the eye. This is, in my professional opinion, the single best-tasting piece of beef on the entire animal. Intensely marbled, buttery, and rich. On a thick tomahawk, the cap is substantial — savor it.
• The Complexus: A smaller muscle between the eye and the bone. Not always present depending on which rib the steak is cut from. Tender and well-marbled when it's there.
• The Lip: A thin strip of meat on the outside edge, separated from the eye by a seam of fat. Some butchers trim it off; others leave it. It's chewier but flavorful.

The fat seams between these muscles are part of what makes ribeye extraordinary. During cooking, that internal fat renders and bastes the surrounding meat from within. No other steak self-bastes quite like a ribeye.

Is the Bone Worth the Money?

Let's talk honestly about economics. When you buy a tomahawk, you're paying per pound — and that bone weighs something. A 2.5-pound tomahawk might have 8-12 ounces of bone. At $35/lb for USDA Prime, that's $17-$26 of your purchase price going to bone.

So is it worth it? Here's my honest breakdown:

Arguments for the bone:

• Presentation. Nothing else in the meat case comes close. For a dinner party, date night, or Father's Day, the visual impact is real.
• Insulation. The bone acts as a heat shield during cooking, creating a gradient of doneness. Meat near the bone stays rarer, which many people prefer.
• Flavor perception. While the scientific evidence that bone adds flavor during a standard steak cook is thin (bone is a poor conductor of heat), many experienced cooks swear by bone-in. I'm not going to argue with forty years of observation.
• The handle. Seriously — picking up a tomahawk by the bone and eating it like a medieval king is an experience. Don't pretend you're above it.

Arguments against:

• Cost. You're paying steak prices for bone weight. A boneless ribeye gives you more meat per dollar.
• Cooking difficulty. The extreme thickness (2+ inches) makes even cooking harder than a standard 1.5-inch steak.
• Grill space. That bone takes up real estate on your grill grate.

My take: For everyday eating, buy boneless ribeyes. For special occasions where presentation matters, the tomahawk earns its premium. Buy it for what it is — theater plus an excellent ribeye — and you'll never be disappointed.

How to Buy a Tomahawk Steak

Grade Matters — A Lot

Because you're investing significant money in a tomahawk, don't cheap out on grade. The marbling difference between Choice and Prime is most dramatic in the rib primal. A Prime tomahawk has visible white flecks throughout the eye and an almost obscenely marbled cap. A Select tomahawk — if such a sad thing exists — would be a waste of the bone.

Minimum recommendation: Upper Choice (Certified Angus Beef or equivalent). Ideal: USDA Prime or American Wagyu.

Thickness

A proper tomahawk should be cut at least 2 inches thick. Thinner than that and you lose the dramatic height that makes the cut special, plus it becomes much harder to achieve a good crust without overcooking the interior. Most quality butcher shops cut them 2 to 2.5 inches.

Weight

Expect 2 to 3.5 pounds per steak, including bone. A 2.5-pound tomahawk will feed two people generously or three people with sides. Don't plan on one tomahawk per person unless your guests are competitive eaters.

What to Look For

• Even marbling throughout the eye — not just around the edges
• A substantial cap (spinalis) — this is the prize within the prize
• Clean frenching — the bone should be scraped clean with no dangling meat or membrane
• Deep red color with bright white fat (yellow fat indicates grass-finishing, which is fine but different)
• No excessive external fat — some fat cap is good, but more than 1/4 inch should be trimmed before cooking

How to Cook a Tomahawk Steak

The thickness of a tomahawk is both its glory and its challenge. A 2.5-inch steak cooked entirely over direct high heat will be charcoal on the outside and raw in the center. You need a two-zone approach.

Method 1: The Reverse Sear (My Recommendation)

The reverse sear is the best method for thick steaks, period. You cook low first (to bring the interior up to temperature evenly), then sear hot at the end (for crust). It produces the most uniform edge-to-edge doneness with a beautiful crust.

What you need:

• An oven or indirect grill zone
• A screaming-hot cast iron skillet, or direct flame on a grill
• An instant-read meat thermometer (non-negotiable)
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Step by step:

1. Season aggressively. Salt the tomahawk heavily with kosher salt at least 1 hour before cooking — ideally overnight, uncovered in the refrigerator. This dry-brine method draws moisture to the surface, dissolves the salt, and reabsorbs it into the meat. The surface also dries out, which means a better sear later. Add pepper right before cooking.
2. Low and slow phase. Place the tomahawk on a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Cook in a 225°F oven (or on the cool side of a grill) until the internal temperature reaches 115-120°F for medium-rare. This takes 45-75 minutes depending on thickness and your oven. Use your thermometer — time is an unreliable guide with steaks this thick.
3. Rest briefly. Pull the steak and let it rest for 5-10 minutes while you heat your searing surface. With reverse sear, you don't need a long rest because the gentle cooking has already distributed heat evenly.
4. Sear hard. Get a cast iron skillet (or grill grate) as hot as you possibly can. Add a high smoke-point oil (avocado oil is ideal). Sear the steak for 60-90 seconds per side. If you have a torch, hit the edges and the cap area. You're building a Maillard crust — that deep, brown, caramelized exterior that provides crunch and flavor contrast to the pink interior.
5. Optional: baste. In the last 30 seconds, add a tablespoon of butter, a crushed garlic clove, and a sprig of thyme or rosemary to the skillet. Tilt the pan and spoon the foaming butter over the steak. This adds a layer of aromatic richness.
6. Check temperature. Your target is 130-135°F for medium-rare after the sear. The sear adds about 10-15 degrees, which is why you pull from the oven at 115-120°F.

Method 2: Grill with Two Zones

Set up your grill with a hot direct zone and a cooler indirect zone. Start the tomahawk over indirect heat with the lid closed (essentially using the grill as an oven). When the internal temp hits 115-120°F, move it over direct heat for a hard sear on both sides. Same principle as reverse sear, just outdoors with smoke flavor.

Pro tip: Position the bone toward the cooler zone during the sear. The bone-side meat cooks more slowly, and this orientation keeps things even.

Method 3: Sous Vide + Sear

For absolute precision, sous vide is hard to beat. Vacuum-seal the seasoned tomahawk, cook at 131°F for 2-3 hours, then pat dry and sear in a ripping-hot cast iron or over live coals. The result is edge-to-edge perfection, but you trade some of the rustic charm of the reverse sear for clinical accuracy.

Temperature Guide

Doneness	Pull Temp (Reverse Sear)	Final Temp After Sear	Color
Rare	105°F	120-125°F	Cool red center
Medium-rare	115°F	130-135°F	Warm pink throughout
Medium	125°F	140-145°F	Hot pink center
Medium-well	135°F	150-155°F	Slight pink
Well-done	Please don't	160°F+	Gray throughout

My strong recommendation: medium-rare. At 130-135°F, the intramuscular fat in a Prime ribeye is fully rendered but the proteins haven't tightened enough to squeeze out moisture. This is the sweet spot where marbling does its best work.

How to Slice and Serve

A tomahawk is too thick to eat like a normal steak. Here's how to handle it:

1. Cut the meat off the bone. Run your knife along the bone to separate the entire steak in one piece. Set the bone aside (it makes an excellent presentation element on the serving board, and you can gnaw on it later — no judgment).
2. Slice against the grain. Cut the boneless ribeye into 1/2-inch slices perpendicular to the muscle fibers. This is how steakhouses serve tomahawks — sliced and fanned on a board or platter.
3. Separate the cap. If you want to be a hero, identify the fat seam between the eye and the spinalis cap, separate them, and slice each independently. Announce to the table that the cap slices are the best bites of beef on the planet. You won't be wrong.

Finishing touches: A sprinkle of flaky finishing salt (Maldon is the gold standard) right before serving. The crunch of salt crystals against the tender beef is a textural revelation.

Common Mistakes

1. Cooking Over All High Heat

The number one mistake. A 2.5-inch steak over high heat the entire time will be scorched outside and raw inside. Two-zone cooking isn't optional at this thickness — it's required.

2. Not Using a Thermometer

You cannot eyeball the doneness of a steak this thick. The difference between perfect medium-rare and overdone medium is 10 degrees. Buy a $15 instant-read thermometer and use it. This is not negotiable.

3. Skipping the Dry Brine

Salting a thick steak right before cooking means the salt sits on the surface. Salting 1-24 hours ahead allows it to penetrate deeply and season the entire steak, not just the crust.

4. Cutting Too Soon

With reverse sear, resting time is minimal (5 minutes is enough). But if you skip the rest entirely and cut immediately after searing, juices pool on the board instead of redistributing through the meat.

5. Overcrowding the Bone

That long bone needs to go somewhere. Don't try to cram it into a skillet that's too small — the steak won't make full contact with the cooking surface. Use the biggest pan you have, or sear on a grill where space isn't an issue.

What to Serve with Tomahawk

The tomahawk is the star. Sides should support, not compete:

• Roasted bone marrow — because if you're already going primal, commit
• Creamed spinach — the classic steakhouse companion
• Baked potato with compound butter — simple, satisfying, correct
• Grilled asparagus or broccolini — something green to balance the richness
• A bold red wine — Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, or a Barolo if you're feeling Italian

Where to Buy Quality Tomahawk Steaks

Your best options, ranked:

1. A quality local butcher shop. They can cut to your exact thickness and hand-select for marbling. Tell them you want it frenched from the rib primal, 2-2.5 inches thick, USDA Prime if available.
2. Online specialty retailers. The Meatery ships USDA Prime and American Wagyu tomahawks with full marbling selection. When you can't find Prime locally, online is often the better option.
3. Costco. Their Prime program is legitimate. Availability varies by location, but when they have Prime tomahawks, the price-to-quality ratio is excellent.
4. Grocery store butcher counter. Ask them to cut one fresh from the rib roast. Most stores have the capability; they just don't stock them pre-cut because they're a specialty item.

The Bottom Line

A tomahawk steak is a ribeye that refuses to be ordinary. It's the same magnificent cut — the same rich marbling, the same buttery cap, the same deep beefy flavor — dressed up with a dramatic bone that turns dinner into an event. Is it practical? Not especially. Is it the most efficient way to buy a ribeye? Definitely not. But cooking has never been purely about efficiency.

When you want to celebrate, when you want to impress, when you want to stand at the grill holding something that makes you feel like you've conquered the wilderness — the tomahawk delivers. Just cook it right: reverse sear, use a thermometer, and for the love of everything, don't go past medium-rare.

Your butcher, your guests, and your taste buds will thank you.