How to Cook the Perfect Tomahawk Ribeye With a Smoker and Pizza Oven

August 22, 2022 | JIM SERPICO

In the latest podcast episode of Bread For the People, I sat down with Malcom Reed, founder of the HotToBBQRight YouTube Channel. Malcom travels the United States competing in over 20 competition barbecue and World Steak Cookoff contests each year as a member of the Killer Hogs barbecue team.

I’m an amateur slow cooker and proud owner of a Weber Smokey Mountain 18” Charcoal Smoker. I also have a Gozney Roccbox pizza oven in my backyard. With Malcolm sitting across from me, I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to ask him for advice on how to use the tools I have access to and modify the cooking process for one of his most popular YouTube videos, how to grill a Tomahawk Rib Eye steak.

I want to see if you’re willing to help me out. I want to smoke Tomahawk Ribeye steak here at my house, but I don’t have the exact tools you have in your video. However, I think I have some tools that might make it work. You tell me if I’m onto something.

I’ve got the Weber Smoky Mountain. I’ve got a gas barbecue and a Gosney Roccbox pizza oven, which burns between eight hundred and nine hundred degrees. So I’m wondering if I should first start by placing the Tomahawk steak in a cast iron skillet and launch it into the pizza oven. Does that make sense to you?

What I would do first would do is put it on that Smoky Mountain first. Let’s do a reverse seer with it. You’re gonna put your meat thermometer in the middle of it. Take your seasoning and season it however you’d like, just like any stake. If you want to put a little barbecue rub, you could, but all you need is salt, pepper, and garlic. Salt. Pepper and Garlic is your friend here.

Take the Tomahawk to about a 112-115 internal temperature on your Smokey Mountain. If it’s running at about 250 degrees, that’s probably only gonna be thirty minutes. It’s not gonna be very long. The timing also depends on how thick that Tomahawk is. But if it’s two inches thick, you’re looking at about 20-30 minutes. But just watch your internal temperature. You don’t want to overcook it here. You want to get it to where it’s under rare. I

Take it off, and then crank your heat up in the pizza oven. I mean, you’re gonna get a sear here on it in a matter of seconds. Take that thermometer out, you’re gonna stick it in the oven, sear it on one side. You’re gonna bring it out, base it really well with some butter or whatever you have. Flip it back over, stick it back in, and do the other side, bring it out, and check it. You want to make sure it’s about one thirty internal, but it’s gonna get there pretty quick once you start cooking with eight hundred degrees.

I’ve done this before. I had a little single grill, kind of like a salamander-type grill that you could use in your backyard and it did a phenomenal job. We would always reverse sear them, get some of that smoke going. You really get that good flavor in the meat and then you want to get that awesome crust on the outside. It’s really easy to do.

All right, that’s one of the next ones up for me in the backyard. Thanks for the advice. I’ll let you know how it goes.

You can find more from Malcom by subscribing to his  YouTube Channel.