Gordon Ramsay’s tomahawk steak is a 1kg bone-in ribeye, seared in a hot pan then finished in the oven so the thick cut cooks evenly. Start to finish it takes under an hour, plus time to rest and come to room temperature.
His restaurant serves it as a sharing steak. The method follows his Bread Street steak rule: deep colour means flavour, and resting matters as much as cooking. His own tip there, to finish a thick steak in a hot oven, is exactly what this does.
The trick is doing both, not one or the other. The hob gives the crust a deep sear. But a tomahawk is too thick to cook through that way without burning, so the oven finishes the middle gently.
Gordon Ramsay Tomahawk Steak
Course: MainCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium2
20
minutes30
minutes800
kcal1 hr
A 1kg sharing tomahawk from Gordon’s restaurant recipe: seared on the hob, finished in the oven, and rested. Serves two with a deep crust and a pink, juicy middle. About £35 from a butcher.
Ingredients
- For the steak:
1 tomahawk steak, about 1kg (bone-in ribeye)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- To baste (optional, his steak-rule finish):
25g butter
2 garlic cloves, bashed
2-3 thyme sprigs
- To serve:
English mustard
Directions
- Bring it to room temperature: Take the steak out of the fridge 20 minutes before cooking and pat it dry, as a cold steak cooks unevenly. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Season well: Rub the steak all over with the oil, then season generously with salt and pepper on both sides and the fatty edge.
- Sear the crust: Get a large pan smoking hot. Sear the tomahawk until deeply golden, a few minutes each side, holding the fatty edge down too. Add the butter, garlic and thyme and baste for a minute if you like.
- Finish in the oven: Transfer to a baking tray and cook for 24 minutes, turning once after 12, for medium rare.
- Check it: Pull it at 54 to 57°C in the centre, away from the bone. It climbs a few degrees as it rests.
- Rest properly: Rest for 10 minutes, loosely covered. With a steak this size, this is not the step to skip.
- Carve and serve: Slice the meat off the bone, then cut across the grain into thick strips. Serve on a board with English mustard.
FAQs
How do you know when a tomahawk steak is cooked?
Timing charts are unreliable here, because the steak is thick at the eye and thin near the bone. So the safest guide is a probe pushed into the thickest part, not the clock.
For rare, pull it around 50°C; for medium rare, 54 to 57°C; for medium, about 60°C. The bone can read colder than the meat, so never probe right next to it.
Should you reverse sear a tomahawk steak?
Most pages that call this a Ramsay recipe tell you to reverse sear: oven first, then sear. His actual restaurant method is the other way round, a hard sear first, then the oven.
Both get you there, so it is not worth stressing over. Reverse searing gives a more even pink edge to edge, while his sear-first way builds a thicker crust. The same bone-in ribeye is behind his coffee rub steak too.
How much does Gordon Ramsay’s tomahawk steak cost?
At his Gordon Ramsay Steak restaurants the tomahawk is a 38oz monster, and it runs about £225, or $285. It is built for sharing and special occasions, not a quiet Tuesday.
At home it is far cheaper: a 1kg tomahawk from a butcher is around £30 to £45 and feeds two. If you are cooking for one, a New York strip is a fraction of the price.
Can you cook a tomahawk steak on the BBQ?
Yes, and the same logic applies. Sear it over direct high heat to build the crust. Then move it to the cooler side of the barbecue, lid down, to finish through gently.
Use the thermometer exactly the same way and rest it the same. The only real change is swapping the pan and oven for two heat zones on the barbecue.
What do you serve with a tomahawk steak?
Treat it as a centrepiece for two, not a plate each. A big sharing board with the sliced steak in the middle and the sides around it is how his restaurant plates it.
Keep the sides generous: his oven chips and a sharp peppercorn sauce are the classic pairing. His steak au poivre sauce works perfectly poured over the slices.
