Tomahawk Steak - Prize Winner

It's been a week since the conclusion of the 13th Annual Day of Meat, and to think about continuing through the remaining cuts of the Year of Meat, well, it felt a little anti-climactic.  With only 13 cuts to go (now 12), the light is at the end of the tunnel.  But with Day of Meat being such a huge night, moving past it sort of feels like a letdown.  Really?  No.  Not when Paulina Market publishes a contest for one of my remaining 13 cuts!  A contest?  You got it.

One of my remaining cuts was the Tomahawk Steak, a double cut Frenched bone Rib Eye that hearkens Fred Flintstone at a drive-in restaurant.  I had fun ordering it, asking for the biggest one they had.  I figured "go big, or go home", right?  So, what about the contest, right?  Well, Paulina is giving all its customers the opportunity to win Tomahawk Steaks for a year (one per month).  Let there be no mystery, I would LOVE to win this contest.  So what do you have to do to win?  Simple.  Cook a Paulina Market Tomahawk steak, take a picture of it (as creative as you want), and submit it.  Well, when you write a blog about every cut at Paulina, take a picture of it, and copy them on it, you can venture a guess that I planned to make this submission.  And here it is.

First, to the preparation. The first thing I did was prepare a Manhattan.  That has nothing to do with the preparation, but it set the stage for me, as it is a favorite drink of mine pre-dinner before a good steak.  Speaking of the steak, since the Tomahawk is just a good old bone-in Rib Eye, I turned to simple Kosher Salt and Cracked Black Pepper as my rub.  Nothing to detract from the deliciousness of the steak.  I had the Big Green Egg fired up hot (up over 600 degrees), and cooked it about five minutes per side.  Because of its thickness, I used a meat thermometer to ensure medium rare cooking and pulled it at 125 degrees internal temperature.  In hindsight, I probably could have gone to 130, but I'd much prefer a little under than a little over.  From past steak preparations, it wasn't hard to decide on sides.  My wife put together skillet potatoes, and we jointly prepared a water cress, radishes and blue cheese with shallot champagne vinaigrette.

We served the dinner with a 2004 bottle of Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon, and enjoyed every bite, every drop.  No matter whether or not we "win" the Paulina Tomahawk Contest, I will say that we did win the real Paulina Tomahawk prize, and that was a delicious meal with a desire for more!  As for the picture, we thought we'd simply display our food before we ate it, but in a way that should resonate with anyone who wonders where they should buy their meat.  The answer is simple.

49 down, 12 to go!