A juicy steak is often a popular Father's Day treat. What's more, with supermarket giant Lidl bringing back last year's sell-out Tomahawk steak in readiness for the weekend, now is the ideal time to try one, for significantly less than it would cost in a restaurant.
I would say of my friends I'm someone who cooks steak fairly often, topping salads with it and pairing it with just about every dish. So I didn't think it was something that would ever intimidate me.
That is until I got my hands on the Dry Aged Tomahawk Steak, which was so big it was a struggle to get it into my fridge. Bone aside the hunk of meat was bigger than my head. I decided to see if I was up to the task, even if it scared me a little.
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I don't know why but I wasn't expecting it to be as bloody as it was, every single time I touched it in the prepping stages my hands came back with blood all over them. I'd recommend a pair of gloves for those who get queasy easily.
While you could starting cooking this straight away, I always season my food so I got together a mix of white pepper, salt and garlic powder to help form a flavourful crust on the meat. I didn't anticipate just how much of the rub I'd need and had to top it up twice.
Then following the guidelines on the box I seared each side of the steak for two minutes in a hot pan with some oil in it, my preferred cooking oil is standard olive oil but you can use whatever you prefer. This step was fairly easy but it did produce a lot of smoke so I'd recommend opening up any window you have.
Then it was a case of getting the steak over into a roasting dish, it's heavier than it looks and moving it with tongs was a little tricky. I then wrapped the end of the bone in tin foil to prevent it from burning. I was aiming for medium rare so I put it in the oven for about 28 minutes but based on how bloody it was I think longer would've been a good idea.
I had to rest it for at least ten minutes before I sliced into it and once I did, I was really impressed with my own cooking. For a first attempt I think it went really well and there's so much meat that I think it could probably feed more than just the four it suggests on the box.
The meat was tender and juicy, I had it as a sandwich with Truffle Mayonnaise but I could see it working with a huge range of sides. You can get the Deluxe Dry-Aged British Beef Tomahawk Steak in store at Lidl with it costing £17.99 per kilogram.
Tomahawk steaks are also available from M&S via Ocado, as are the similar Cowboy Steaks which features a smaller bone making it easier to handle. They also have Hawksmoor steaks available to cook at home.
