Learning about various steak cuts can indeed be confusing -- filet mignon, NY strip steak, ribeye steak, flank steak, cube steak, etc.. They're all steak, but they're all a different cut of steak coming from a different part of the animal. Things get more confusing when you find out that one single cut can be referred to, regionally or butcher shop to butcher shop, by more than one name. Which brings me to one of my favorites: the cowboy steak. Long story short, the delectable cowboy steak is essentially a bone-in ribeye steak, also known as a tomahawk steak.
Cowboy steaks are huge steaks that resemble a single-handled fireman's ax -- easily enough to feed two people. They are about 18-20 total inches long, 2-2 1/2 inches thick, and, weigh approximately 30-40 ounces each. Why so long? The rib bone, which they trim to expose the bone is left long for a powerful and pricey presentation. A cowboy steak is always 2-2 1/2 inches thick because that's how thick the rib bone is. This is one show-stopper of an impressive steak.
What part of the cow does the cowboy steak come from?
The ribeye comes from the beef rib primal cut. The ribeye steak is cut from the corresponding roast, the prime rib, which means this steak is sold two ways: boneless and bone-in. That said, it's worth mentioning, the bone left in a ribeye makes it a bit trickier for the novice wanna-be grillmaster to cook because the meat farther away from the bone will cook faster than the meat closer to the bone (which cooks slower).
The difference between a cowboy steak & a tomahawk steak:
A cowboy steak is a bone-in ribeye that has been frenched (a fancy french word meaning to strip the meat from the bone of a rib or a chop to cleanly expose the bone). If the bone is bone is less than 5 inches, it is a cowboy steak, If it exceeds 5 inches it's a tomahawk.
To perfectly cook a cowboy steak try the reverse sear method:
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2023)
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