Smoked Beef Hammer Recipe on the Meadow Creek BX25 Smoker

In this recipe we’re cooking smoked beef hammer. Never heard of them? It's the meat you'll want to smoke the next time you need to make an awesome—and I mean really awesome—presentation to impress your guests!

Why do we fork over big bucks for tomahawk steaks that are nothing but a thick ribeye steak with a big "bone handle" you can’t eat? Well, the fact is, there's hardly anything more carnivore-like than big beefy bones protruding from a hunk of meat on the serving platter! 

This is what's to love about beef hammers.

They have an awesome presence on the table, much like a tomahawk steak or a beef rib, but are far less common on the smoker. You'll be sure to impress your beef-loving guests when you serve one or more of these at a party or even for a full meal.

What Is Beef Hammer?

Beef hammer, or Thor's Hammer, is a beef shank cut to roughly a foot in length with a portion of the meat trimmed off of the bone to reveal a "handle". 

Beef shank is one of the toughest cuts of beef because the leg muscles are lean and sinewy and they get used all of the time, but if you cook it properly, this cut will be tender and full of that delicious beefy flavor we love so much.

Where Can You Buy Beef Hammer?

Until these get popular enough for grocery stores and meat markets to display them, you'll need to custom order the beef hammer or perhaps trim it up yourself. If you are friends with a butcher, I recommend you start there. If you don't have any connections, you could ask the meat department at your local grocery store, but you'll probably have the most luck at a meat market that does their own butchering. 

I got mine from Holland Bros, a family-owned meat market. I explained what I wanted ahead of time, and they prepared the beef hammers within a few days. They were great to work with and I would recommend you check them out if you are lucky enough to be in the area. (They have a line of snack sticks that are fantastic too!)

You may have noticed that my beef hammers are on the short side. There's no hard and fast rule about the size or proportion of the hammer, but I would have preferred a slightly longer bone and more of the meat saved on the bone because the meat shrinks so much when it's cooking. I believe a bigger hunk of meat would have less tendency to dry out as it cooks. You'll also end up with more meat which is an advantage when you're paying the butcher for custom trimming.

Ordering Suggestions: If you want to specify a size, I would ask for the bone to be at least 12" long, the bottom end of the bone to be cut square, and only 1/3 of the bone to be exposed.

How to Serve a Smoked Beef Hammer

There are a variety of ways to serve beef hammer. You could pull the meat and discard the bone to serve the pulled beef in sandwiches. Another option would be to shred the meat and arrange it around the bone for serving it to maintain it's presentation. If you use this method, you can pour any retained juices over the meat.

Since the presentation is a priority to me, I prefer serving the beef hammer with the bone intact. For this recipe, I chose to serve it as Pitmaster X does in the center of a dish with Doritos, guacamole, and salsa arranged around it. It makes an awesome party or game day centerpiece. Everyone can serve themselves with a fork or shred the meat on their own plate.

How to Cook Beef Hammer

Here are the steps we will follow to cook the beef hammer. The key is to cook it slowly in smoke, wrap it in foil to keep it from drying out before it finishes, and then patiently let nature do its thing.

This is what we're going for... loosey, juicy beef:

Firing the Meadow Creek BX25 Box Smoker

I fired the BX25 cabinet smoker with my favorite Chef's Select 100% hardwood charcoal briquettes and a split of hardwood from my stash of firewood.

Here's a basic outline for firing this smoker:

Step 1: Open the stack and bottom two vents all the way.

Step 2: Fill the basket with 100% hardwood charcoal briquettes and 1 log split or 2 chunks of smoking wood and light it with two wax fire starter squares or a propane torch. Light the fire starters and slide the basket into the smoker while it lights or torch the charcoal through the bottom of the basket for five minutes.

Step 3: Keep the firebox door open a crack until the smoker reaches 225 degrees (roughly 20–30 minutes). Close the firebox door.

Step 4: Adjust the bottom vents to 1–2 revolutions from fully closed. Watch the temperature closely and make further adjustments to stabilize the temperature at 250 degrees.

• If the heat rises above your desired temperature, turn the vents 1/4 revolution clockwise and give it 5–10 minutes to respond. If it keeps rising, turn it another 1/4 revolution. (Avoid closing the vents all the way or you will starve the fire.)
• If the temperature is lagging and won't rise even when you open the vents 1/2 revolution, you can give the fire a boost by opening the firebox door a crack.
• Be very careful not to overheat it though because it can take hours to lower the temperature if you lose control.
• You may need to add more charcoal after about 5 hours.

Firebox loaded with Chef's Select charcoal briquettes and a stick of hardwood

Lighting the charcoal with my Greenwood propane torch

Charcoal lit

Stack with smoker fired