So I recently acquired a Weber Ranch Kettle. I am really enjoying its enormous cooking area and I have had a few smokes on it. My dilemma is I don’t often have enough time to do a good smoked meal. I’m wondering if any of you masters have had any luck smoking meat for freezing and reheating later. I’m thinking if that on the days that I do have time to do a proper smoke I can prepare a large quantity and then freeze portions for later meals. My current thinking is to cool, vacuseal, freeze and souls vide for my reheat.
Anybody tried this or is it have good recipes for such a thing or just any advice for such an undertaking?
Growed up cookin fer a family of parents, grandparents, neighbours, friends acquaintnces, an 11 of us kids, so, yeah, I always cook way too much, give lots away, an save th rest fer later...works jus fine, Amigo!
Howdy from Kansas Territory, Welcome to Th Pit!
Nice RK yer rollin there, mebbe one day, one will land in my lap... Reckon, til then, I got a few other Webers, to keep me occupied lol!
Lookin forward to learnin along with, an from ya!
Might wanna stop over here, give us an introduction, when ya have th time, Brother!
So good to hear from ya!
We often freeze pulled Pork an grilled Chicken in vacuum sealed bags an drop the in boiling water to reheat.
Vacuum seal bags are the key! Quick freeze also helps. I had a raggedy old fridge and under fridge, it took days to freeze those popsicles in the plastic tubes, so I was scared to eat anything that wasn’t frozen when I put it in there.
i grew up a bit and got my act together, got a nice fridge with sub zero settings. Unless you are making soft serve ice cream, it can never be too cold. Faster freezing = faster locking in the moisture, rather than pushing it out. What do you think?
Since there are only two of us we often freeze pulled pork and brisket. We just put a little sauce and put in Ziploc bags, lower in water to seal up as close to the seal as possible. For reheating a pan of water with the water and bag of meat slowly brought to a simmer and the meat will taste as good as the day you cooked it. Micrwaviing is not to bad either if your in a hurry. But do not and I say again forget the sauce or the meat will be dry.
> Weber Genesis EP-330
> Grilla Grills Original Grilla (OG) pellet smoker with Alpha/Connect
> Pit Barrel Cooker (gone to a new home)
> WeberQ 2000 (on "loan" to a relative (I'll never see it again))
> Old Smokey Electric (for chickens mostly - when it's too nasty out
to fiddle with a more capable cooker)
> Luhr Jensen Little Chief Electric - Top Loader circa 1990 (smoked fish & jerky)
> Thermoworks Smoke
> 3 Thermoworks Chef Alarms
> Thermoworks Thermapen One
> Thermoworks Thermapen Classic
> Thermoworks Thermopop
> Thermoworks IR-GUN-S
> Anova sous vide circulator
> Searzall torch
> BBQ Guru Rib Ring
> WÜSTHOF, Dalstrong, and Buck knives
> Paprika App on Mac and iOS
I’m thinking if that on the days that I do have time to do a proper smoke I can prepare a large quantity and then freeze portions for later meals. My current thinking is to cool, vacuseal, freeze and souls vide for my reheat.
Yep, I do it all the time. Some things to consider:
Choose your bags wisely. I use only Ziploc freezer bags or vacuum sealer bags. Those can stand up to the high temps you'll need for reheating.
I usually use my Foodsaver vac sealer but, in a pinch, I'll use the Ziploc bags instead and evacuate as much air as possible using the displacement method.
I normally use my sous vide (SV) rig to reheat frozen food although Malcom Reed says that you can also just drop the sealed bag into a pot of boiling water, turn off the heat, and wait 20-30 minutes to serve.
If using SV to reheat, I heat to the final internal temperature (IT) or to the recommended "safe" serving temperature (160 - 165 F), whichever is lower.
NOTE: Be aware that reheating to a temp below 160 F carries a risk ... but if you're reheating something like steak that was originally cooked to, e.g., 135 F, you'll severely overcook it if you reheat it to above 160 F. For this reason, I try to only bag, freeze, and reheat things that were cooked to an original IT of at least 160 F ... like pork ribs.
With all that said, enjoy the new Ranch Kettle ... and welcome to posting in the Pit ...
Equipment
Primo Oval xl
Slow n Sear (two)
Drip n Griddle
22" Weber Kettle
26" Weber Kettle one touch
Blackstone 36†Pro Series
Sous vide machine
Kitchen Aid
Meat grinder
sausage stuffer
5 Crock Pots Akootrimonts
Two chimneys (was 3 but rivets finally popped, down to 1)
cast iron pans,
Dutch ovens
Signals 4 probe, thermapens, chef alarms, Dots, thermapop and maverick T-732, RTC-600, pro needle and various pocket instareads. The help and preferences
1 extra fridge and a deep chest freezer in the garage
KBB
FOGO
A 9 year old princess foster child
Patience and old patio furniture
"Baby Girl" The cat
With just the two of us most of the time we end up vacuum sealing and freezing left over brisket and pork butt. If at all possible I don't slice what we are going to freeze, it dries out quickly. When we get ready to reheat it I only slice or pull as much as needed. With brisket for instance I'll cut a few slices and put them on a plate and microwave for 30 second on each side. It will be warm, moist, and not over cooked. I've given up on reheating in the oven. I end up with meat that isn't nearly as good as it was when it was frozen.
Cookers:
Weber Kettle (used/fair condition; a gift).
Grilla OG.
Pit Boss 3-Burner Ultimate Lift-Off Griddle.
SnS Kettle.
Everything Else:
Sous Vide equipment.
Instant read and leave-in thermometers.
Grill Grates.
Kingsford Blue Bag, Royal Oak Lump Charcoal, Weber lighter cubes, Weber charcoal chimneys.
BBQr's Delight Hickory & Apple flavor pellets, propane torch, 6" smoke tube.
Grilla apple & hickory pellets, Royal Oak charcoal pellets.
Rubs with salt: Meat Church, Meathead.
Rubs without salt: SnS Grills Rocky's Rub and Not Just for Beef.
Rubs home-mixed: None at this time.
Spices: Lots of 'em.
I do this all the time. I use a vacuum sealer so no freezer burn.
Refrigerate before freezing. Will reduce the ice crystals the faster you cross the freeze line.
Also for large whole cuts like brisket, chill in the fridge before slicing to portion and freeze.
Freeze as flat as possible, as that will cut your reheat time. I usually reheat in the microwave or thaw just enough to separate pieces and drop in a CI pan or under the broiler.
If reheating SV, be aware there may be bacterial risk issues. Since the leftovers were exposed to regular air, the contents could harbor growth in a slow reheating process. Keep the bags thin and heat them as fast as practical without ruining the food. You could also pasteurize in the reheat SV at any temp above 132F if you are willing to wait a very long time (hours, see pasteurization tables online)
I find almost all forms of BBQ low and slow to ~200F internal to save and reheat beautifully. Cuts like steak and chicken seem to lose quality in the process (and are the ones easiest to have a safety problem because if you over-re-heat the
, the result will be dry-city. )
I won't reheat with sous vide for the reasons listed in the links here. The quicker I get the reheated food through the danger zone of 40° to 140°, the happier I am. For thick pieces, it simply takes too long to do that with sous vide reheating, IMO.
Great photo. Looks like you started to take a bite out of that left one, thought about it, put it down and snapped the photo before continuing on with your yummy pursuits.
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