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Cooking a frozen steak on a Weber kettle

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    Cooking a frozen steak on a Weber kettle

    I've stumbled on a few articles that talk about cooking frozen steaks and saying that it's better to cook them from frozen instead of thawing. Here's a few:Since we can seemingly never really plan anything at our house, the idea of grabbing a couple of steaks from the freezer an hour or so before dinner and throwing them on the grill is appealing. I am curious if anyone here has done this. Particularly, have you done it on a Weber kettle?

    I have a 26" Weber kettle with a Slow N Sear XL. Doing the sear up front should be no problem with a chimney full of hot charcoal in the Slow N Sear. I am assuming I would just move the steaks to the indirect side after the sear and put the lid on (after putting a thermometer probe in the steak). I am afraid that after closing the lid, the grill will get too hot to finish the steaks off slowly enough. Some of the articles call for finishing the steaks in a 275 degree oven. I'm pretty sure the kettle would get hotter than that with a full chimney in the Slow N Sear. Some ideas/questions about the slow part of the cook after the sear:
    1. Should I close the vents down most of the way or all the way? Will this make for bad smoke?
    2. Should I put a big old drip pan of cold water on the indirect side with the steaks to sink a bunch of that heat?
    3. Should I remove the cooking grate and put the steaks on the charcoal grate on a cooling rack? I've read the temps are much lower on the charcoal grate when using the Slow N Sear.
    4. Should I fire up the pellet grill and finish them off there?
    5. Should I just put the lid on and do nothing else except monitor the steak temps?
    I'd love to hear your experiences doing this, if anyone has. I'd also love feedback on my questions.

    #2
    I do them from frozen using my sous vide set up. Toss in the pool at 115* for 1.5-2.5 hrs depending on thickness. Ice bath then rest while grill heats up, then sear to finish. Yum.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Jfrosty27 View Post
      I do them from frozen using my sous vide set up...
      Every time I mention using the sous vide for steaks my wife gives me the stink eye. She always says "I want some smoke flavor"... I don't blame here. So do I.

      Comment


      • Jfrosty27
        Jfrosty27 commented
        Editing a comment
        I get plenty of smoke flavor. Just sear over screaming hot coals. The chili and rest period allows for more time over the coals to pick up smoke.

      • pkadare
        pkadare commented
        Editing a comment
        Jfrosty27 ditto!

      #4
      I read the Cook article and what they didn't do was add a rub when they compared cooking a frozen and thawed steak. I wonder if a thawed steak is easy to add a rub than a frozen steak?

      Comment


      • IdahoJim
        IdahoJim commented
        Editing a comment
        In some of the articles I've read they say to just season it after the sear, since nothing is going to stick to the frozen meat.

      #5
      I've done frozen steaks. To be honest it matters much less than with other frozen things like brisket or roasts. So, just DO IT! Salt it once the surface is thawed & wet. Season it any time after that. Then send me samples.

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      • barelfly
        barelfly commented
        Editing a comment
        This is how I go with adding rub to a frozen steak. Works great. Once the heat hits the surface you can rub it. Or just out of bag, wet it a bit and and the rub.

      #6
      I’d put water in the SnS resovoir - so after searing move to the cooler side.

      Comment


        #7
        Going full frozen is better than partially thawed as meat cooks from the outside in. When I’m cooking steaks that are not frozen I’ll pop them in the freezer for a bit to get the outside colder than the inside. This takes the concept of the reverse sear another step. Medium rare throughout

        Comment


          #8
          Don’t know about steak, but I’ve done Chuck Roast and Pork Butt straight from the freezer and it made basically zero difference compared to one that is thawed and coming from the fridge. Heck, I’m likely to try this sometime soon just for an interesting experiment

          Comment


            #9
            An hour before dinner, I’ll grab a frozen vacpac steak, and throw it in a bowl of water. In an hour it’s thawed and I just cook it however I prefer

            Comment


            • barelfly
              barelfly commented
              Editing a comment
              This method works great as well! Usually how I roll. About 3-4pm, out of freezer into water, go for a bike ride, come back and start prepping and meat is usually ready to go!

            • bbqLuv
              bbqLuv commented
              Editing a comment
              Thaw the steak first, then you are not cooking a frozen steak. This works for me too.

            #10
            I bet the reverse sear method would work.
            sous vide also too

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