Can I Sous-Vide a Rib Roast for Searing Later?

[bep35]

I have a rib roast purchased yesterday (Dec 21) but we won't be needing it until Jan 2nd. Can I dry brine and vacuum seal the roast, cook it to med-rare via Sous-Vide , take it to the cabin which is three hours away, and finish it (sear) there? Thanks to advice from fellow members I am pretty sure I can't keep it in the fridge that long but was wondering if it could be cooked now and finished later at the cabin in January. Always looking for a different (better?) way to do things.

[Red Man]

I wouldn’t do it. You won’t be able to just sear it, you’ll have to reheat it as well. Since you have to bring it back up to temp anyway, you might as well wait until then to cook it. I’d dry brine, vac seal, and freeze now. You could just bring the SV to the cabin and do it there.

[rickgregory]

Yes... but...

So yeah, you can SV it now and finish it in January but you can't just leave it in the fridge, cooked, from now until then. Not only would that not be safe, as Red Man points out, you'l have to bring it to temp before searing.

What I'd do is this - season it, bag it and freeze it now. If you can SV it at the cabin (i.e. you'll be there a day or two before you want to eat it) then pull it out of the freezer, bring it to the cabin and SV it there.

If you aren't going to the cabin early then SV it so it's done the day before you leave. Rapid chill it, refrigerate. Reheat it in the SV bag *at the cabin* then unbag and sear.

All of that seems to me like a pain in the butt, though, and I'd personally freeze it now, pull it out and let it thaw in the fridge a day or two early and simply roast it normally at the cabin.