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Thawing/Reheating Cooked Frozen Food with Sous Vide: Recommended Times/Temps?

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    Thawing/Reheating Cooked Frozen Food with Sous Vide: Recommended Times/Temps?

    I have yet to use my Joule to thaw/reheat already cooked food that has been frozen. Where is a good place to look for time/temp recommendations? I'm guessing that there might be a time/thickness correlation somewhere. I can find recommendations for raw frozen food time/temp, but not for cooked frozen food.

    I'm thinking that I should just set the temp a degree or two below what is recommended for the food, but I don't know how long it should stay in the bath.

    I can temp the food with my Thermapen if I'm using the sans vide approach, but my frozen foods are vacuum-sealed and I don't want to break the seal to temp for doneness unless there is no other way.

    Suggestions?

    Thanks in advance,
    Kathryn

    #2
    https://www.chefsteps.com/activities...lmost-anything I picked this up from Chef Steps, I assume these times are for thawed meat but I would also have to assume that for frozen food you would add the time to the cook them same as you would for uncooked meat. Hope this helps.

    Comment


    • jecucolo
      jecucolo commented
      Editing a comment
      Good info on this link. Thanks

    #3
    I can't help with the time/temp, but I do know that someone makes a sous vide tape that allows you to use a probe through the bag.

    Comment


    • EdF
      EdF commented
      Editing a comment
      Right. Thermoworks offers it along with a very thin probe you can use to determine what the core temp is. In terms of rewarming, I'd go with the lesser of what you cooked it at or 145F.

    • Potkettleblack
      Potkettleblack commented
      Editing a comment
      Normal weatherstripping tape should work, as long as you don’t pull the probe out.

    • EdF
      EdF commented
      Editing a comment
      Agree!

    #4
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    Sous vide dash is an app that calculates time vs temp based on thickness and type of food. You can hit the start cooking button and it will give you a countdown.
    There are probably lots of similar apps out there this is just the one I found a while ago.

    Comment


      #5
      If it's already cooked you just need to bring it to safe, palatable and desireable. For example, if chicken was cooked to 165° and chilled quickly, say below 90 in an hour and to 35° in the next hour, you can bring that chicken up to 140° and eat. Or have it on a salad cold.

      if food is handled properly you only need to heat in the SV to a desireable temp.

      i hope this helps.
      Erik

      Comment


        #6
        Awesome question! I was thinking the same thing fzxdoc ! Thanks.

        Comment


          #7
          HouseHomey , I agree with your thoughts, but I'm bringing the food up to temp from frozen in vacuum-sealed bags and don't want to pierce the bag to determine the final temp. It's hard for me to know what the temp at the core of the meat is based on time alone when that cooked meat has been frozen.

          RonB has suggested a solution to the bag-piercing obstacle. I wonder how well it works. Has anyone used it?

          Polarbear777 , that looks like a sweet app. Joule has a similar app that applies for both fresh and frozen food but the frozen food is raw, not already cooked. So I don't need to thaw and cook, I just need to thaw and reheat to a safe temp. Nonetheless, it sure looks like a great app. Thank you.

          vandy , thank you so much for that Chef Steps link! I think it answered my question. I had to scroll way down and found this:
          Can I reheat precooked, frozen food with sous vide?


          Sous vide is also a great way to batch-cook a bunch of meat, then store it in the freezer to reheat it later. This works particularly well when you take a large cut of meat—like a pork shoulder, for instance—cook it, and then cut it into individual portions to freeze. Then, when you’re ready for some pork, all you have to do is reheat the number of portions you plan to eat.
          Reheating large frozen cuts that have not been individually portioned takes a lot of time, so it only really makes sense if you’re buying meat that you know you don’t want to use until later. A really big piece of meat, like a huge roast, takes several hours to reheat, meaning it may be more convenient to just cook it when you get it, then portion it up as described above and reheat as necessary.
          All that said, reheating times depend on the size and shape of the meat. Here are our suggested times for reheating frozen food sous vide:
          A slab of meat—like a steak:
          • 0.5 in (10 mm) thick: 30 min reheat time
          • 1 in (25 mm) thick: 1¾ hr reheat time
          • 2 in (50 mm) thick: 5¼ hr reheat time
          • 2.5 in (60 mm) thick: 7¼ hr reheat time




          A cylinder—like a roulade:
          • 0.5 in (10 mm) thick: 17 min reheat time
          • 1 in (25 mm) thick: 55 min reheat time
          • 2 in (50 mm) thick: 2¾ hr reheat time
          • 2.5 in (60 mm) thick: 4 hr reheat time
          • 3 in (75 mm) thick: 5¾ hr reheat time
          • 3.5 in (85 mm) thick: 7¼ hr reheat time




          A sphere shape—like a meatball or a round roast:
          • 0.5 in (10 mm) thick: 12 min reheat time
          • 1 in (25 mm) thick: 40 min reheat time
          • 2 in (50 mm) thick: 2 hr hr reheat time
          • 2.5 in (60 mm) thick: 2¾ hr reheat time
          • 3 in (75 mm) thick: 4¼ hr reheat time
          • 3.5 in (85 mm) thick: 5¼ hr reheat time
          • 4 in (105 mm) mm thick: 7½ hr reheat time
          • 4.5 in (115 mm) mm thick: 9 hr reheat time




          Keep in mind: These are not pasteurization times! All the calculations above assume that the water’s temperature is between 110 °F / 45 °C and 175 °F / 80 °C.
          Also, some roasts are more slab than sphere, some legs of lamb are closer to cylindrical, and some things don’t really have a specific shape at all. For these types of meat, go with the average of the time to reheat the two shapes. For example, reheat a big slab of a roast for the average of the time to reheat a slab and a sphere of its size.



          This is exactly what I was looking for. Sometimes it's difficult (for me at least) to find answers to specific questions on the Chef Steps site. Their search engine loves sending me down a forum comments rabbit hole instead of pointing to a curated answer. There's so much good information on that site, though. Thanks again, vandy.

          Kathryn
          Last edited by fzxdoc; December 15, 2017, 08:13 AM.

          Comment


          • HouseHomey
            HouseHomey commented
            Editing a comment
            Kathyrn I noticed there is a 65° difference but I suppose that due to various foods being heated. I would be interested to hear about some hunks, slabs or pieces of something you reheated. Just time and temp if you ever gat around to it.. I want to pass that onto Sophia.

          • fzxdoc
            fzxdoc commented
            Editing a comment
            I'll be happy to follow up on some of these time/temps, HouseHomey , and let you know how they work out for me. I'm really relieved to find some vetted recommendations, since Douglas Baldwin is Chef Steps' science advisor. vandy, you saved my bacon. (and pulled pork and tri tip and brisket etc. etc. etc.)

            Kathryn

          • vandy
            vandy commented
            Editing a comment
            Glad to be of some help Kathryn.

          #8
          Nice! Great info. Thanks for the Thread!

          Comment


            #9
            Ok Kathyrn and vandy I tossed these in the bath at 146° at 3:09 PST. Pulled pork vac sealed and frozen from my last butt. I turned the Palmolive (yes, and you're soaking in it) sideways for reference.

            They are about 2” thick or so or maybe thicker now that I look again.. Let's see what happens.
            Don't look at my old wallpaper, who remembers that counter.. first Baseboards then counter and wallpaper.

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              #10
              Let us know how it turns out, HouseHomey. .

              Comment


                #11
                With the sous vide dash app you can pick any temp to start and/or finish and it will do the math. I even use it to calculate thaw to room temp times since I keep frozen stuff in bags also which is fast because of the circulation.

                Comment


                  #12
                  Here ya go!! 3 hours in the bath. Mainly because I got on the phone with Mr. Bones and previously snuck a turkey n cheese roll up to the princess but 2hrs at 155°-160° would have been best. Seems a little different from the temps and time above. Thought this vac seal is not a solid piece of meat either.
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                  • fzxdoc
                    fzxdoc commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Thanks, HouseHomey . Your Little Princess looks so happy in anticipation of Santa (or is it the pulled pork sammie instead?). Either way, she's a cutie.

                    Kathryn

                  #13
                  Great information I reheat Sous Vide all the time but not from frozen, but will now!

                  Comment


                    #14
                    Autolysis can become a concern with long Sous Vide and reheat from frozen.

                    Comment


                      #15
                      Since the times shown by the Chef Steps document are not pasturization times, what makes reheating from frozen at a temperature in the unsafe zone (40° to 140°F) any safer than just letting something thaw on the countertop, which I know to be a no-no from a food safety standpoint?

                      I'm thinking that I would always thaw at sous vide temps in the 145° to 165° range for safety's sake?

                      Kathryn

                      Comment


                      • Potkettleblack
                        Potkettleblack commented
                        Editing a comment
                        This is why I prefer Baldwin times.

                        But autolysis is a cumulative clock. Too many times through the zone and you get the same result as too much time in the zone.

                        I like oven to retherm.

                      • fzxdoc
                        fzxdoc commented
                        Editing a comment
                        Oh, Potkettleblack , I thought these were Baldwin times, since he's Chef Steps' Science Advisor. They have a different set of times for reheating thawed food. I think I'll just continue with the old school way: thaw in the fridge then reheat as quickly as possible in the oven.

                        Kathryn

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