SV, Then Freeze

[CaptainMike]

On the heels of fzxdoc posting about reheating via SV, I ask what your feelings and experiences are with doing SV then freezing. Yesterday I SV'D 2 Tri tips, but had a late cancellation of enough guests to warrant serving only one. I followed accepted protocols of SV'ing each roast separately and soaking in an ice bath. One was cooked and served, the other is in the fridge awaiting further instructions. Should I freeze it, or use it within the next few days?

[CaptainMike]

I read Potkettleblack 's spirit animal Norm's article, but didn't see anything about post-SV freezing.

[Polarbear777]

I suppose safe as any other leftovers but how to re-therm safely to finish without overcooking your perfect temp might be tricky, unless you subdivide.

[Troutman]

Exactly. I overcooked by re-therming one time, will never do that again. I bring it up to like 5* lower than the original cook temp.

[Polarbear777]

I always finish everything, then portion and freeze. Saves a thermal swing and that way when I want to eat it, it’s ready to heat (microwave or broiler now, based on the aforementioned thread).

Only trick would be finishing the crust from frozen. You’d have to safely reheat then sear, again getting into the aforementioned thread’s concerns.

[Troutman]

Wouldn't that depend on the size of the cut of meat? I mean I wouldn't think a frozen prime rib roast wouldn't work without turning it into a meteorite !!

[Polarbear777]

Depends on how thick and how low the first part of the reverse sear is. Could get intro trouble for thicker things more than 3”-4” I suppose.

In that case I think your best option is to subdivide before freezing into pieces that can be reverse seared effectively from frozen.

I’m not sure where that line is. Clearly experimentation is in order.

[Potkettleblack]

I would probably Sous Vide the prime rib up, but I probably wouldn’t freeze a prime rib.

[Skip]

I had the same thing happen last weekend. I shocked and froze one tri tip. I plan to thaw it sometime and smoke to 135 or 140. Then slice or sear and slice.

[EdF]

I've smoked, SV-d, pulled, portioned, and frozen pork butts. All excellent rewarmed a few months later.

[BBQ_Steve-O]

There's a lot of ways to skin a cat.... 😊

Heres mine: I often make extra meat cuts and freeze them after SV. It takes the same time and electricity to SV two or three tri-tips as is does for one, and it saves a lot of time when you're suddenly in the mood for one. When I want to finish one, I run my smoker up to 185°F and put the meat on straight out of the freezer. I bring the IT up to around 120° - 125°, then I brush it with bacon grease and sear it to about 132° IT. Comes out the same as if I started with raw meat.

[CaptainMike]

Thanks, I'll give this a try.

[Larry Grover]

If he cut it into steaks & portioned it would be the same method to re-therm a single steak right? (Reverse sear from frozen)

[BBQ_Steve-O]

That's correct sir! 👍 However, If the steak thickness is only an inch or so, I don't find any advantage to using the SV if you're using quality beef. I brine, rub, then freeze individual steaks and put em on the smoker frozen. Then at about 120°, I sear them. They come out great!

[Larry Grover]

@BBQ_Steve-O
good info, thanks!