Freezing meat to be cooked sous vide: spiced or not?

[OliverB]

After a trip to CostCo I usually end up with loads of meat to cook in the coming weeks. I usually vacseal portions, then thaw them, spice them, pack them again for SV. I'm wondering if I'm wasting bags? Should I add s&p or other spices (rubs, marinades etc) right away and have things ready to cook once thawed, or would that negatively affect the meat? Would the salt pull out liquid while thawing?

I have a tray of some 10 pork chops and some steaks, as well as a pack of (sadly boneless) short ribs waiting for the freezer right now.

How do you go about it?

[PedroG]

Just season, marinate, rub, vac seal and freeze. No thawing, just from the freezer to the SV-bath, times according to table 2.4 in Douglas Baldwin's Practical Guide.

[OliverB]

Ah, thanks Pedro, great idea! I figured I'd just try it with some, but if it's mentioned in Douglas' guide I'll just go for it with all the pieces. I tend to only add s&p to most meats anyway. I actually just received the book a week or so ago, but obviously haven't had much time to read in it yet.

[PedroG]

If you want to pasteurize starting from frozen, compare Douglas' table 5.8 (pasteurization time from 5°C) and 2.3 (heating time from 5°C)), and if the time in 5.8 is longer than in 2.3 (which is the case up to 50mm thickness), add this difference to the time in 2.4 (heating time from -18°C).

To reduce surface contamination, you might consider a short dunk in (almost) boiling water before freezing.

[OliverB]

they're already in the freezer, too late for a short swim in boiling water, but I'm just gonna thing that we'll be fine.

But this brings to mind, is the "danger zone" longer if I put frozen meat in the hot water bath, if I thaw it over night in the fridge, or if I thaw it before bath in a sink filled with cold water? Thermodynamics were my downfall in physics class, never recovered from that

[PedroG]

Core temperature development in frozen versus refrigerated meat

To simulate a cut of meat, I vacuum-sealed a 30mm thick pile of wet rags with a temperature probe inserted through foam-tape into the center of the pile. The tissue could hold 62% of water, which is similar to meat: Lamb chop is 52% water and beef tenderloin is 75% water.

Heating from 5 to 55°C took 67 minutes, Douglas Baldwin's table 2.3 predicts 69 minutes. The curve is comparable to Douglas Baldwin's figure A.2 using a slab of Mahi-Mahi. The time in the "danger zone" (5°C to 54.4°C) is 40 minutes.

Heating from -10°C to 55°C took 98 minutes (or 75 minutes to 54.9°C), Douglas Baldwin's table 2.4 predicts 84 minutes. Please note the stall at 0°C. The time in the "danger zone" (5°C to 54.4°C) is 52 minutes. This is only 12 minutes more than in the experiment starting at 5°C despite the 31 minutes longer total heating time.

N.B. Thawing in cold water (0°C) would shorten the time in the "danger zone" but prolong the time in the "spoilage zone", as spoilage bacteria begin to multiply at 23°F/–5°C.

I published this article on Wikia, but since then Wikia staff changed the appearance of all articles so they no longer look as intended by the authors. Wikia is dead.

[OliverB]

thanks, very informative and an interesting approach with the wet rags!