Sous Vide Straight From the Freezer

[Anonymous Modernist 3762]

Has anyone tried cooking meats sous vide directly from the freezer by prepping and sealing ahead of time? I'm curious if this has any unintended side effects on the final product vs. thawing first, then prepping, sealing and cooking.

Thanks,

-Brian

[Anonymous Modernist 4866]

I never tried it, but I do not think it is a good idea. Because in the freezer the cells of the meet are slightly cracked. During cooking the moisture will release, and that is not good. You want to have moisture inside, to make it slightly juicy.

The temperature difference (temperature profile in the meet) will be to big, from -5 to 70C. You put a lot of stress in the meet.

[Anonymous Modernist 3093]

brianrob said:

Has anyone tried cooking meats sous vide directly from the freezer by prepping and sealing ahead of time? I'm curious if this has any unintended side effects on the final product vs. thawing first, then prepping, sealing and cooking.

Thanks,

-Brian

I don't know that it is possible to generalize about cooking all kinds of meat sous vide from frozen, but many amateur sous vide websites advocate pre-preparing cuts of meat with marinades, sauces, etc., then vac sealing and freezing them, for cooking from frozen later. I have done it myself with both duck breasts and pre-cooked hamburgers and they both came out fine (just needed to sear the skin-side of the duck breasts to crisp them).

[Anonymous Modernist 4165]

I always cook steak and chicken sous vide directly from frozen. Works perfectly and removes the need for a long defrosting stage, which is essentially the same process.

You'll note the book recommends the best way to defrost meat is immersed in water in the fridge. For all intents and purposes that's the same process as cooking sous vide, just to a lower temperature.

I'm also fairly sure there's a part of the book (could be the chapter on the modernist kitchen, could be the meat chapter, can't quite remember) that states explicitly that you can and should cook meat sous vide from frozen.

[Judy Wilson]

Not sous vide, but we do have a technique in Modernist Cuisine at Home, in which you freeze steaks, then sear them (on a pan or with a blow torch) and then cook them in a low temperature oven (about 200 F) for about an hour.

Nathan demonstrated this for the New York Times a few months ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/dining/modernist-cuisine-adapted-to-home-entertaining.html?ref=dining&pagewanted=all&_r=0

Judy

[Anonymous Modernist 18279]

Using frozen meat sous vide should work. You do have to adjust the cooking times accordingly. If you use the excellent iPad app called SousVideDash, you can enter the starting temperature and select the sort of meat you are cooking and it will provide you with necessary information.