Cooking Frozen Meat

[Hoot]

Y'all know how it goes. You start searching the 'Net for one thing, next thing you know you are finding all manner of interesting stuff.
Submitted for your consideration:
Never Thaw Frozen Steaks

Not sure I agree completely with this, but I did find it interesting.
What do y'all think?

 

[buckytom]

does anyone really use that much oil when pan frying a steak? it looked like he was shallow frying chicken, not a steak.

and that "grey" band seems negligible to me.

the only thing that caught my attention was that he said that the frozen steaks lose less in the cooking process.

 

[Hoot]

I agree, BT.
I certainly don't use that much oil, but I can understand the theory as explained by the guy in the video.
I am also wondering how frozen steaks would fare on the grill.
My thinking is that it would likely not return good results.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I am from the thaw them first camp.

I will cook them if they are still a bit frosty, not frozen. I always wipe them with a paper towel to blot any surface moisture so they don't begin to "stew" when the hit the pan.

"`a chacun son goût" said the old lady as she kissed the cow!

 

[FrankZ]

Is water lose an issue? Dry aged steaks loose a lot of water and taste great. Seems to me loosing some water during cooking might not be an issue.

I wonder how a rare steak would fair. Or, trying to get one to well done *shudder*.

This seems like someone inventing something so they have it to "report".

 

[Mad Cook]

I am from the thaw them first camp.

I will cook them if they are still a bit frosty, not frozen. I always wipe them with a paper towel to blot any surface moisture so they don't begin to "stew" when the hit the pan.

"`a chacun son goût" said the old lady as she kissed the cow!

Me too. And I never fry steaks. I use the grill/broiler. I thought the fry first, cook in the oven idea was a bit weird, never mind using so much oil..

When he was talking about cooking times it occurred to me to wonder if he was being paid by the power company Part of the point of steaks is that they cook quickly and you don't need to fire up the oven. I like mine rare so the thawed ones wouldn't over cook anyway.

 

[Kayelle]

I'd never fry a steak in oil, although I've used a screaming hot dry iron skillet at times.

This makes sense to me when using the grill however, and I've done it with "partially" thawed (not solid) steaks. We like our steaks very rare and with the amount of time on the grill, it's hard to get a nice sear if it's not partially frozen.

 

[chiklitmanfan]

Since my wife will NOT eat beef, I share my experience with chicken and pork: frozen -vs- not frozen. I have found over-and-over that ensuring my chicken or pork is completely thawed prior to cooking gives a much better result, in terms of both tenderness and texture. This goes for frying, grilling, or baking. I can't speak to beef which the article does but I would doubt the validity of that also.

 

[taxlady]

Many years ago, I read that you could cook a steak from frozen. It sounded like a time saver and an easier way to get a steak to be rare with a nice sear.

I don't remember exactly why, but I wasn't fond of the result. I suppose it would be different if the steak were frozen as in the video. I think the 1/8 inch of oil is probably essential. I seem to remember the steak browning very unevenly because of it's lumpiness. The freezing flat would help with that.

I see no good reason one shouldn't freeze the steaks that way, even if the steaks won't be cooked from frozen. Less moisture on the surface sounds good to me.

I'll probably give it a try. It won't be very useful for Stirling's well done steak.

 

[Hoot]

This makes sense to me when using the grill however, and I've done it with "partially" thawed (not solid) steaks. We like our steaks very rare and with the amount of time on the grill, it's hard to get a nice sear if it's not partially frozen.

That's very interesting and something I am gonna try. I was under the impression (and I ain't really sure where I got that impression) that unless the steak was at room temp., the steaks would be tough.
I most certainly will try your method, as Mrs Hoot and I prefer rare steaks.

 

[Mad Cook]

Since my wife will NOT eat beef, I share my experience with chicken and pork: frozen -vs- not frozen. I have found over-and-over that ensuring my chicken or pork is completely thawed prior to cooking gives a much better result, in terms of both tenderness and texture. This goes for frying, grilling, or baking. I can't speak to beef which the article does but I would doubt the validity of that also.

The official line over here that chicken should always be thoroughly thawed before cooking because of the possibility of food poisoning. Pork can be a bit nasty if not cooked properly so common sense would say it should be thawed before cooking. And you're right, most meat is better thawed before cooking as the texture is better.

 

[Roll_Bones]

I did not watch as tomorrow we will hear another so called "expert" tell us its not good to cook a frozen steak.

I thaw out meat before cooking. Well before cooking. And in many cases I am marinating or applying a rub. This will not work with frozen meat.

For those having issues with getting a good sear when making rare steak, you need to look at three things.
Is your grill preheated and as hot as possible?
Are you turning the steak more than once?
Is your steak to thin? A thin steak can take as little as 1 minute before it needs to be turned and another minute before you must remove it from the heat.

Lastly, how far away from the flame is the steak? How high is the grate from the fire? If you can get your steak closer to the heat, it will sear faster.

I have zero issues with searing. But the steaks we get are thick.

 

[CraigC]

I saw this frozen steak thing on another forum. It just doesn't float my boat. Has anyone tried the reverse sear method for grilling steaks? Think I will try it next time I slap some rib-eyes on the Weber. Hardwood lump only!

 

[Andy M.]

I saw this frozen steak thing on another forum. It just doesn't float my boat. Has anyone tried the reverse sear method for grilling steaks? Think I will try it next time I slap some rib-eyes on the Weber. Hardwood lump only!

I'm not sold on the reverse sear method. It seems illogical, or at least counter-intuitive to me.

 

[jennyema]

The official line over here that chicken should always be thoroughly thawed before cooking because of the possibility of food poisoning. Pork can be a bit nasty if not cooked properly so common sense would say it should be thawed before cooking. And you're right, most meat is better thawed before cooking as the texture is better.

You can't get food poisoning from frozen chicken. But you can get it from undercooked chicken. Frozen or thawed, it needs to be cooked to 160-165 to be safe.

 

[CraigC]

I'm not sold on the reverse sear method. It seems illogical, or at least counter-intuitive to me.

I'm not sold on it either, but I'll give it a whirl to see how the steaks turn out. I'm gonna use a 15 F difference instead of 10 F before searing it, to account for carry over cooking.

 

[Andy M.]

I'm not sold on it either, but I'll give it a whirl to see how the steaks turn out. I'm gonna use a 15 F difference instead of 10 F before searing it, to account for carry over cooking.

I look at it this way: If you sear first, then finish cooking, you have the luxury of getting a great browning of the surface followed by continued cooking to get to your desired level of doneness.

If you cook for doneness first (allowing for searing) then go to searing, there is a risk you miscalculate and over cook to get a proper sear or under sear to maintain proper level of doneness.

If you sear first, all you have to worry about is doneness. If you cook first then you have to worry about doneness and sear.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Pork can be a bit nasty if not cooked properly so common sense would say it should be thawed before cooking.

That is an old wives tale. Believe me I know, I am an expert on old wives tails. There hasn't been a case of trichinosis in this country for over 50 years. Pork is perfectly safe when cooked to medium rare.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Things are different today, I hear every mother say, cooking fresh food for a husband's just a drag. So she buys an instant cake and she burns her frozen steak, and goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper, and it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day

 

[taxlady]

Things are different today, I hear every mother say, cooking fresh food for a husband's just a drag. So she buys an instant cake and she burns her frozen steak, and goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper, and it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day

And to think, that song is nearly 50 years old.