Steaks: Pan sear frozen or let them thaw?

[Merrill_Lindquist]

@Mark Y

@Merrill Lindquist

Then go to vegetable based meals for the rest of the week .

say what? what’s that??

V-E-G-E-T-A-B-L-E-S. Just about any vegetable can be roasted or sauteed along with some garlic, onion, herbs. Add to freshly cooked pasta, add salt and pepper and parmesan. Throw in some nice olives and perhaps a bit of fresh diced pepper. You had better teach that kid of yours to eat something besides McDonald’s.

[awilliamson4]

@Merrill Lindquist

Yes, Nolan, I have seen it. Too instructive, too…I just take what is offered here in Napa Valley and in Northern California in general. When I am in Boston I eat a lot of fish. Here…not that much. I just prefer to eat fresh. What area of the country really needs to succumb to frozen beef? Really? I can’t believe that the latest “cult” steak is better forzen and thawed than whatever top line is offered in your local top-end store. Honestly.

I guess the other concern here for me is economics. I always want to have the freshest, best ingredients possible but with larger purchases come better prices and the ability to have more of something great. The food vacuum and freezer make that possible.

[Michael_S_Monie]

I never purchase mail order steak because I’m adamantly against eating thawed beef. May have to rethink: http://caseychan.kinja.com/science-its-better-to-cook-a-frozen-steak-than-a-thawe-1619916660

[Paul_Bacino]

See this thread below!!

" Steaks: Pan sear frozen or let them thaw? "

[Michael_S_Monie]

@Merrill Lindquist

I have long had a saying: whatever goes into the freezer does not come out.

The idea of freezing protein and taking it out and cooking it in hopes of producing a great result is…not conducive to any experience we work toward here in Napa Valley.
Snobbish? Elitist? Uniformed? Biased. Perhaps.

100% agree.

[J_Singleton]

@Michael S. Monie

@Merrill Lindquist

I have long had a saying: whatever goes into the freezer does not come out.

The idea of freezing protein and taking it out and cooking it in hopes of producing a great result is…not conducive to any experience we work toward here in Napa Valley.
Snobbish? Elitist? Uniformed? Biased. Perhaps.

100% agree.

Which part, the snobbish, elitist, uniformed and biased?

I have ZERO issue with my frozen Flannery steaks being thawed and then cooked. So what goes into my freezer does come out and tastes amazing.

[Bill_Tex_Landreth]

I eat a bunch of beef. A bunch.

Flash frozen dry-aged beef has ZERO issues with texture or taste to me or my cohorts. With the caveat that the Cryo-Vac bag has no integrity issues that would lead to freezer burn.

Snobbish? Elitist? Uniformed? Biased. Perhaps. This is a pretty good summation on the thoughts of not eating frozen critter. Not to pick on Merrill.

[Michael_S_Monie]

Hey, Tex, you cook them frozen or thawed?

[Bill_Tex_Landreth]

Thawed. Never thought to cook frozen, and I probably never will. I am a fan of salting and allowing to come to room temp before any heating attempt.

[Merrill_Lindquist]

@Bill Tex Landreth

I eat a bunch of beef. A bunch.

Flash frozen dry-aged beef has ZERO issues with texture or taste to me or my cohorts. With the caveat that the Cryo-Vac bag has no integrity issues that would lead to freezer burn.

Snobbish? Elitist? Uniformed? Biased. Perhaps. This is a pretty good summation on the thoughts of not eating frozen critter. Not to pick on Merrill.

No, Tex, you would never pick on me. Not me, not you.

This Sunshine beef is really, really good. I think. Fresh, not frozen.

[TimF]

I’m in the middle of trying this method right now and so far I’m not a happy camper. I took the vacuum packed steak out of the freezer and put them into a very hot skillet – around 400F. 90 seconds on each side like the video said. There was no crust. Into the oven at 275F for 20 minutes – still frozen. Maybe I needed to do it with much smaller steaks?

[CFu]

@TimF

I’m in the middle of trying this method right now and so far I’m not a happy camper. I took the vacuum packed steak out of the freezer and put them into a very hot skillet – around 400F. 90 seconds on each side like the video said. There was no crust. Into the oven at 275F for 20 minutes – still frozen. Maybe I needed to do it with much smaller steaks?

depends on thickness. They are using maybe 12oz steaks at most that are then cut in half. Cause if I do my typical 20oz+ steak for 275 for 20 minutes, it’s still pretty rare, so I’m not surprised yours would still be frozen.

Modernist cuisine did something like this a year ago but only suggested freezing for a hour before you cook opposed to the conventional bringing up to room temp. I tried this method and it worked quite well. Nowadays I don’t even care about bringing it “up to room temp”. You’re gonna be sitting your steak on your kitchen counter for hours to get it from 37-40f (your fridge temp) up to 70+ room temp. 7 Myths About Cooking Steak That Need to Go Away

[Nolan_E]

@TimF

I’m in the middle of trying this method right now and so far I’m not a happy camper. I took the vacuum packed steak out of the freezer and put them into a very hot skillet – around 400F. 90 seconds on each side like the video said. There was no crust. Into the oven at 275F for 20 minutes – still frozen. Maybe I needed to do it with much smaller steaks?

Did you use as much oil as they did? They were pretty liberal with it.

[C_Mc_Cart]

Tried it, didn’t like it. None of my family thought much about the results either.

[TimF]

@Nolan E

@TimF

I’m in the middle of trying this method right now and so far I’m not a happy camper. I took the vacuum packed steak out of the freezer and put them into a very hot skillet – around 400F. 90 seconds on each side like the video said. There was no crust. Into the oven at 275F for 20 minutes – still frozen. Maybe I needed to do it with much smaller steaks?

Did you use as much oil as they did? They were pretty liberal with it.

Yeah, I think I even went overboard. The steaks had no noticeable frost on them and still bubbled up like mad, oil everywhere. I’m not doing it again. Results were iffy at best. Fresh steaks on the grill is the way to go for me. The butcher is on my way home from work so there’s really no excuse for doing otherwise. I don’t know why I mess around with these methods. I could never make a steak that I really liked sous-vide either.

[Nolan_E]

Yeah I haven’t frozen a steak in over a year, I don’t have much need for this method. I do usually trust CI though and am surprised everyone’s results have been worse than expected.

[J_a_y_H_a_c_k]

@Merrill Lindquist

Yes, Nolan, I have seen it. Too instructive, too…I just take what is offered here in Napa Valley and in Northern California in general. When I am in Boston I eat a lot of fish. Here…not that much. I just prefer to eat fresh. What area of the country really needs to succumb to frozen beef? Really? I can’t believe that the latest “cult” steak is better forzen and thawed than whatever top line is offered in your local top-end store. Honestly.

Believe it. It’s a bit like the time I tried to explain to a couple of Orthodox Jews that “kosher” shrimp and bacon were nothing like the real thing, but when I order from Flannery, I always get too much and have to freeze some of the steaks. They are not as good as fresh, but they are still outstanding. Fish, on the other hand, is a different story. The only thing frozen fish is good for is to grind it up and make a fish burger because you can add enough stuff to “enhance” the flavor. Every once in a while I will buy some fresh fish and get stuck and be unable to use it. I will throw it in the freezer and turn it into fish burgers.

[Nolan_E]

Jay, watch some of those sushi documentaries. Can’t remember which (Jiro?) but several of the chefs talk about how overrated über-fresh fish is and how they freeze and cure the fish to make it more flavorful. Not advocating, but it’s always helpful to have a dissenting opinion to balance things.

[CFu]

@Nolan E

Jay, watch some of those sushi documentaries. Can’t remember which (Jiro?) but several of the chefs talk about how overrated über-fresh fish is and how they freeze and cure the fish to make it more flavorful. Not advocating, but it’s always helpful to have a dissenting opinion to balance things.

I think that’s a little different as there is a style of sushi preparation that involves the curing of fish. We mostly see Edo style which isn’t cured , but Kyoto style is typically cured.

I went to a cured sushi style place that opened in downtown la ($165 a person!!) that was very interesting

[TimF]

I eat frozen packaged smoked salmon all the time and it’s fine. But I find that I don’t like eating a frozen filets of salmon. Seems strange to me but I will only buy salmon filets if I’m going to make it that day.