Cooking Frozen Steaks

[MongGrel]

This looks interesting, we picked up a nice big sirloin I'm going to try it out in a bit.

Won't be fully frozen, it wasn't when I bought it but looks there are other sites says an hour in the freezer works well also.

Thoughts ?

Just thought I'd put it out there.

If You Thaw Your Steaks Before Cooking, You're Doing It Wrong

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/07/cooking-frozen-steaks-americas-test-kitchen_n_5659221.html

http://lifehacker.com/5883796/for-a...k-sear-it-when-frozen-and-cook-it-in-the-oven

 

[Spydermag68]

I generally like ATK and their cooking tips but it does not help to cook a on my Big Green Egg. I have pan fried a steak but I would still thaw it first. About a year ago I was at a "Bonefish Grill" and ordered a steak and crab cakes. The center of the steak was ice cold. I think they tried this method and failed.

 

[bradley]

I've been cooking frozen whole steaks like this for a long time. The benefit is the outside gets immediately seared before the inside has a chance to thaw. It keeps the juices way better contained and allows for a better crust.

The only downside is seasoning isn't as good with the frozen method, but it's well worth the tradeoff for a purist. However, I will sometimes use a vacuum sealer to marinate the meat and its amazing.

Buy a thermocouple based thermometer. For medium rare, cook the inside to 125-130F, let it sit for 10 minutes and you're ready to eat.

 

[MongGrel]

I generally like ATK and their cooking tips but it does not help to cook a on my Big Green Egg. I have pan fried a steak but I would still thaw it first. About a year ago I was at a "Bonefish Grill" and ordered a steak and crab cakes. The center of the steak was ice cold. I think they tried this method and failed.

I've never been to a Bonefish Grill, their commercials always sounds stupidly pretentious to me and there are so many other fantastic restaurants down here it's not a issue I guess.

I hear them on the radio all the time and usually want to punch the guy in the face

Just a side thing I guess, usually cook at home.

 

[rsutoratosu]

thats how they cook those soup dumplings also.. it gets made, gets frozen to keep the liquid in

I never done it frozen, how do you time the cooking ?

ie 1" ribeye frozen. I know for rare on a thaw steak, i do about 3.5 min each side. How much more time for frozen?

 

[MarkXIX]

I just cannot bring myself to consider "baking" a steak.

Also, as I suspected it would, the comments section of Lifehacker has devolved into a bunch of elitist fucking steak snobs all waving their meat around telling everyone how only their method is the best.

I cook steak in the best manner available for my time, appetite, cut of meat, audience, and my personal taste at that time. Fuck everyone's opinion. As we say in the Army, it is METT-TC (mission, enemy, time, troops available - terrain and civilian) dependent.

 

[DrPizza]

Frozen steak? I live in the middle of nowhere, yet I can drive 10 minutes to the butcher or grocery store and get a nice fresh steak. Steak lasts at least as long in the fridge as many vegetables or fruits. (Lettuce, bananas?) Why not just buy it fresh?

 

[waggy]

I buy frozen often. I get 1/4th to half a cow every spring. it comes butchered and flash frozen.

it still taste great when thawed out. i have even tried one fresh from the butcher and a frozen. I couldn't tell the difference.

I have never tried this way. Might try sometime.

 

[dullard]

Frozen steak? I live in the middle of nowhere, yet I can drive 10 minutes to the butcher or grocery store and get a nice fresh steak. Steak lasts at least as long in the fridge as many vegetables or fruits. (Lettuce, bananas?) Why not just buy it fresh?

I get a quarter cow, half pig, or whole lamb butchered for me. With only my wife and I (and a total weight between us of under 250 lbs), we just can't eat a whole lamb before it goes bad in the freezer--let alone a quarter cow. At least around here, I have no other way of getting quality lamb or heritage pork.

Fully frozen works best on the grill too. Especially if you happen to have a thinner cut of meat. That way you can get good grill marks on a piece of meat and still have it rare or medium rare in the middle.

 

[rsutoratosu]

the bubba burger cooks great from frozen.. so why wouldn't a steak work right ?

 

[Newell Steamer]

I never thaw grill meat.

I just toss it on the fire and let it cook. Sure it get smokey,.. but how else am I going to smell like burnt dead animal flesh??

 

[bradley]

Fully frozen works best on the grill too. Especially if you happen to have a thinner cut of meat. That way you can get good grill marks on a piece of meat and still have it rare or medium rare in the middle.

An important point to note, the best steakhouses cook at an extremely hot temp of 750-850F.

Steakhouses also cook steaks directly from a cold refrigerator, the myth about steak being room temp before cooking is wrong. So yeah, a frozen steak allows for even more room for error, great grill marks and charring/crusting without being overdone.

 

[z1ggy]

I just cannot bring myself to consider "baking" a steak.

Also, as I suspected it would, the comments section of Lifehacker has devolved into a bunch of elitist fucking steak snobs all waving their meat around telling everyone how only their method is the best.

I cook steak in the best manner available for my time, appetite, cut of meat, audience, and my personal taste at that time. Fuck everyone's opinion. As we say in the Army, it is METT-TC (mission, enemy, time, troops available - terrain and civilian) dependent.

And I bet you love it when they wave their meat around, especially in and around your mouth

 

[KeithP]

The method, adapted by the New York Times from the "Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking" cookbook, involves freezing the steak for an hour then salting it generously and searing it in a layer of safflower oil on a cast iron skillet. Because the steak is frozen, you don't risk overcooking the meat.

Unless your steak is only 1/4 inch thick, I don't see how freezing it for an hour lessens the risk to overcooking unless you simply cook it too long. And you can do that frozen or thawed.

-KeithP

 

[DaTT]

I prefer cooking steak that is at room temperature.....that said, I can cook a mean frozen steak if need be.

 

[Lyfer]

The only thing frozen steaks are good for are burgers.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

I just cannot bring myself to consider "baking" a steak.

Why not? The only part you're really going for when making a steak is for the sear on the outside. The rest just needs to reach a specific temperature.

Also personally do a method where I sear the outsides and then finish the steak inside a oven.

 

[bradley]

Unless your steak is only 1/4 inch thick, I don't see how freezing it for an hour lessens the risk to overcooking unless you simply cook it too long. And you can do that frozen or thawed.

-KeithP

It's easier to get a precise temperature with a frozen steak vs. refrigerated or room temperature of identical thickness. A frozen steak on average rises only 5F after being remove from the grill. In every instance the refrigerated or room temperature steak rises in temp twice as much and more.

Why not? The only part you're really going for when making a steak is for the sear on the outside. The rest just needs to reach a specific temperature

Exactly. And flash freezing probably does very little if any damage to the meat.

 

[dawheat]

I think people are getting hung up on 'frozen'. Normally to me that means something that's completely reached the temperature of the freezer - and that normally takes multiple hours.

A refrigerated steak put into the freezer for an hour will be cold, but certainly not what I consider frozen. So doing so for a thinner steak is certainly a useful way to avoid overcooking it while trying to get a good crust.

I prefer fatty steaks (prime ribeyes) at least 1.5 inches thick, 2 where I can get them. For those, chilled steaks would hurt as the crust would start turning to char by the time the center got to temperature.

 

[Howard]

I prefer fatty steaks (prime ribeyes) at least 1.5 inches thick, 2 where I can get them. For those, chilled steaks would hurt as the crust would start turning to char by the time the center got to temperature.

The whole point is to get only a surface sear, and do the rest in a not-that-hot oven.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I watched this, and it looked interesting, but they didn't really reference how this would work on a grill. I don't tend to like to pan fry/bake a steak.

 

[alkemyst]

Why freeze a steak to begin with?

 

[Rinaun]

Why freeze a steak to begin with?

Because you want a shittier steak, duh. That's pretty much the only reason to freeze a steak.

 

[MongGrel]

I loved the results, we had a big Sirloin I put on a griddle and seared and it burned in a Bulls Eye looking effect on it.

Then stuck it in the oven had to leave part of it in there a little longer for the wife but I loved the results.

Don't do it then, I know I will be again myself, if even not fully frozen.

I just stuck it in the freezer for an hour, to try it out.

 

[MongGrel]

I've been cooking frozen whole steaks like this for a long time. The benefit is the outside gets immediately seared before the inside has a chance to thaw. It keeps the juices way better contained and allows for a better crust.

The only downside is seasoning isn't as good with the frozen method, but it's well worth the tradeoff for a purist. However, I will sometimes use a vacuum sealer to marinate the meat and its amazing.

Buy a thermocouple based thermometer. For medium rare, cook the inside to 125-130F, let it sit for 10 minutes and you're ready to eat.

+1

Yeah the wife even scolded me for that one the other night after all the cooking shows, I took it out she was all "let that rest 10 minutes" when I was ready to go at it.