has anyone had experience freezing meats after sous vide? what was the outcome?
I have no experience with freezing meat, only refrigeration. However, I think that as long as you use a good sealer (ie. not using your mouth to suck the air out of a Ziploc bag) and maintain the vacuum seal, freezing should be unnecessary, and the meat should keep for up to a week or more.
My educated guess would be that if you freeze the meat in a vacuum-sealed bag, the juices within the meat would form ice crystals which will ruin the structure of the meat and negatively affect its texture. The taste should still be fine though.
K provides some good advice. Intact cooking bags are safe methods of refrigerated storage if the product has been Pasteurized.
Freezing won’t exactly ruin the structure of your meat, but it doesn’t enhance it either. You want to freeze meat as quickly as possible and thaw as slowly as possible to minimize rupturing cell walls. You probably only need to freeze products when your best judgement advises it. Always pre-chill using an ice bath.
I have done practical research on the safe refrigerated holding times of food products by having stored SV cooked samples regularly tested for biological growth over long times. No measurable bacteria growth was detected for a surprising length of time. Now, that was using specialized refrigeration employing an optimal environment like wire shelves and continuous air circulation just below the freezing point. Not at all like your home refrigerator.
Maybe not the direct answer to your question:
I prefer freezing uncooked meat and them put the freezed stuff into the water bath
We have done it with meats, vegetables, soups, stews with good success. It works especially good with leftovers. Vacuum seal them and lay them as flat as possible so that they freeze quick.
Excellent reminder Robert, thank you.
As in our cooking, thickness is all-important.
For freezing leftovers, adjust the size or even the number of freezer bags you use to keep the ingredients about an inch thick, two inches at the absolute most, - never more, and if it’s that thick don’t place a bag near the top of your freezer. That’s the warmest area of your freezer. Anything thicker takes far too long to completely freeze in a safe period of time. It’s that core temperature under an inch of food you want to be concerned with.
And never, - never, - ever, - got that? Freeze previously frozen leftovers. One reheat for service and out must be your rule.
Also, never add any leftover item to a freshly prepared item and freeze those leftovers. If you practice that you could have a piece of meat cycling through your meals for a year building up toxins. That’s a good way to get to know your local Emergency Department and have three days of agony.
I am in full agreement with you Chatnoir, we measure out to one or two portions before freezing so that we can eliminate that problem. Another key is making sure that you have a good vacuum seal. We use a chamber sealer.