I have a number of ribeye steaks already sealed in food saver bags however theyre wrapped in plastic wrap within those bags. Is that ok for sous vide cooking as is once thawed?
That depends. What kind of plastic wrap were they in when you put them into the FoodSaver bags? And what was the reason for not removing them from that wrap before vacuum sealing?
Just ordinary supermarket generic plastic wrap. I wrap red meat in this wrap myself to keep blood from being sucked into the foodsaver machine. I wrap the stakes individually.
So…cellophane? If so, I’m not familiar with any problems that might cause…though you might want to wait until one or two others have chimed in on the matter.
That said, my favorite method of dealing with the problem of meat juices (it’s not blood) entering the sealing chamber is to partially freeze the meat before vacuum sealing it. That way there’s no need for any additional material in the bag.
Is the plastic wrap listed as “microwave oven safe”? Should be okay then since temperatures often get higher in the microwave than the APC.
But if there’s no indication of usable in microwave, I’d suggest opening bags and removing the wrap.
We have some plastic wrap that’s okay for cold but once it heats and cools, it shrinks. Made for some great mushed food.
As suggested, if your vacuum sealer doesn’t have a “moist” option, freeze first, then seal.
Most food-safe plastic wraps are low density polyethylene so if you’re not exceeding 80C/176F in your SV, you’re fine. Above that it starts to soften.
I’ve wrapped juicy items with plastic wrap before vacuum sealing and have never had any issues while cooking them. Partially freezing or letting them chill in the fridge overnight is definitely the preferred method but sometimes you got to do what you got to do. My Foodsaver has a “moist” setting but I found that some pre-seared meats give off a lot of juices if you don’t let them cool down.
I’ve also seen people ask about cooking meats that are sold already vacuum sealed in their own packaging. I simply seal the enire package again with my Foodsaver and remove all doubt.
Thanks all. I’ve been using food saver for about 10 years so I have an old model that doesn’t have a wet setting. The partial freezing tip is a pretty good one. As far as my already frozen wrapped steaks, I’ll be CVing these at 129 F after thawing, so the polyethylene temperature tip of max 176 F will come in handy. In in the future I’ll season and partially freeze them before bagging. Thanks again!