Last week did an almost first cook. Tri-tip. About a 1 3/4 inch thick. Before cooking, cut and cubed part of it and sealed up the two bags. Cooked both at 130* for 6 1/2 hours. Large hunk came out great. Med rare with tourched crust. Not fork tender but that is subjective. How to post pictures? I put small bag with 3/4 inch cubes into an ice bath, then in refer. After a day or so, put in freezer. Took out to thaw in refer 2 days ago to make another dish later. Does anyone see a problem with this? Not wanting for anyone to get sick. This meal will be tonight. Thanks.
You usually have 3 or 4 days for cooked meat staying good in the fridge. If you haven’t opened that cubed bag since you cooked it, then there hasn’t been a chance for any bacteria to enter the bag…so it should last even longer (maybe up to a week).
Even so, it’s sounding like you’re around the 4 day mark, so you should be fine.
If the cooked product has been cooked long enough to pasteurise, which this has been, and the seal remains unbroken, the product will have an extended fridge life of up to 3 weeks at recommended refrigeration temperature of below 4C/39.2F
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Jbee, Steven gave you good advice. You won’t have any significant problems with your technique. If you want more tender tri-tip cook it 12 to 24 hours.
Generally, the less you do to your meat the better it’s going to be. I would have cut the tri-tip in half and cooked the pieces that way. The cubing plus the freeze-thaw cycle is going to cost you some moisture loss in the meat. All those surfaces are going to leak. Be sure to capture and use those flavourful juices from the cooking bag. You can always cube the meat while it’s cold just before using it in a recipe. Or you can reheat it and cube it later. Besides, you may change your mind by then and want slices for a stir-fry or Steak Sandwiches with Boursin and Mushrooms.
As long as you cooked the meat at 130F or higher it is relatively safe. The for-how-long uncertainty depends on your holding temperature. The closer to 32F, the longer you can hold your meat. And never hold at 40F or higher beyond 4 hours. That’s when little things start to grow more quickly.
Get a refrigerator thermometer, they are cheapest form of health insurance. Place the thermometer next to the meat so you know its temperature and check it at least daily. You can also move the thermometer around in your refrigerator to find its coldest area, that’s usually in the back and down low.
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Your writing is confusing but the food should be fine.