Sous Vide Sous vide recipes to freeze

[MrHiggins]

One thing that seems convenient with cooking sous vide is the ability to freeze what you just cooked in the same bag you cooked it in. When you're ready to eat it (a month later), just defrost under water and finish the recipe.

I feel like I'm underutilizing this feature and am looking for suggestions.

For example, I bought 8 really nice looking thick-cut pork rib chops on sale yesterday at whole foods. I tossed two into each bag with a spring of rosemary and some garlic (salt and pepper, too) and cooked them at 140 for 3 hours. They're now all Frozen in their bags, ready to be thawed, dried, seared, and served with some sides on some weekday night.

Does anyone else do this? Want to share your ideas for frozen meals? Thanks!

 

[WildBoar]

I've cooked sous vide and then froze the food a couple of times, but it rarely makes sense for me (home cook here). I am more likely to cook a big batch of something braised, and then bag/ seal portions for freezing that I will later reheat via sous vide. I guess if you have something that needs a very long cooking time (72 hour ribs?) it would work. But you still have to take the time to thaw (which you can do sous vide).

 

[lowercasebill]

I make a huge pan of lasagna. portion it leave it in the pan to freeze overnight and then vacuum pack . take it out of the freezer and into simmering water for 45 minutes so much better than re heated in the microwave.. I vacuum and freeze a lot of salmon.. thaw in cold water and sous-vide.. .pork butt or belly to sous-vide for cha su for ramen

 

[HRC_64]

One thing that seems convenient ... cooked them at 140 for 3 hours. ....

IMHO not everyone has the same definition of "convenient"...

 

[btbyrd]

If I am ever going to go through the bother of cooking something for 48 or 72 hours, I am going to do it in batches using a chamber vacuum, and I'm going to freeze most of it. That way you can have your XX-hour whatever, ready to go whenever you want.

+1 for lcbill's pork shoulder cha su for ramen. Ramen broth is another thing that I make in quantity and then vac-pack and freeze. You can pull out a bag of broth, a bag of pork belly or shoulder, and pop them in the bath with a couple eggs while you're getting the noodles ready. Bing bang boom... fancy ramen at home in a hurry. I often cold smoke my pork bellies before I cook them, and that gives my ramen a touch of the dirty South. But I also will retherm frozen SV stuff on my Weber grill over indirect heat with some wood smoke to finish... that's if I've got some time on my hands.

Tender cuts like rib chops don't make sense to cook in batches, at least for my purposes. I also don't really like them as much as conventionally prepared ones (that you admittedly have to pay a lot of attention to and cook properly). SV gives people who aren't good cooks a big margin of error for things like cooking steak or pork chops. And while that's cool, I don't need that personally -- at least not most of the time. It's better for tenderizing tough cuts and achieving unconventional textures. At least, that's what I think it's best for. So I usually stick to belly and cheek and chuck and tail and brisket and hocks and all the tough, ugly bits that people don't cook enough of.

 

[lowercasebill]

look up umami ninja dashi "tea bags". quick and good .. while I have kombu and katsuobushi the ninja bags are quick and easy if I want dashi to drink or to make a sauce. dashi pack 3 cups water and a bouillon cube makes a decent shio broth in 5 minutes. sous vide a thawed chicken breast slice thin ..quick easy ramen that is more than acceptable..

 

[Paraffin]

I haven't done this, it's always sous vide, pan finish, eat, then leftovers. I should probably take more advantage of freezing a SV cook before the finishing step, because I usually have a lot more space in the SV tank than I'm actually using.

Of the things I often cook SV, I suppose pork chops and boneless/skinless chicken breast would be good options for freezing as a quickie dinner some nights. I really like SV carrots in butter with fresh herbs and a little sugar for the pan glaze. Those are always just a small portion at at time for the two of us at home. I should make a large batch of those in separate bags and then freeze for later, where they'd just need a quick blast in the pan. Maybe asparagus? I haven't done that SV yet.

Good thread topic.

 

[WildBoar]

I make a huge pan of lasagna. portion it leave it in the pan to freeze overnight and then vacuum pack . take it out of the freezer and into simmering water for 45 minutes so much better than re heated in the microwave..

x2. I find casseroles and lasagnas reheat well this way; there is no drying out. It is a great way to tuck away a few meals for some time down the road when you want to eat something that would take a long time to make but do not have that much time.

 

[rickg17]

I wouldn't cook then freeze. Theres no real time savings there. To me, the convenience is to be able to do what you did ("bought 8 really nice looking thick-cut pork rib chops on sale yesterday at whole foods. I tossed two into each bag with a spring of rosemary and some garlic (salt and pepper, too)"), then freeze them and, when I want something like that, SV them straight from the freezer.

They also don't need 3 hours. 90 minutes is fine. Most SV chops/steaks etc are done about 60 minutes in (assuming 1.5 to 2" thickness) and I add 30 mins to defrost to fridge temp.