Is the rapid ice bath chill post-sous vide actually necessary when putting the meat/fish in the freezer?
In the past, I would frequently cook (in the oven) 6+ lbs (3+ kg) of salmon fillets (usually took ~25 min) to an internal temp of 145-150 F (62.5-65 C), take them out, let them set on the counter for an hour or two, and then throw them in vacuum-sealed bags and into the freezer.
Then, when I wanted to eat one, I'd take it out and throw it in the microwave. Understandably not the tastiest thing, but it worked well enough. I've never tried it with meat, only fish. As far asI know this never made me sick.
Now, all of the sous vide literature emphasizes a rapid chill in an ice water bath if you want to freeze something. Is this really necessary? For a very thick steak (say 2 in (5 cm)) it could take 3+ hours to fully chill down to 41 F (5 C) in the middle, so if that's still safe to eat, why must you chill thinner cuts? I'd expect anything 1in or less to chill within 3 hours in the freezer. Obviously, you can extrapolate this out and say that, e.g., a 0.125 inch (0.3 cm) cut wouldn't need to be chilled in an ice bath, so the blanket suggestion is only necessary above a certain thickness.
If anyone has found graphs of time/temperature when freezing meat from a cooked temperature, that would be helpful. If that doesn't exist, what's a best guess for the thickness at which pre-freezer ice baths become important for safety?
Best Answer
Yes, fast chilling is critical because it minimizes the production of new bacteria and potentially deadly toxins from the spores of anaerobic pathogens such as C. botulinum and C. perfringens. The spores are not killed by the low temperatures usual in sous vide, and the oxygen-free environment of the bag brings them back to activity. But they require time and temperature to become active and dangerous, so fast chilling -- either refrigeration or freezing -- and limiting the refrigeration time (to about 5 days at around 5°C/40°F, longer for lower temperatures) are absolutely critical to deter them.
The question starts with a situation that is different: cooking in an oven, which is not an anaerobic environment and thus does not trigger the same activation of the spores' lifecycles as cooking in a vacuum does.
Pictures about "Is the rapid ice bath chill post-sous vide actually necessary when putting the meat/fish in the freezer?"
Quick Answer about "Is the rapid ice bath chill post-sous vide actually necessary when putting the meat/fish in the freezer?"
Chilling meat fully to 5C/40F or less after sous vide is only necessary if you are going to store the meat after sous vide cooking to finish and eat it later. It is important to chill the core of the meat to 5C/40F or less within 2 hours.Do I need to ice bath after sous vide?
The only time you really need to use an ice bath is when you are going to store food for later and it has come right out of the sous vide machine. For example, you cook 5 bags of chicken breasts, eat one for dinner and put the others into your freezer, in the sous vide bags, to eat later.What does ice bath do after sous vide?
Using an ice bath can also improve the taste and appearance of your meat after cooking it sous vide. Once your meat is done, it's important to sear it to get that lovely browned colour and flavourful crust.How do you freeze meat after sous vide?
In order not to give bacteria, or at least insufficient, a chance to multiply too much, or to produce harmful quantities of toxins, you should preferably cool a piece of meat from the sous-vide bath with ice water to sufficiently low temperatures to be able to put it in the freezer. to lay.What is the best temperature to sous vide portion fish and how long?
The recommended cod sous vide temperature ranges from between 125\xb0F to 135\xb0F. Regardless of the chosen temperature setting, preparation time is half an hour to an hour, depending on the portions' size.Is Cooking Sous Vide with Plastic Bags Safe? | Joe Rogan
More answers regarding is the rapid ice bath chill post-sous vide actually necessary when putting the meat/fish in the freezer?
Answer 2
Also, safety aside, cooling in an ice/water bath can be done very rapidly and therefore the freezing in the freezer will create much smaller ice crystals and therefore create a better texture in your reheated product (but that may not be a concern of yours if your reheating salmon in the nuker).
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Mikhail Nilov, Max Vakhtbovych, Anastasiya Gepp, OVAN