Should a sous-vide-cooked meat be frozen then reheated?

New to sous-vide, I was wondering, once you are done cooking, will it degrade the quality of the meat if I freeze it then reheat it back? The method of reheating probably matters, but let's say I am gonna re-sous-vide it back to eating temp. Also, this is for pork if it's relevant.

pork sous-vide

Best Answer

This shouldn't be a problem. What I recommend is to go in this order:

Don't pre-salt the food, other seasonings are fine but anything with a high sodium content should be left out
Cook to your desired temp (and I would recommend pasteurizing since it's not a direct serve situation
Pull food from bath and plunge immediately into an ice bath filled about half and half with cold water and ice to rapidly drop the temp of the food
Once chilled, put in freezer to store, leave them directly in the bag your cooking with. If your using ziplocks I would suggest wrapping them in plastic wrap and then putting them back in the ziplock before freezing.
When it's time to reheat, repeat your sous vide process from the initial cook. It will take the same amount of time it initially took to bring the core up to temp + the time it will take to unthaw the food in the bath. Reheating direct from frozen is your best bet for quality.
Post-sear the food and add salt at that point. Adding salt at this point will prevent the food from taking on a cured texture when it is frozen and held for a period of time.
Enjoy!

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Should a sous-vide-cooked meat be frozen then reheated? - Cooked Food on White Ceramic Plate

Should a sous-vide-cooked meat be frozen then reheated? - Grilled Meat on Black Charcoal Grill

Should a sous-vide-cooked meat be frozen then reheated? - Grilled Meat With Green Leaves

Quick Answer about "Should a sous-vide-cooked meat be frozen then reheated?"

Frozen thick pieces of meat will not be warm enough on the inside from pan-searing only, and should be defrosted and reheated sous vide before searing. You can use a lower temperature to (defrost and) reheat sous vide cooked meat, as that will slightly limit the loss of juices.

Can you freeze meat after cooking in sous vide?

It is totally fine to freeze food after sous vide because sous vide is also used in the food industry to extend the shelf life of cooked foods. Following pasteurization, the food must be immediately chilled in its vacuum-sealed bag and refrigerated or freeze until needed.

Can I reheat sous vide meat?

When using the sous vide, you are able to reheat it to the specific degree you need, without overcooking. Once reheated, you can just give it a quick sear and voila! A fresh crust again with a perfectly cooked inside. We are reheating it just under the original temperature to ensure it will not overcook.

Can you use sous vide to reheat frozen food?

If you've used vacuum-sealed packaging, one great way to reheat or cook from frozen is the sous vide method.

Can you sous vide meat twice?

Yes you can do this. The important thing to do is quick chill your steak in an ice/water bath. This helps limit the time that the steak is in the danger zone.

Sous Vide REHEATING Experiment - Wagyu Steak, Sausages and Pork!

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Images: Ron Lach, ROMAN ODINTSOV, Dimitri C, Ruslan Khmelevsky