Freezing good steaks: What say you?

[Robin Garr]

I thought I'd give this its own space rather than put it in "What's for dinner?" since it might be worth some discussion:

What do you folks think of the idea of freezing good, high-quality steaks?

Here's why I ask: Mary and I have moved over 100 percent to limiting ourselves to meat and poultry that's humanely raised, hormone free, and grown locally where that's reasonable. We're lucky to have easy access to product here, where there's a ready market willing to pay a premium price in the city, and regional farmers in Kentucky and Southern Indiana willing to undertake the effort of providing quality natural meat and poultry as long as the mathematics of the marketplace make sense.

The problem this raises is that sometimes when we buy from farmers' markets, our meat CSA, or from new product arrivals at local markets, we have to buy more fresh meat than we can eat while it's still fresh. The only option (other than not to buy it at all) is to freeze it for later use.

The advantage of this is that I'm now gently thawing an excellent NY Strip from Triple J Farm in Georgetown, Ky., that we bought at a farmers' market in August.

In my experience, this works well. We carefully rinse and dry the fresh meat, wrap it carefully in butcher paper and freeze hard at 0F. Thaw gently, and cook by the high-heat pan-sear, high-heat oven-finish process in a black iron skillet, usually with the help of freshly ground Penzey's Tellicherry pepper, fresh rosemary from the garden and garlic.

To me the texture, aroma and flavor of the finished steak is perfect.

But I know a lot of food experts advise against freezing beef, claiming that texture is irretrievably diminished.

So the question is: Are they silly, or am I? Or other?

Fully agree with you Robin. We are not as picky as you and Mary are. Our custom is to visit BJs once a month. Every third trip we pick out a whole rib eye roast or/and tenderloin. We have the store cut up the rib eye to our specs, and we cut up the tenderloin. When we get them ready for the freezer we just plop them into freezer bags (one in a bag for ribeye, and two for tenderloins); and freeze. They don't lose and iota of flavor.

If you don't have a Food Saver, put one on Santa's list. We just had rib-eyes last night that had been frozen for a month or more. I freeze all sorts of seafoods, meat and poultry. Still yummy.

Fatty cuts and those that are dry aged will freeze better. The more moist/lean the steak, the more it will "bleed" off its blood when you defrost it and may cause texture change. I do keep meat in the freezer, but almost always it is fatty cuts of read meat, game birds, etc. The exception is chicken breast.

If you don't have a Food Saver, put one on Santa's list. We just had rib-eyes last night that had been frozen for a month or more. I freeze all sorts of seafoods, meat and poultry. Still yummy.

That's the way to go Robin, I freeze the meat uncovered and then vacuum seal so you don't suck out the juices or mash the meat.

Drew

Fatty cuts and those that are dry aged will freeze better. The more moist/lean the steak, the more it will "bleed" off its blood when you defrost it and may cause texture change. I do keep meat in the freezer, but almost always it is fatty cuts of read meat, game birds, etc. The exception is chicken breast.

Coming from a family that raised beef cattle I grew up on "frozen" beef. There is really no difference in flavor. Most of the restaurant beef you consume is frozen. ..unless of course you are only eating at restaurants that serve dry aged beef. Even then if they have too much in inventory the "chef" might look both ways, and after wrapping, quickly toss the extras in the freezer. Unless a restaurant cuts their steaks themselves the precut steaks arrive sealed in plastic and usually IQF.

Here at the farmers market all the local meat sold that I have seen is frozen. I think it is required to be.

When I process (as I have for over 40 years) my venison at home I wrap it in plastic wrap and then use a bagging machine with suction. The meat keeps wonderfully and does not freezer burn. During my processing I remove all the fat. Yes the meat will bleed off some blood when thawed but that in part is to due to it's freshness and lack of aging. I always thaw my meat unsealed and rinse it quickly under running cold water.

Note, I have also purchased beef years ago in rural Uruguay that was so fresh that it hadn't even had time to cool!

If you don't have a Food Saver, put one on Santa's list. We just had rib-eyes last night that had been frozen for a month or more. I freeze all sorts of seafoods, meat and poultry. Still yummy.

Karen, I have been using a Tilia FoodSaver for several years now, and swear by the machine. Being a machine it doesn't last forever and this past summer I replaced my old model 550 with a better easier to use model. I buy most of my meat sat Sam's Club (the horror!) but it is a local fact that Sam's has by far thew best meat for the $$ of anywhere else (local). I buy whole rib eyes and have them cut to 1.5 - 1.75 inch thickness, I vacuum pack one per package, and am not adverse to keeping them 6 months in their plastic. Never any freezer burn, never any darkening color, and never any stale off flavor. I do ground chuck, stew meat, bacon, chicken parts, sausages, cheeses, and a host of other items too, even including nuts, cooking or baking chocolate etc. I also use the machine to pack less often used food items such as brown sugar. I put it in a canning jar (pint, or quart as needed) set the lid on the jar, and seal it. Brown sugar stays soft and usable for seemingly forever. BTW folks, I am NF$ re FoodSaver.

If you don't have a Food Saver, put one on Santa's list. We just had rib-eyes last night that had been frozen for a month or more. I freeze all sorts of seafoods, meat and poultry. Still yummy.

Karen, I have been using a Tilia FoodSaver for several years now, and swear by the machine. Being a machine it doesn't last forever and this past summer I replaced my old model 550 with a better easier to use model. I buy most of my meat sat Sam's Club (the horror!) but it is a local fact that Sam's has by far thew best meat for the $$ of anywhere else (local). I buy whole rib eyes and have them cut to 1.5 - 1.75 inch thickness, I vacuum pack one per package, and am not adverse to keeping them 6 months in their plastic. Never any freezer burn, never any darkening color, and never any stale off flavor. I do ground chuck, stew meat, bacon, chicken parts, sausages, cheeses, and a host of other items too, even including nuts, cooking or baking chocolate etc. I also use the machine to pack less often used food items such as brown sugar. I put it in a canning jar (pint, or quart as needed) set the lid on the jar, and seal it. Brown sugar stays soft and usable for seemingly forever. BTW folks, I am NF$ re FoodSaver.

I am on my third food saver. I have used the savers so much in processing game that I wore them out. Also being just two of us it is hard many times to purchase just the "right amount" of meat for a meal for 2.

[Robin Garr]

I am on my third food saver. I have used the savers so much in processing game that I wore them out. Also being just two of us it is hard many times to purchase just the "right amount" of meat for a meal for 2.

I see a lot of you praising the FoodSaver, which certainly gets my attention. That said, though, Mary has made a science of freezing food using traditional (simple, cheap) methods, including quickly freezing fresh, rinsed and dried meat tightly wrapped in butcher paper, and coating poultry and fish with water before freezing so they're encased in a layer of ice, then using butcher paper to wrap the result before it thaws.

Bottom line: The results speak for themselves for us. We never seem to have problems with freezer burn, dried out product, texture loss, etc. We do take care to keep a freezer inventory, carefully follow a first-in, first-out procedure, and in general use the product within a couple of months. (Last night's steak was an aberration because it got lost in the inventory and was four months old, but it still showed no sign of freezer burn or drying, and tasted great.)

Point is, I'm sure the FoodSaver is good at what it does, and it's probably easier than going through these finicky procedures. But I'm not sure it yields a better result than what we do. Thoughts?

Robin, since I have never used your ice coating method, I cannot speak to that. However, I am certainly a Food Saver fan and am also on my third one. One thing I do is reuse my bags. I hear so many people complain about the price of bags, but I rarely have to buy them. We wash all used bags in hot water and soap, dry with a paper towel and then hang them on a dryer that Gene made for me. It is simply a rectangular flat piece of wood that he drilled eight holes into and glued rubber tipped dowels. I hang the bags overnight to dry completely. They do get so small that they no longer can be used, but even small hunks of cheese may fit into some very small bags. I also reuse all my zip lock freezer bags using the same cleaning procedure. Our kids laugh when they are home and need a storage bag. They are all stored in a jumbo bag and it is not unusual for them to pull out a bag marked: chicken backs for stock, which is crossed out and under that it says, pork chops which is crossed out and so on. I keep using the bags with the same type of foods, even though I know they are very clean, I just feel better about it.

[Robin Garr]

I am certainly a Food Saver fan and am also on my third one.

Well, it sounds great, and your admiration says a lot, Karen. Mary is really hard to convince when it comes to new kitchen appliances, tools and toys, though! She says we have too many already. Imagine that!

Point is, I'm sure the FoodSaver is good at what it does, and it's probably easier than going through these finicky procedures. But I'm not sure it yields a better result than what we do. Thoughts?

I have actually had positive results keeping meat frozen for over a year on a regular basis. From time to time I have found meat that has been bagged, vacuumed, and frozen for over two years. Unless the seal has been broken we have not noticed any real negative effects from the long period of freezing. After years of wrapping meat in butcher paper I find the bagging process once you are used to it to be faster. Another positive aspect is that in the case of sausage it seals in the odors completely.

My experience is that steak that has been frozen isn't as good as steak that has not been. Eg, if I buy four pieces of the same meat, cook two straight away and freeze the other two to cook later, the frozen and thawed ones always seem to be less good than the ones cooked straight away. But it's a small difference, not a huge descent into inedibility. If the meat is really good, even with a small loss of quality it is going to be fine.

[Jenise]

Point is, I'm sure the FoodSaver is good at what it does, and it's probably easier than going through these finicky procedures. But I'm not sure it yields a better result than what we do. Thoughts?

Bob and I smoke 20 pounds of Salmon filets every summer and snack on it for another year. We vacuum pack it with a Food Saver. The result seems almost immortal--I lost a piece in the freezer for two years, and it showed no wear and tear than a piece frozen just three months ago. And believe me, any degradation of texture or flavor I'd have picked up on IMMEDIATELY and that fish would have been gull food.

[Robin Garr]

Bob and I smoke 20 pounds of Salmon filets every summer and snack on it for another year. We vacuum pack it with a Food Saver. The result seems almost immortal--I lost a piece in the freezer for two years, and it showed no wear and tear than a piece frozen just three months ago. And believe me, any degradation of texture or flavor I'd have picked up on IMMEDIATELY and that fish would have been gull food.

Yeah, I'm picking up that the Food Saver is huge for long-term freezing, and that's interesting to me in theory, but I doubt Mary would vote to get one since we buy so much locavore/natural stuff that keeps the freezer on the edge of implosion. Mary runs a tight FIFO program, and we wouldn't be likely to freeze anything longer than two or three months. Since we're also on a "get rid of junk and toys we don't play with much" program, I don't think I could make a compelling case for one. Sounds impressive, though.

[Jenise]

Since we're also on a "get rid of junk and toys we don't play with much" program, I don't think I could make a compelling case for one. Sounds impressive, though.

It is; that said, until I started smoking salmon I never felt a need for one at all. Double wrapping most things met all my freezing needs.

I've been told that if you have a self-defrosting freezer, you need to vacuum seal seafood, meats and poultry, because the frost free have a drying effect on the meats. I was told this by a butcher, who cuts meat for a living. My husband told me this as well. Since I've only had frost free freezers and have always either double wrapped my meat and now use a Food Saver, I do not have anything to compare this statement to. I do know that when I get lazy and throw a chunk of meat into a freezer bag, and forget about it, it always has freezer burn when I finally find it again.

I've been told that if you have a self-defrosting freezer, you need to vacuum seal seafood, meats and poultry, because the frost free have a drying effect on the meats. I was told this by a butcher, who cuts meat for a living. My husband told me this as well. Since I've only had frost free freezers and have always either double wrapped my meat and now use a Food Saver, I do not have anything to compare this statement to. I do know that when I get lazy and throw a chunk of meat into a freezer bag, and forget about it, it always has freezer burn when I finally find it again.

We are talking to the wall Karen, however I will admit that the wall has a point or two in it's favor.