1 week Ago By [email protected] (Bobby Lewis)
Sous vide can be the secret to getting a restaurant-quality cook out of any protein, even a frozen steak — with one catch. Hervé Malivert , director of culinary affairs at the Institute of Culinary Education 's New York City campus, explained that successfully cooking a frozen steak sous vide largely depends on its air exposure, or lack thereof. The sous vide method cooks food in a vacuum sealed plastic bag, which is then immersed in water heated to a precise and constant temperature.
"You can technically cook frozen steak sous vide, but if the steak was not vacuum sealed before freezing, you will not be able to extract all the air from the steak to do a proper vacuum," Malivert revealed. Vacuum sealing can squeeze more air out of a fresh, malleable steak than it can with one that's already frozen solid. Malivert further explained that any air that was frozen inside the steak could upend the quality of your final product.
"The air trapped inside the bag will cause it to float, which will result in uneven temperatures and cooking," he noted. How to cook a frozen steak sous vide Hervé Malivert's recommendations for a sous vide frozen steak start like many other dishes, with great ingredients. "I usually purchase steak fresh, marinate it for a day or a few hours, and then bag and freeze it," he commented.
As for flavors, he advised, "I recommend just oil, thyme, and salt (milder flavors) if you're adding it to the sous vide bag." If Malivert's marinade sounds basic, you should know that many restaurant-worthy steak marinades only require three ingredients . And with sous vide, including wetter marinades in the bag can lead to messy, incomplete vacuum seals and overpowering flavors.
Add just a small amount (if any) of marinade to the bag for best results. With the frozen steak ready to go, Malivert told us, "For cook time, I set my circulator at 55 [degrees Celsius] and cook for at least two hours for a 2-inch steak (less time if the steak is thinner)." The precision cooking of sous vide elevates thinner, cheaper cuts of meat , including the humble skirt steak, a steak we deemed only worth cooking if you marinate it .
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