Over the years my freezer has basically become meat purgatory. I’ll buy plus packs of meats, cook half and freeze the rest for later.  Well, later never happens and after a year or two I end up throwing the frost encrusted, freezer-burned meat”cicles” away.  This year, I have resolved to clean out my freezer and actually eat some of these meats and save myself some serious cash in the process.  

This is my freezer, aka Meat Purgatory.

If you’re a loyal reader you might remember the Cowboy Cut Ribeye Steaks I cooked a few years ago, I had two steaks left over that I had vacuum sealed and frozen.  I have known these steaks were in the freezer and I had every intention of cooking them sooner, but I never got around to it.  After two long years, I’m finally going to eat these bad boys.  Allegedly vacuumed sealed and frozen beef is good for up to three year. I guess we’re about to find out.

Slow cooking the Rib Eye Steaks

I recently read some articles about the perils of defrosting frozen steaks before cooking them. The jist of the articles was to just cook the steaks and not defrost them.  Since these steaks were pretty thick I decided a reverse sear would be the way to go.  Cooking the steaks at a low heat would be perfect for defrosting/cooking the steaks and then finishing them off with a good searing to build up that flavorful crust.

Searing the Steaks

I fired up the BGE and dropped in the plate setter for indirect cooking. I placed the frozen steaks on great and inserted the thermometer probe and set the alarm for 115º.  The BGE was cooking at 250º and it took about an hour for the steaks to defrost and reach the internal temp.  I pulled the steaks off and allowed them to rest for a bit.  I removed the grate and flipped the cast iron plate setter over and let it get smoking hot.  Once the plate was good and hot I threw the steaks back on to sear.  When searing, I like to keep the steaks moving, flipping and turning until I get a good sear all over the surface of the steak.  

A perfectly cooked medium rare steak.

I had a lot riding on this steak, vacuum sealing, no defrosting and a reverse sear.  It could be a succulent success or a total freaking disaster.  The steak looks great and got a nice crust from the sear.  I sliced it and it’s looking pretty good, almost all of the meat is a perfect medium rare.  Now, for the moment of truth, the taste…and it’s delicious.  The slow cooking gave the steak a really good smoke flavor.  The texture and flavor of the meat was as good as a fresh cut steak.  Although, I wouldn’t serve it to dinner guests, I doubt anyone would be able to taste the difference.

I will call this a succulent success.  I really like the low and slow reverse sear with a frozen steak.  It’s really convienent to just throw the steak on the grill and let it start cooking.  This is definitely a technique I’m going to perfect and there’s a ton of meat in my freezer to practice with.