Frozen Steak!

Who in their right mind would buy a steak for dinner that night and put it in the freezer prior to cooking it? I do.

Found this method on the test kitchen on YouTube and it has become my favorite way to prepare a steak. As opposed to sou vide or a reverse sear, this sears your steak first and cooks low and slow to temp. The result is very similar. A very evenly cooked steak that remains very very juicy. As long as you have a meat thermometer it is hard to screw this up.

Here are the general steps.
1. Pat the steak dry
2. Season your steak. Salt and pepper and maybe garlic powder.
3. Place the steak on a cooling rack and place in the freezer for a min of 30-60 min. Can be done days ahead of time but be careful it doesn’t get freezer burned.
4. Pull steak out for 5-10 minutes to let the surface soften slightly before putting it on the grill.
5. Place on a blazing hot grill. Preferably with a cast iron grate for crowd pleasing grill marks. They actually add flavor too.
6. Sear 1.5-2.5 minutes and make 1/4 turn. Repeat for both sides.
7. Set your grill for indirect cooking at 200-250F.
8. Insert meat thermometer and cook indirect until the steak reaches 120-130F.
9. Let it rest for 10 minutes
10. Enjoy!

The benefit here is to reduce the amount of grey (over cooked) meat. I’ll admit that sou vide or reverse sear does this as well or better on thick steaks but doesn’t really work on thinner steaks and in my opinion is more work than freezing it. I’ve done this 3-4 times now and have liked the flavor better than sou vide.

Give it a try next time.

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I forgot to mention I did this on a bone-in strip steak (KC strip) tonight. I’ve done it on porterhouse as well. I wouldn’t hesitate to do this on a ribeye or a filet too.

Ohh. Looks excellent. I will try. I see that Cub has 50% off steaks this Thursday – Sunday!

What really PPPiiiiiiiZZZZZZ me off with all this health kick trying to find a decent steak that actually has fat on it so it will seer hard enough. I like to throw my steak on hot coals let it flame up to seer it flip it over seer the other close the lid to finish cooking. For me charcoal is the only way to cook steak.

Tom P. wrote:

For me charcoal is the only way to cook steak.

Obviously.

I’ll admit that I like the smoky flavor from the charcoal but I like the sear from cast iron grates a little more. Cast iron grates over a charcoal grill would be best.

I don’t think lean steaks have anything to do with a health kick. It has to do with cost. A fattier, well marbled steak will cost more. A prime steak will cost a small fortune.

I have not been able to find a better steak than what I find at Festival Foods. Many of their steaks border on the edge of choice and prime. But you pay the cost of choice. I highly recommend festival if you have one in the area. Porterhouse and t-bone are on sale this week.

biggill wrote:

Cast iron grates over a charcoal grill would be best.

I’ve been contemplating going this route for a while…

Cast Iron Grill Grate for 22 Inch Weber Kettle Grill

Cast Iron Grill Grates

Do it. If you’re not getting thick grill marks on your steaks and chops, you’re missing out.

I’d upgrade my charcoal Weber kettle with cast iron grates if it wasn’t 20 years old.

biggill wrote:

I’d upgrade my charcoal Weber kettle with cast iron grates if it wasn’t 20 years old.

20? That’s a young one. My dad bought a new Weber last year. Based on the marks, his old one was from 1979–it now resides with my sister and BIL.

biggill wrote:

Who in their right mind would buy a steak for dinner that night and put it in the freezer prior to cooking it? I do.

2 1 1/4″ Ribeye streight from the freezer turned out awsome with a great crust and no over cooked meat on the edges.

Staying at my aunts for a while and last night here from aunt telling her husbund to take out the ribbeye and thaw them out in the microwave to get ready to cook. “NOoooo!!! Don’t, do that I somewhat politely say, I have a better way to try. So explain the method I want to try and boy did I get a look from my aunts hubby but being the favorite nephew I get the go ahead with a bit of moping from the hubby.

Simple oven method, hubby said to much trouble for the webber.

preheat oven to 275 degrees

Take ribbeye out of freezer wipe any crystallization and moisture off
and salt and pepper generously.

Heat cast iron or stainless steel pan with 1/16″ to 1\8” of to the point oil smokes.
Pan sear frozen ribbeye for 90 seconds each side so you get a nice crust.

place seared ribbeye on a cooling rack in baking sheet in 275 degree oven.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or 125 degree internal meat temp

Do not rest serve immediately.

For the rest of the story;

Pulled the steak out of the oven and placed steak on aunts husbands or plate to cut off some for my aunt. The cut shocked me it was grey and brown, he cut right down the fat vein. The second cut pure, perfect medium rare red from top to bottom.

Awesome. I like to think I’ve made a difference in the world.

That you have, that you have!!,

I’m going to have to give this a shot.

It’s also time to turn in the gas grill. I had a cover, but that got destroyed by the sun and in 3 years the grill has rusty grates, flare guards and drip pan. It’s a little to late to save it.

Since I have a long commute now and don’t grill during the week, I am going to pick up a durable Weber. I’m looking forward to charcoaling again.

I’ll see if I can find the YouTube video that I learned this from.

I believe it was from the test kitchen.

That’s pretty cool. I couldn’t find the next step video, although you already talked about the grilling instructions.

I found a similar tip for making crispy wings on the grill. It’s the same exact prep as the video you shared. It draws some of the moisture out of the skin of the chicken. Just make sure you use corn starch. I once accidentally used baking soda…I am not kidding.

Grilling steak seams straight forward, but there are so many cool tips to doing it better what make you say, “That makes sense”.

I’ve been cooking chicken breasts straight from the freezer for few years. They come out much juicier. Hardest part of it is adding seasonings as most just bounce right off. I typically let it cook for a minute so the surface has a bit of moisture to stick to.

Just need to slow down the cook time a bit.

There’s another video I watched about when to season meat. Steaks were the subject in the video I watched.

It said that it is always better to season your meat at least 15-30 prior to cooking. A chemical reaction happens I think??

Anyway it obviously seasons the meat for taste but also helps to build a more robust crust by removing a little moisture from the surface of the meat.