So I took, actually 2 6lb. rib roasts for Christmas dinner out of the freezer on Saturday, having googled that 5 days should be plenty to thaw them.
But I just checked them and they have some surface give, but still seem mostly frozen. I’ve googled solutions and I think I have a decent handle on what to do (AI advice below, which seems sound), but I wanted to get all your advice and thoughts.
Yes, you can cook a mostly frozen rib roast, but it will take significantly longer (around 50% more time), requires patience, and needs a low-and-slow approach to cook evenly, ideally using a thermometer and resting it well to avoid a burnt outside and cold inside. You can start at a high heat briefly for searing, then drop the temperature to cook through, or use a covered Dutch oven for slow, even cooking, but a probe thermometer is essential for safety and perfection.
Method: Oven Roast (Low & Slow)
Prep: Pat the frozen roast dry and apply your seasonings (dry rub is great).
Sear (Optional but Recommended): Place on a rack in a pan and roast at a higher temp (450°F) for 25-30 mins to get some color.
Lower Heat: Reduce oven temp to 300-375°F.
Cook: Cook for approximately 20-35 minutes per pound, depending on desired doneness (rare vs. medium). Use a meat thermometer to check internal temp, aiming for about 10-15 degrees below your final target.
Rest: Once done, remove, tent tightly with foil, and let it rest for 20-40 minutes; the temperature will rise and even out.
Tips & Considerations
<<Time is Key: Expect it to take roughly 1.5 to 2 hours longer than a thawed roast.
Thermometer is Mandatory: A probe thermometer is your best friend for ensuring doneness without guesswork.
Uneven Cooking Risk: Be patient; rushing will burn the outside before the inside thaws and cooks.
Best for Flavor?: Some chefs find cooking from frozen locks in moisture and yields great flavor, but it requires careful temperature management.
Here’s what I would do. Pat the roasts dry and season liberally with kosher salt and pepper. Allow to rest in the fridge, uncovered and unwrapped, for as long as you have. At least five hours before you want to eat, turn your oven on to 200F. Insert a temperature probe (if you have a thermometer equipped with a probe you can leave in the roast in the oven) into the thickest part of the roast. Let it go for three hours, then start checking the probe for temperature. The closer you get to your target temp, the more often you want to check it, but 135F is perfect for medium-rare. Once you hit your target, remove the roast from the oven and tent it loosely with foil. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes, or as long as 90 minutes. In the meantime, crank your oven to 550F. Put the roast back into the oven - without the foil tent - fat side up, for eight minutes. Remove, slice, and serve. No need to rest.
This reverse-sear method is more fool-proof, and results in even less of a gray band than the high-low method you’ve outlined. If you do the high heat first to get a good sear, first the oven needs to dry the surface of the meat before it develops that wonderful crust, and while the surface moisture is evaporating, it’s also cooking the meat just below for the entire searing time (probably 20 minutes). If you start low, that surface moisture will evaporate while the meat is coming up to temperature slowly, and by the time you hit your target temperature, not only will the meat be a more uniform temp throughout, but the surface will be dry, so the searing process goes much faster and results in a smaller gray band.
Now, if it’s REALLY solid in the middle, I’d leave it on the counter for as long as possible tonight, then put it in the fridge. Bear in mind that this what I would do, not what I’d recommend anybody else would do. I would not recommend anybody do anything that runs the risk of getting anybody sick, and leaving a large hunk of raw meat on the counter for hours violates a lot of food safety guidance. It’s just what I would do.
I would consider brining them, frozen, as described here. If they are still a bit frozen when you need to cook them, I would do it for longer or at a lower temperature and use a meat thermometer. But I am not a cook or chef, this is just what I would do.
I would dig out my sous vide setup, put the roast in a large ziplock bag, and set it to whatever your desired doneness is. The sous vide setup I basically never use, but damn, it would help in this case.
I’d also shove a wireless thermometer into the heart of the roast to make sure it actually came up to temp.
Shortly before serving, I’d take it out of the bag, pat it dry with paper towels, dust with salt and pepper, and sear it in as hot an oven as i was comfortable with, with the convection fan on.
If i didn’t have a sous vide setup, I’d leave it cold water in a big pot probably overnight. I’d probably leave it in my garage, which is cooler than room temp, but not as cold as a fridge. Then I’d cook the thawed meat. But like ricepad, i don’t recommend anyone else do that. And if you do it despite violating food safety rules, use a good thermometer, and make sure you cook it thoroughly. Look up the integrated temperature/time charts (used for sous vide) because of you are willing to let the meat hang out (rest) at a moderately high temp, you don’t need to cook the hell out of it to pasteurize it.
I’m going in an unpopular direction - tonight I’d use microwave defrost each set at half their weights and then back in fridge. By morning should be more close to fully defrosted. If still hard then another vote for reverse sear. I might do the cook in the smoker.
Another option is the same used for turkeys that need a quicker defrost. Sealed in a plastic bag in a bowl of water in the fridge overnight.
Oh, also, I have two refrigerators. The main one, in the kitchen, keeps things very cold. This is great, because most foods keep longer at just above freezing than at a warmer temp. But it sucks for defrosting. When I need to defrost something of any size, I put it in the basement fridge and turn the temp to as warm as it goes. It’s still cool. It’s still within food safety guidelines. But it’s a lot warmer than my kitchen fridge, and that make a big difference.
I suspect your fridge is colder than whatever the standard was when those defrosting guidelines were written. It doesn’t help you to know that this time, but it’s something to think about for next time.