Short-notice plans have my folks coming into town tomorrow. I have a fantastically marbled, 6- or 7-pound chuck roast I vacuum sealed a while back. A frozen chuck roast.
Putting it in tomorrow won’t work timing-wise.
Can I just, I don’t know, drop it in the cooker around seven or eight tonight, set it to low, and let it cook until three or four tomorrow afternoon? Um, without poisoning my family, that is.
Can I sear it? The frozenness will actually help keep it balanced on its edge, won’t it? Sear it as normal (leave a cast iron on high for ten to fifteen minutes before plomping it in) or do I need something of a thaw? Hell, do I need to sear it? I’ve never thought it optional, but is it?
And hey, Mrs. Devil just made a hearty summer borcht–that’d make a good add, won’t it? Who needs onion soup mix?
Can you thaw it quickly in the sink? Just fill with cold water and let the water trickle into the sink. I would think (uneducated) that 2 hours would be enough. Then after 2 hours, sear as normal and slow cook it.
Pull it out now, put it in a pot in your sink, with the vacuum bag still on it and let cold water run over it, fill the pot and spill over into the sink. Cold water. It’ll be thawed out in a few hours. Whatever isn’t thawed out, will finish thawing out overnight in the fridge overnight. If there’s anything still frozen in the center, it’ll cook out during the day tomorrow. Again, use cold water, this is the FDA approved way to thaw frozen meat. After two hours put it in the fridge.
You could, if you want, cut it in half when you put it back in the fridge, that’ll help it finish thawing overnight, but I think you’ll be amazed at how much it’ll thaw with just cold water running over it.
Ack, only have a couple hours left tonight and cooking it tomorrow morning isn’t feasible–way too much going on to get it in there at any reasonable time.
So it’s thaw and cook ‘normally’ or poison everyone. I think we’ll get Chinese.
Thaw it for a few hours (as described) tonight. Then, get everything set up in the crock tonight and toss it in the fridge. Tomorrow morning toss the crock in the slow cooker and turn it on. If you’re worried, set an alarm to go off at, say, 4 or 5am, toss it in then and go back to bed. That would give you over 12 hours. Also, I know I mentioned it for thawing, but even for cooking, you can cut it in half to speed things along.
I say drop it in your slow cooker on low while it’s still in the bag and let it cook until the company arrives. This is basically how sous vide cooking works. Just check with a thermometer to make sure your water is above 140 degrees (160-170 would be ideal) and you should be fine safety-wise. I’ve cooked a chuck roast for over 60 hours at 141 degrees numerous times and nobody has gotten sick (yes, I know, it’s anecdotal). When you take the roast out of the water use a thermometer to verify that the internal temp is at least 140 degrees; that’s plenty above the safe temperature. See this sous vide chart for pasteurization levels of beef.
You can probably make a gravy out of the juice left in the bag and make a great meal out of it. Chuck roast has a ton of flavor.
Take a look at the chart I linked and the web page it’s on. It is based on published research on pathogens in meat which shows when meat is pasteurized and safe to eat.
According to the research the FDA is overly cautious. Which makes some sense since the FDA is making recommendations for idiots as well as chefs and from a safety perspective it’s better to overcook than undercook.
I agree with you that 140F is fine, but it doesn’t matter. This is a chuck roast, and I assume the end result that is desired is pot-roast style fall-apart meat. You’re gonna need to get the meat to around 185-200F in a normal slowcooker before it gets to that type of texture. Slow-cooked chuck pulled at 140F is gonna be tough. (ETA: Maybe 60 hours in a sous vide will allow the collagen to break down enough, but in a regular ol’ crock pot, that’s nowhere near enough time at 140F.)
Cooking the roast at 160-170 degrees for 24 hours (in water) should melt all the collagen and make it tender but I agree that it won’t have the consistency of a pot roast.
I often put frozen food in the Crockpot around 7:00 a.m. and it is cooked and good to eat by 5:00 p.m. I believe the appliance directions caution against this, but the food turns out just fine and we aren’t dead yet.
I happen to be in the same situation… I laid out a frozen chuck roast b/c my husband and son are coming home tomorrow.
I plan on putting it frozen in the crockpot tonight on low… it will be fine, I’ve done it before. I won’t served it until around 24 hours from now… the only worry I have is that it appears to be a little freezer burnt around the edges… so either it turns out okay in the end or I toss it.
But I’m not worrying about food poisoning or anything, because I’ve done this a lot. Of course, not applicable if you want to sear it, but I’ve done that before too and I really can’t tell the difference.
You know, that’s actually an interesting question. I’ve never tried anything for that long in a slow cooker, much less in a bag in water. I do wonder how well that would work. I haven’t been sold on sous vide, but I’m curious how this would turn out.
I’m a bit late to the discussion, but I have a response to the question of whether or not it’s necessary to sear a roast before slow cooking. I’ve done it both ways many times and have had no problems either way, even staying on low temp. I don’t think it’s necessary but I like the way it looks. It adds a bit of contrast in color.