Thaw frozen meat using your sous vide?

WeberWho

Have any of you thawed out frozen meat using your sous vide? I'd imagine it's somehow possible. I have a couple pork butts in the deep freeze that I need to cook up sometime around Christmas. I'm looking to thaw out and cook on the egg. I could just cook them frozen on the egg if need but my sous vide had me thinking.....

GregW

I think you can thaw them in the refrigerator in a few days time.
You could use the SV, but I think it might be risky from a food safety standpoint. The heat output of the SV is relatively low compared to the thermal mass of the butts. I believe it would take a long time to thaw, and the meat would spend a long time in the danger temp zone. 
I wouldn't be worried about thawing something with low mass such as a chicken breast in the SV, it would thaw quickly.

Photo Egg

I bet you could, but I would just pull out of freezer now and it will warm up enough by Christmas to hold the rub sitting in the fridge,
But I’m sure you could SV to thaw depending on how low you can set your SV. But I know meat picks up smoke at its lowers temps so I wouldn’t want to start it on the Egg at room temp.

FanOfFanboys

I do it all the time. Never for something as large as a butt but steaks and pork chops. It's really quick. Just set to lowest temp and turn on. The moving water thaws it quickly

Photo Egg

FanOfFanboys said:

I do it all the time. Never for something as large as a butt but steaks and pork chops. It's really quick. Just set to lowest temp and turn on. The moving water thaws it quickly

What is your lowest setting?

EastTNBGE

Photo Egg said:

FanOfFanboys said:

I do it all the time. Never for something as large as a butt but steaks and pork chops. It's really quick. Just set to lowest temp and turn on. The moving water thaws it quickly

What is your lowest setting?

I always use the SV to thaw frozen meats, so quick and easy. For smaller mass items like steaks, I use 50 degree F.  The SV that I have will go down to 32 so I might use closer to that for a large item like a pork butt.  

BigGreenKev

Sure do but haven't done anything that large.  I use it for days I forget to pull out protein to thaw.  I think mine goes down to like 68 degrees and I figure it's like leaving it on the counter during the day to thaw before cooking.

FanOfFanboys

Photo Egg said:

FanOfFanboys said:

I do it all the time. Never for something as large as a butt but steaks and pork chops. It's really quick. Just set to lowest temp and turn on. The moving water thaws it quickly

What is your lowest setting?

32 degrees. The moving water really helps with time

Canugghead

My go to method with aquarium pump. No heat needed, in fact I added ice cubes to keep it safe.  Got the idea from commercial kitchen defrosting sink that wastes tons of water with running tap.
https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1189388/defrosting-frozen-meat-with-aquarium-pump

caliking

Canugghead said:

My go to method with aquarium pump. No heat needed, in fact I added ice cubes to keep it safe.  Got the idea from commercial kitchen defrosting sink that wastes tons of water with running tap.
https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1189388/defrosting-frozen-meat-with-aquarium-pump

Nice.

 If there's a hack out there, Gary, you either know it or invented it!

nolaegghead

So I think what we concluded here is:  if your SV can manage a setpoint under 40F, you can use it primarily for the recirc pump and maybe heating to 40 or less.  Problem is catching it before it sits for hours/days above 40.

Canugghead

nolaegghead said:

So I think what we concluded here is:  if your SV can manage a setpoint under 40F, you can use it primarily for the recirc pump and maybe heating to 40 or less.  Problem is catching it before it sits for hours/days above 40.

Great point, see the temp probe wire in my cooler? It was set to 42 to alert me it's time to add ice. Not necessary this time of year since the porch is like a fridge.

Canugghead

caliking said:

Canugghead said:

My go to method with aquarium pump. No heat needed, in fact I added ice cubes to keep it safe.  Got the idea from commercial kitchen defrosting sink that wastes tons of water with running tap.
https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1189388/defrosting-frozen-meat-with-aquarium-pump

Nice.

 If there's a hack out there, Gary, you either know it or invented it!

Haha, have to confess swmbo complains about living with broken stuff because I go overbroad with fixing and hacking 

Hotch

I have a few times. Just set it at 32 and fill container with cold tap water.

dannys

If I have a container big enough to hold the meat, I just trickle cold water over it until it is thawed. Put the meat in the container, put the container in the sink then start the cold water. It will soon be thawed.

If I'm cooking steaks or chops or something sous vide. I don't bother to defrost the meat. I just start cooking it straight from the freezer.

WeberWho

Thanks guys. I thawed them out in the fridge. I was just curious how that would have worked. 

Ozzie_Isaac

You can also smoke the butts frozen.  After the surface softens up a bit, add your seasoning.  Just takes longer.

@Canugghead your defroster is the bee's knees.  Thank you for sharing.

jtcBoynton

Immersion circulators work great for defrosting. Set the circulator to 32°F so it doesn’t add any heat. Use a remote probe thermometer set to 40° if you are concerned about it getting too warm.