Pre-searing before freezing for sous vide

Hi mates - I'm at uni for medicine and live in a student hall, which means I have very little time and limited access to kitchens. So, I like to prep a lot of food in advance and pop it in the freezer.

I have a sous vide circulator. I'm thinking of pre-searing a bunch of steaks, chicken, fish, etc., then vacuum sealing them, then freezing them, and then transferring straight from the freezer to the water bath. That way, I can have food that has been seared even if I can't get to a kitchen that night.

Is there any reason why I can't pre-sear food before freezing?

Thanks very much!

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Comments

stenehjemj

I'm not sure what others would suggest but I would pre-sear and completely cook the proteins in the water bath before freezing it. Pull it out and warm to serving temp right before serving. You can sear again at this point if you want a nice crust.

Pre-searing is a good idea for many applications.

tshewman

I would tend to agree fully with Jeff, although I'm not certain about presearing fish (?). Lamb can have off flavors with a pre sear and some have proposed grass-fed beef (though I haven't personally had any negative affects with the grass fed I buy).

Jeff_Danpff_182876

Let us know how this works out graham!

richard.fine

I've done this before - though I actually froze the meat first, then seared it, then bagged it and put it back in the freezer, in an approximation of cryofrying. From a food safety point of view, I think it's safe - certainly I had no ill effects - and from a result quality point of view it was fine, though pre-seared never gives that dry crust you get from a post-sear. Maybe you could hide a blowtorch somewhere and pull it out for a quick refresh