Food saver beef ribs


 

PeterD

TVWBB Super Fan
Hi all
I'm not doing my First Brisket of the Season for Smoke Day, I rummaged in the freezer and found a Restaurant Depot double pack of 4-bone beef ribs from A While Ago. Since it's just going to be my wife and me this year, I'm in a bit of a quandry. Do I re-freeze the unused rack, or cook them both? There's no way we'll be able to finish off 8 bones worth of beef, so if I cook both racks can they be food-savered, and heated up again? And if so, how do I lock in moisture so I'm not reheating shoe leather in a few days?

I have never had any luck food savering and reheating brisket (flat)--it invariably turns to a solid moistureless mass every time I try, so I'm a bit nervous about what to do here. Point, on the other hand, well, there are never any leftovers.

Any thoughts? Please-n-thanks.
 
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Hi, id cook it all and freeze the leftovers and use in a really quick tasty chili. living by myself i do it all the time.
 
We've been eating brisket all week from a food saver bag. My wife will heat the bag in water to re-heat. It doesn't dry out at all, point or flat. Much better than trying to re-heat in the oven on a pan. Maybe just vacuum the rib portions the right size to re-heat?
 
My experience with reheating vac-sealed meat is the same as Joe D's. When you have reheated your vac-sealed meat, Peter, did you heat it over the stove in a pot of water, or use some other means?
 
My experience with reheating vac-sealed meat is the same as Joe D's. When you have reheated your vac-sealed meat, Peter, did you heat it over the stove in a pot of water, or use some other means?
Sealed bag into a pot of boiling water for about 20 minutes is my usual reheat process. Works great for pulled pork and half-racks of baby backs.
 
Last year we made a full packer on smoke day, well with just two of us there was a lot of leftovers. I vac sealed the point and quite a bit of the flat.
Over the summer and fall we used up the flat with no problems. In December or January I made Chili with the point vac sealed the leftover part of that. Last night we had the leftover chili and it was great, again no problems. So that point was reheated at least three times after being vac sealed with no loss of flavor or texture.
Like said above how you reheat the meat is going to make a big difference in the outcome. I always try to freeze and reheat in the vac bag if possible.
 
Yup, I do the same. After the fresh brisket dinner is over, I portion out a few chunks of leftover flat, each with just enough for one serving, unsliced, into a vac bag, and freeze. From a decent sized brisket that's usually about 4 or 5 meals worth.

The bag-o-brisket comes out of the freezer and into low-boiling water. About 20-30 minutes later I remove the bag from the pot of boiling water, cut the bag open and slice the chunk. It's never juicy, borderline inedible, and oftentimes the boiling process (over)cooks it into a crumbly mess.

With this experience I'm afraid of this happening to my beef ribs as well. What can/should I be doing differently?
 
I don't boil the water as the results will be overcooked meat. I heat the water to just below a simmer and usually it takes about 15 minuets or less to get warm enough with sliced pieces . With large pieces such as Brisket I defrost in the refrigerator before heating it, same procedure just takes a little longer depending on the size of the piece.
 
Interesting. What temperature do you figure? About 170ish maybe?

A single serving of brisket flat for me is typically about 2.5 to 3" wide, which I then slice up as I would when it was fresh out of holding after smoking.

How should I then preserve these beef ribs? Slice them up into one-bone portions, vacuum seal and freeze? Should I put some beef broth into the packet before sealing, maybe? Or even just a splash of water?
 
So re-heat at ~160 for only 15 minutes? Doesn't seem long enough for a bigger cut. I can see it for a pack of pulled pork. I usually like to straight from freezer to hot water, though, since sometimes we both decide last-minute that we don't want to cook on a particular evening.
 

 

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