I want to batch four chicken breasts and two pork chops on a Sunday and sear one on whichever night I need it. I have a vacuum sealer, a normal fridge, no blast chiller and a small freezer. What is the routine people actually follow for chilling, and how many days do you personally trust before it goes in the freezer instead?
I fill the sink about half with ice before adding water, and a chicken breast bag is cold through in roughly half an hour, a thick pork chop closer to forty five minutes. I use three days in the fridge as my personal line and anything beyond that goes to the freezer at the point of chilling, not after it has sat around for two days first. Freezing after a cook is the best-tasting thing I do - the reheat in a warm bath is much kinder than a microwave.
I do both routes and the split is by protein rather than by day. Chicken gets frozen unless it is being eaten within about two days, pork chops hold better and I am relaxed about three. Reheat goes back in the bath at a few degrees under the cooking temperature so you are not cooking it a second time, then dry hard and sear fast.
I used to leave bags on the counter to come down before the fridge because I did not want to warm the fridge up, which is exactly the wrong instinct and I only stopped when I read up on it properly. Nothing bad happened to me, but I have no way of knowing that, which is the point. Ice bath is ten minutes of faff and removes the whole question.
Also worth saying that a modern fridge handles a couple of chilled bags fine. Protecting your fridge from a small warm load at the cost of the food is a bad trade.
The part of this that is genuinely worth reading rather than crowdsourcing is the relationship between temperature, time and pasteurisation - Douglas Baldwin's guide is the one everyone links and it will tell you far more precisely than a thread will. Your local food safety guidance is the authority on holding times, not any of us. What we can tell you is the mechanics: ice bath, cold through, labelled with the date, and be honest with yourself about what is in the back of the fridge.
@cure_rack_cody · 5mo ago · 2 replies
Straight from the bath into a sink of half ice and half water, weighted so the bags stay under, and left there until they are cold to the middle rather than cold on the outside. No cooling on the counter, ever - that slow window is the only part of this that is genuinely worth being fussy about. Then fridge, coldest shelf, at the back.
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@keg_line_ken · 5mo ago
Weighted is the detail people skip. Bags that bob half out of the ice water chill on one side and you have no idea what the middle did.
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