Hey all: unfortunately someone left the door to the upright freezer cracked open overnight and about $200 worth of meat defrosted (still chilled but definitely not frozen), along with a host of other products that are just trashed.

Several of the cuts are steaks, pork chops, etc. I know in general it isn’t safe to refreeze defrosted meat, but if that meat will be sous-vide whenever it DOES get cooked, are we safe to refreeze, assuming the SV process will kill any potential bacteria that may have arisen from the defrost/refreeze?

Thanks!

Yes, yes it will.

Is it less work than making the sauce the traditional way? Debatable.

The only modification I’d make next time is to pre-mix the cheese and yolks in the bag before dropping in the bath. The sauce came together 90% but wasn’t perfectly smooth like you’d get via the double boiler method (rare cheese crumble in the sauce). I made the recipe a second time and mixed the cheese and yolks in the bag before dropping into the bath and the sauce came together much smoother.

Ingredients (serving for two) * 50g guanciale * 50g pancetta * 50g parmigiano * 50g pecorino * 4 egg yolks (could use 5 if you like it extra saucy) * 200g bucatini (reserve pasta water) * olive oil / neutral oil

Toss the guanciale and pancetta into a pan with a little bit of neutral oil and crisp it up for ~5-10 minutes and set aside (reserve a few tbsp of grease).

Grate the cheese and combine the cheese, egg yolks, and a few tbsp of the guanciale grease into the bag. Mix to combine, seal it, and drop it into the bath for an hour at 146°

Cook your pasta and toss with a drizzle of olive oil in a bowl. Remove the cheesy/yolk mixture from the bag and add directly to the pasta and add splashes of pasta water until the sauce emulsifies to your liking. Finish with some freshly grated black pepper.

I would love to hear ideas on what I might be able to prep in my sous vide (besides the turkey). I’m having a fairly large group and would love some ideas to get ahead of the cooking.