Grilling -- then immediately freezing?

[tonbo0422]

I have to grill on a small Weber on my balcony because grills aren't allowed in my building (!) so I have to keep it low-key. If it were up to me I'd grill every day, but it turns out to be every other weekend.

So you can imagine how reluctant I am to fire up the (charcoal) grill just to make four hamburgers.

My question is, what if when I grilled, I'd buy, say, a whole bunch of chicken parts, marinate them as if I was going to eat them that night, and just partially grill them -- maybe get a char on all sides but leave the insides rare -- and then freeze them all?

Then when it came time to have them for dinner, wouldn't it make sense to let them come to room temperature, then finish them off in the oven, say on 350• for thirty minutes? Then I'd still have the smoky grill flavor and woodsmoke taste without firing up the grill.

Do you think that would work? By extension, would it work for hamburgers, steaks, roasts etc.?

It's just that it seems a waste of time and energy to fire up the grill just for food for one meal.

Has anyone ever done something like this?

[joonjoon]

This whole operation sounds like a waste of time and energy...will the resulting dish be edible? Yes. Will it be the same as if it had just come off the grill? Hell no. Would you have been better off just going with a straight oven roasted/skillet seared method? Probably.

[hannaone]

When my wife and I operated our former restaurant, there were very few days that we would want to spend time cooking at home.
We would do many of our meals ahead at the restaurant (a lot of Korean stir fry and grilling), fully cooking the meats, rapid cool (ice water bath in plastic), vacuum seal, and freeze.
We would do enough meals this way for about two weeks then repeat.
Reheating was to zap them in the MW just long enough to soften (not warm), then, depending on the original prep, into a skillet or a broiler pan on/under high heat to finish heating.
Never had any problems with lost flavor unless we "lost" a bag for eight or nine months.

[cowboyardee]

Your best bet if you want to try this:

A) fully cook the chicken, refrigerate, and reheat when you want to eat it. Or...

B) parcook on the grill, handle very carefully, place the chicken in saran or ziplock bags with the air removed, and chill submerged in a 50/50 mixture of ice and water for an hour before moving it to the freezer. This will cool the chicken much quicker than just putting it in a freezer. Make sure that the chicken is wrapped in single layers - thickness of the chicken determines how quickly you can bring the temperature down to safe levels.

Edit: for option A, you probably want to chill in an ice bath as in B.

[chefj]

The half cooking poses a pretty high food safety risk.
When you half cook the Chicken there is a large portion of the interior that will be at a good temperature for bacterial growth and unless you have industrial strength (flash) freezing equipment the interior of the meat will be in that range for a considerable amount of time.
You should cook it fully and reheat it quickly.The fast reheating will crisp up the skin again You may want to brine the chicken, before cooking, to help keep it moist.

[tonbo0422]

I always brine the chicken before cooking. I fear fully cooking it because the slow reheating might dry it out . . . as for the bacterial growth issue, I was always led to believe that bacterial growth such as salmonella or e.coli develop on the OUTSIDE of meat, due to fecal contamination. Bacterial growth in the center of meat seems unlikely . . . besides which, I would be planning to reheat (recook?) the meat so that the center of the chicken would be at a heat that would kill any bacteria anyway.

Basically, all I wanted to do was to get that smoky char on the outer surface (I'm saying chicken here, but could it be extended to pork, roasts etc. Now hamburgers . . . I wouldn't try that!)

But the quick-freeze idea is a good one as well.

[shaogo]

Don't be too worried about the admonition against cooking-cooling-reheating. You're gonna be fine.

I'd grill the chicken to *nearly* done, then cool in a bowl of chicken stock; then remove to the freezer... soaking wet (put the pieces in bags, perhaps with a little of the stock inside).

To re-heat I'd fire the oven all the way up to about 400 or higher, and cook therein for about 20 minutes (no longer). The grill marks will decidedly get a bit darker but I think you'll rescue some of the flavor that might "wilt" 'cause you froze and then re-heated hesitantly.

On the commercial market there are pre-grilled hamburger patties that taste absolutely amazing, even though they come frozen. Of course, these items are frozen at medium-well; so there's no hope for having a pink burger, if that's what you like (we do).

[chefj]

Have you seen how chickens are processed?
Bactria also produce toxins as they multiply that cannot be "killed" with heat.
Fully cooking does not mean over cooking. I am not suggesting that you bring the internal temp. to the FDA standard.
Cool in a bowl of chicken stock?????? I would not worry too much about that method?
Home cooks can not reproduce the commercial ability to flash freeze.

[MGZ]

While I can't speak to chicken, I will speak to my Hatch chiles which I roast over a wood fire on the grill when they arrive. I then package them in sets of four - as is. When I thaw them they have all the smokey, woody flavor I associate with their arrival at the end of summer.

In fact, I almost always make an extra shoulder or two when I make pulled pork (my grill holds 4, and since making 2 is only about 10% less of a pain in the ass than making 4 . . .). Once pulled and sauced, the meat freezes well and the smokey barbecue flavor that justifies the aforementioned PITA factor is maintained, as are even some of the burned bits.

My only suggestion, howver, would be to fully cook whatever you make and just reheat in a low oven.

[gordeaux]

tonbo -

I've posted this several times on c-hound.
Smoked chicken freezes wonderfully!!
If you have a Weber, get some wood chips, smoke up a bunch of chicken, prep it for freezing, then freeze it. I don't understand the reason why you'd only wanna cook it halfway.

[PBSF]

I agree with the above poster that it will be difficult to capture the smoky charred goodness after being in the freezer. The sense of smell is so important in our taste of food. And the freezer rarely improves any food; it is there to keep food from spoiling for a long length of time. It doesn't hurt to give it a try the next time you grill burgers. You might be happy with the results while others may not.

[ipsedixit]

Yes, you can do this.

But just be warned though, that after freezing, that smoky charred goodness will have been lost in the freezer.

[tonbo0422]

You think? How come? I don't mean freezing it for six months . . . maybe for a month max.

[ipsedixit]

Part of it is the freezing process (which tends to mute flavors) and part of it is the reheating process.

Unless you intend to fire up your grill, again, to reheat, you're most likely not regain the lost smoky-charness you had originally. Baking them isn't going to revive the smoky-ness of the original grill marks, esp. after a tour through your freezer.

[chef chicklet]

Tonbo,
Not to mention the juices. I don't see how that juice, which collects at the bottom of the plate while resting the meat, how do you get that experience. Oh I guess you can save it, and pour it back onto the meat then freeze.

Perhaps though, you might be on to something. Might be that it halts the cooking prcoess, then pour the meat into the bag with the cut, the chill stops the cooking and the meat remains perfect temperature.

Being in your situation, I'd do it. With such restrictions, good for you for thinking out of the box. I hope it works for you!