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Food

17th Aug 2016

This is why you shouldn’t thaw steaks before cooking them

We never knew this...

Rebecca Keane

There’s nothing better than a prime, juicy steak.

Whether it be out in a fancy restaurant, cooking a dinner for a special occasion at home or specifically going to a steakhouse, most people love a good chunk of meat.

There’s no two better people than the O’Donovan brothers to promote the health qualities of a bit of shteak.

While the recent Olympic medallists and many steak-lovers will favour a fresh steak, the next best thing is a frozen steak.

It’s an easy way to keep meat for longer and sometimes cheaper than the prime cuts you get from the butchers.

Senior editor for Cook’s Illustrated, Dan Souza put the theory to the test whether frozen or thawed meat tasted better when cooked and the results were surprising.

By freezing eight steaks, Dan cut them in halves, putting one in the fridge with the other remaining frozen and then cooked them to see which tasted better.

Dan found that the frozen steak cooked was juicier but also tasted better and this steak had a thinner grey band of overcooked meat around the pink interior. The thawed meat was cooked more quickly but didn’t have any much flavour as the frozen steak cooked.

In conclusion with the study, Dan recommended cooking steaks while they’re frozen rather than thaw them, advising the best way to freeze them as putting them on a baking tray with baking paper on it.