BBQ Reheat

Regular readers of this blog know just how jazzed up I've been about my vacuum sealer.  Outside of its super human marinade ability, it is also indispensable when it comes to something I call "leftovers management".

BBQ and stews almost always mean leftovers.  Historically, I would toss whatever was left over in an assortment of plastic bags and 1970's tupperware.  Sometimes I would freeze the remains.  Other times I would stick it in the fridge and convince myself I could eat it all in three days.

In the end, I had bad pork in the freezer and questionable beef in the fridge.  It just never worked out.

Enter the vacuum sealer.  Everyone is trying to make money go further and one of the easiest places to do that is in the kitchen.  I know, I throw away a lot of food.  I hate it.  With the vacuum sealer, I knew I had a way of extending my leftovers, but I at the time didn't realize I had a great way of re-heating them too.

First, the sealing.  

My vacuum sealer is a FoodSaver 3860 and it allows me to make bags of any size.  Using the internal roll dispenser, I pull out the desired length leaving enough room for the contents to be sealed.  At this point, the roll is more of a sleeve than a bag since both ends are open.

A built in cutter separates the sleeve from the roll.  Next, I seal the bottom to make a bag.

After I have created my bags, I mark them.  It is much easier to label and mark the bags empty versus when they are full.

With the bags labeled, I fill them.

Here it was barley wine pot roast.  Next week it could be pulled pork, brisket, or chicken.  Anything goes.

With the bags filled, I have two options.  If the leftovers lack a lot of juice, they can be vacuumed sealed right away and frozen.  If, like the pot roast above, they are fluid heavy, I place them in the freezer to set up.  While some liquid can be extracted during the vacuuming process, I find a few hours in the freezer helps minimizing the extraction and in turn ensures a proper seal.

The hardest part is finding a spot in the freezer.  The second hardest part is not forgetting the bags are in the freezer.  Set a reminder.  Siri...

Once the liquid has set up after a few hours, vacuum seal, and freeze.

A few weeks have gone by and I'm hungry for leftovers.  After pillaging the freezer contents, I decide on pot roast.  It sounds good.  Again.  

So, how do I heat it up?  Traditionally, I would empty the contents into a container and either nuke it or reheat it on the stove.  However, while holding the frozen bag of meat in my hand, I hardened back to an article I read on sous vide cooking.  

Sous vide is the process of cooking vacuum packed meat in a water bath.  Why not apply the same approach to cooked meat.  Sous vide can be an expensive process, as temperature control is extremely important to the final product.  However, temperature control with leftovers is not as important.  I just want it hot.  The process is easy.

Place the bag of frozen meat in a pot and then fill the pot half full with water.  Bring to a boil.

Typically, I just pull the bag out of the water when I see a ranging boil and the contents of the bag slop side to side.  It takes maybe 15 minutes total. It's not that technical.  I figure after several minutes in 212 F water, the meat is well on its up the mercury.

The results?  Perfect.  Next time I'm feeding two, but cooking for an army, I won't think twice about leftovers.  I've got them well managed, on all fronts.