That’s an interesting conudrum. And a new one on me.

I would just sear it, leaving the inside as raw as possible, then pre-slice it, lightly season (salt) the slices, and bring to hospital, where I’d microwave a slice to see how many seconds it takes to get to desired doneness, then microwave the rest of the slices. Because you are ’waving slices, you can see exactly how done it is getting. In fact you could ’wave a slice at home to test out. Presliced will be easier to eat in a hospital bed anyway, the invalid can merely manipulate a fork rather than steak knife and fork. And you can sauce the slices with A1 or whatever s/he likes.

Just salt. :) That is very well reasoned and sounds feasible. It seems an awful thing to do to such a fine piece of meat, but good point on the knife and fork -ness of it. And you're so right on the doneness testing. Much better than winging it. Once it's over there's no going back.

Just the salt will make it like manna compared to what he’s getting as hospital food!

Can you cook it, slice it into bite size pieces, then vacuum seal it. Take a very large (at least 4 cup) measuring cup with you to the hospital. Fill it with water, heat until hot, then dunk the meat in the cup for as long as it takes to warm it (for me, steak only has to be warm/room temp. It does not need to be hot. Others may disagree). Would that work?

I only have glass measuring cups, but DD has a large silicone cup that would be lighter to carry.

That could work. Good idea. For that matter, I might even be able to bring the circulator, though that could be of a muchness. :) But (shudder) after all that rejection of institutional food, he's pretty much lost interest and the steak (poor thing) has been home-frozen.

Bless his heart. Would a good homemade soup tempt him to start eating again?

It really might, if he actually might eat soup ever! He's eating enough, just reverted. Chicken nuggets. 😝

You could do home made chicken nuggets.

I could.

One of our neighbors claims that Sheetz (the gas station people) have the best chicken nuggets. She calls them "shnuggets."

Microwaved beef tastes very different to me - I would not eat it, even if it is ground beef.

You might be able to find some kind of bag to put the meat in before microwaving it, and this would allow the meat to be steamed.

Chick-fil-A chicken strips. Hands down, the best!

I agree with Lars. Cold/room temp beef is better than beef warmed in an MW any day of the week.

I'm not getting why I'd want to steam a steak. So, i've learned from experience that undercooked steak--that is cooked, but not to the desired level of doneness, will finish cooking in the microwave and stay nice, as opposed to trying to cook a steak from raw in a microwave will surely be awful. That's why I was trying to figure out how to partly cook it to rare, then reheat/finish it to medium. Then there's John's sensible slice and check idea, and slices will probably cook in the reheating better anyway. And Bbstx's idea to full cook and rewarm in a warm water bath, which seems sensible. Or even the possiblity of bringint the circulator, though even if it's allowed I'm not sure I can cope with it.

I've never heard of the Sheetz gas station people. There's a couple thousand miles between us. To the best of my knowledge there also isn't a CfA, though there are some in the county for sure.

He's stuck in bed, and doesn't much mind what he's getting other than the steamed chicken they make on site, but I saw that there's a better restaurant he likes very close, and his dinner came from there today. And, as I said, the poor abused steak has been relegated to my home freezer. I think he doesn't want to deal with all the chewing.

Poor guy. At least he has some appetite.

I think he doesn't want to deal with all the chewing

Maybe what my family calls ”swallow food,” stuff that doesn’t need much chewing, like mac and cheese or a cream soup. Could he handle sloppy joes or pasta (cut into small sections) with a classic meat sauce?

If he is getting steamed chicken, is he on a bland diet or is it because chewing is difficult?

Is it time for this thread to fade away or are you still wanting to take something to him?

Thanks, Olychick, for the voice of experience! I will try that if he wants the steak. Yesterday he said he'd eat it when next he comes over, but considering his condition and my front stairs, I'm making no plans. He's more likely to want the beef sooner. ;)

I'm now wondering if putting it strait into the sous vide bath from frozen, or defrosting in the fridge is better, reverse sear or straight into the pan.

Bbstx, thanks for the suggestions. It's more a not sitting at the table thing. He doesn't even like soft foods, for the most part. ;) The steamed chicken was a compromise between what he wants to eat and what the staff were willing to produce. He ate it when he was first there and very uncomfortable. Now he sends his assistant to fetch restaurant food. I had brought him an ear of corn, which he likes and will eat zapped, but he couldn't figure out that it really could be cut into smaller portions. So I brought him a ”disposable” knife and cuttingboard set, and instead of, ”oh, let's open it and make corn,” he said, ”Maybe in a couple of days…” By which time it might rot (there's a small fridge for patients, but still…) I'm inferring that working his jaw much is affecting that which pains him. He seems fine just talking, though.

So yes, this thread can die, but I'm very glad it was still up top to get Olychick's microwave advice!

I often put things straight from the freezer into the sous vide bath.

I learned everything I know about sous-viding steaks from this article by Kenji Lopez-Alt

https://www.seriouseats.com/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak#toc-temperature-and-timing-charts-for-sous-vide-steak-cuts

From the article:

Q: Can I cook a steak straight from the freezer?

Yes! I often seal seasoned, ready-to-cook steaks in sous vide bags and stack them in the freezer. For steaks an inch to two inches thick, when you're ready to cook, allow an extra hour for the steak to fully thaw in the hot-water bath before you begin timing it for

doneness.

In the article, Kenji also addresses pre-searing :

After repeated testing and anonymous taste tests, I've found that pre-searing a steak—that is, browning the steak before it goes into the sous vide bag, then browning it a second time just before serving—serves at most a very minimal role in improving flavor or texture. In most cases, the difference is imperceptible. There's no harm in pre-searing a steak, but I prefer the ease and convenience of simply placing the steak in the bag raw before cooking, leaving the searing for a single step at the end.

And that reminds me, I really want a Searz-all, but honestly, that much ”flame-age” scares the stew out of me.

Thanks. I do know that stuff, that sous vide works. I like the confirmation that reverse sear is appropriate, but the sear must be done at home.. I was thinking more of what makes for the best kind of thaw with the least damage to the meat, so that you regularly freeze your own and sous vide from frozen is a good indicator, and I appreciate the timing hint as well. Considering that my brain isn't yet acclimated to the price of good meat, making plans for this is important. I can deal with a vegetable getting lost in the fridge and rotting--at a tenth of the price of this steak!

I wanted to add to my microwave comment that by watching closely, I mean in something like 10 second increments. Usually it's warm enough to be acceptable in under 30 seconds, depending on what percentage of heat you use.

I’d cook as desired, slice on the thinner side, ziploc what I want to eat, dunk in hottest tap water (or maybe a few degrees hotter) for a few minutes. That’ll get it cooked exactly right with no risk of overcooking upon reheat.