Combine and Cook

The whole meal goes into the bag raw. Months later it goes from freezer to pot without thawing, browning, or chopping, and it cooks as one block. Eight recipes in this collection already work this way; this is the method behind them, and what makes a new recipe a candidate.

What makes a recipe work as a dump bag

It has to survive being cooked as one frozen block, from raw, in liquid. That rules more in than you would expect — braises, stews, shredded meats and chilis are all built for it, because long moist cooking is what they wanted anyway.

A recipe is a poor candidate when browning is the point. If the whole character comes from a hard sear or a fond, the bag will produce something edible that is not that dish.

What stays out of the bag

• Dairy. Cream, cheese, and sour cream break on thaw and split under pressure. Stir them in at the end.
• Thickeners. Flour and cornstarch settle and scorch. Finish with a slurry once it is cooked.
• Pasta and rice. They turn to paste over a long cook. Cook separately, or add at the end.
• Fresh herbs and acid. Both flatten out. A squeeze of lime after cooking does what it could not do from frozen.

Assembly line

Make four at once or the setup cost eats the benefit. Line the bags up open, then work by ingredient rather than by bag — all the onion, then all the meat, then all the spice. One cutting board, one measuring spoon, four dinners.

Freeze flat, label completely

Press the air out, lay the bag flat on a sheet pan until solid, then file it upright.

The label has to carry the cook instruction, not just the name, because the bag is the only thing you will have in front of you:

Cooking from frozen

A frozen block needs thin liquid around it to build steam before the bottom scorches — about ½ cup if the bag is not already wet. Count on 20–25 minutes just to reach pressure with a full pot; the time on the display starts after that.