The Steak Cut Texas Roadhouse May Actually Cook From Frozen

Texas Roadhouse is one of the top chain steakhouses in the country, eclipsing both LongHorn and Outback steakhouses last year with $4.8 billion in sales. Fans love its tasty steak seasoning, its fresh-baked bread with honey cinnamon butter and, of course, its hand-cut steaks that are on display at every location's entrance. But there's one cut Texas Roadhouse may actually cook from frozen: the porterhouse.

While there's no definitive proof or confirmation from the restaurant, Eat This, Not That! reported on a secondhand account from a "self-reported meat-cutter" who claimed that Texas Roadhouse's T-bone porterhouse steak arrives at the restaurant pre-cut and frozen. A Reddit user who identifies as an employee of the chain also reported frozen porterhouse steaks, with another chiming in to say that it comes that way because Texas Roadhouse doesn't have a bone saw (a report from another location also blamed the frozen porterhouse on lack of a bone saw).

If Texas Roadhouse's porterhouse steak is, in fact, frozen, it's not the worst news in the world. Actually, cooking steak from frozen can still result in a perfectly crispy crust on the exterior, and it could even be a better preparation method than defrosting and cooking the traditional way. All you need is some extra oil. Simply fill a pan with oil about ⅛ of an inch deep, get it nice and hot, and add your frozen steak. The oil will infiltrate all the nooks and crannies of the meat and ensure the Maillard reaction can do its thing and create a crispy, brown crust.

A steak cooked from frozen also loses less moisture compared with traditionally prepared steak, about 9% in fact. Cooking a steak frozen also leaves behind less of a "gray band" underneath the skin, which is actually overdone meat. Because of the initial temperature difference with frozen steak, it is a lot more difficult to overcook it.