Frozen meat: yea or nay?

After reading Dick Krueger’s report of “funky” flavors in some steak his wife found after who knows how long in the freezer, I started thinking about frozen meat, especially steak.

I, personally, buy steak fresh and don’t freeze any. I can see if you killed a moose or a deer and have to store it. But beef?

What’s the take on frozen meats?

Hi JIm,

Well, fresh is obviously better, but one doesn’t always have the option. For example, a colleague of mine just offered lamb from their farm. I took a leg and 2kg of chops, frozen. I had to buy it now, for use later.

I buy steaks fresh as well, as I never eat it on a whim anyways.

I added a few [flash frozen] mismatched NY strips to our last Flannery order. We had them on Saturday night and they may have been among the best tasting steaks we’ve ever had (and that says a lot).

I don’t see a problem as long as it’s sealed properly

Yea

Yea. I often buy sub-primals when I see them at my butchers. Since only me and my daughter are meat eaters, I’ll break them down and freeze what I don’t eat fresh

Fresh is always much, much better. I hate to eat frozen.

Length of time meat can survive the freezer depends upon how cold you can keep it, how stable you can keep the temp, what type of meat and how you package it before storage.

In our freezer, red meat and poultry should easily last 3 months and typically up to maybe 6-8 months before suffering. Oddly pork does not last as long nor does most fish. Salmon tends to survive longer but it could be that the flavor is strong enough to cover up better than some more delicately flavored fish.

We try to get rid of as much oxygen as possible using a ziplock and a straw or (just your mouth), then wrap in foil if we are gonna store longer than a month. you can add a layer of plastic wrap or wax paper between steaks for easy separation for faster thawing.

When prime beef goes on sale I may buy upwards of 15 pounds, so obviously I have to freeze it. If I buy pre-cut steaks, I will wrap each on individually in foil and put 2-3 in a gallon sized freezer ziploc bag. I usually write the date I froze the meat on the bag, too, and sometimes the cut if I get more than one type.

Freezing does not affect dry aged beef. I have a freezer full and have no issues.

Waiting for a Smarty Pants response…

Creates even more shrinkage Bill

Must be nice to be rich.

Frozen, yea, if you vacuum seal it in plastic or do something similar like Chris’ straw method. I’ve also heard of putting it in a zip-lock freezer bag and submerging everything except the open end in a sink of water to force the air out before sealing it.

If I understand it correctly, what destroys the flavor of anything you keep in a self-defrosting freezer for an extended period is the defrost cycle repeatedly raising and lowering the temperature over time. The process dehydrates the food slightly each time and will alter the flavor eventually, aka, freezer burn.

I’m not even sure they make freezers that don’t automatically defrost anymore. We had one when I was a kid. We’d buy a half a cow every year, cut up, wrapped and frozen and put it in a stand alone freezer. Never recall freezer burn from that machine but we had to manually defrost the thing every year to remove the layer of frost that would build up in the interior.

Two things which make a difference in how frozen meat will be when thawed:

Was it very fresh when frozen?

What is the temp. and how much variation in temp. on the freezer?

We keep beef up to 15 month frozen between 0-5f in a chest freezer with no decline issues. I like to use the burger a little quicker, but that usually takes care of itself.

We buy grass & milk fed calf from a friend at 8-9 months and have the butchered. 1/2 a calf lasts 1 yr. @ $2.75/lb cut and wrapped.

It. Is. Fucking. Awesome!

Must be nice to be in the 1%

I would challenge someone to taste a difference between dry aged frozen meat and fresh.
Who wants to try?

Obviously you’re hungry, Suzanne

I don’t freeze much meat for very long; 3-lbs./3-wks. I don’t think I can add much to your research sample.


Now why don’t you go buzz the fuck off w/ your stupid wisecracks already?!?

How’s that for your response?!?