Don’t Let This Happen to You!
As I would imagine is the case in many homes, if you open the freezer you’ll see a stockpile of frozen steaks, chicken breasts, fish fillets and more. I’m here to tell you there is nothing to be ashamed of. On those nights during the week when you just don’t have ganas (the will) to throw together a fantastically complex meal that pound of frozen ground beef and a box of hamburger helper can be just the ticket. As meat connoisseurs we’re probably supposed to tell you that fresh is the best and leave all the rest. While I agree with that to a certain extent, it’s just not realistic to expect to have perfectly marbled quality fresh beef on hand at all times. If properly packaged to protect them against the cold, meat can be just as good after spending time some time in the freezer as the day they were purchased.
When packaging meats for the freezer the MOST important thing to beware of is protecting them from air exposure. If you’ve fallen victim to infomercials or are just very adept with food preservation then using one of those fancy-shmancy vacuum sealers would definitely be your best best. But, if you’re like most of the population you don’t own one of these and will have to suffice with other household items. In order to do this you will need to wrap the meat very tightly in either plastic wrap of freezer paper making sure to press the wrapping right up against the surface. Next you’ll need to wrap that in aluminum foil or seal it inside a zip-top freezer bag.
Okay, your meat is now properly preserved but how long can you safely keep it for? General consensus is that meat frozen like this will last anywhere between 3 and 6 months safely. After about 3 months it’s possible that the product will experience a bit of inevitable freezer burn but it’s by no means going to be harmful if you consume it. It’s good practice to write on the outside of the bag or foil the date you froze it just to keep track.
Most people don’t think about there being a optimum method for thawing meat but there definitely is one. The best and also safest way to thaw meat is to place the frozen package in the refrigerator and patiently wait for it to gradually thaw. Waring: Don’t forget to put the thawing meat in a container of some sort. If you don’t you’ll end up with meat juice all over the place. Smaller cuts will generally thaw within 24-hours but larger cuts can take up to several days. If you’re really short on time small cuts can be thawed in a bowl of lukewarm water under running water. If you’re really desperate you can also use the defrost button on your microwave but this method can be extremely unreliable and also lead to accidental precooking of your dinner.
So now that we’ve covered the list of do’s it’s time to go over our list of meat defrosting don’ts. The list isn’t so long but it is very important that you take note. Do not thaw frozen meats on the counter and do not cook them straight out of the freezer. Thawing meats on the counter is a health hazard as the outside of the meat will come to temperature quickly and can start harboring harmful bacteria. As for cooking frozen meat, there’s nothing harmful about it but it sure doesn’t make for the best steak. Essentially the outside of the steak will be cooked, or rather overcooked, much sooner than the middle can reach anything above blue.
Steak Buenos Aires 