Freezing dos and don'ts

Cooking Discussions Cooking, Cookbooks, Ingredients
#1

Hi, All,

An ingredients query: I have had to postpone some planned cooking and found myself looking at a number of ingredients that I’d never thought about freezing. For example, I’d planned to make roasted cauliflower steaks. It’s never occurred to me to freeze cauliflower.

I’ve Googled a bit and I think people in this community know all the likely suspects: soups and casseroles freeze well; potatoes don’t, etc.

So I wonder: have you found anything surprisingly good or bad for freezing? Garlic or leeks, for example? Celery? Herbs? Corncob? List is endless.

Leftover rice
#2

I’ve only frozen caulifower florets, not steaks, but I reckon the principal should be the same. A quick blanch - I think we did 2 minutes. Worked fine. We’ve also just frozen shredded cabbage that was otherwise not going to last. One minute blanching. Hopefully will be OK.

Herbs are easy. Chop and pack in ice cube trays and top up with water. Ideal to chuck into any casserole.

I suppose the rule of thumb is that, if you see it in the frozen food section of your supermarket, then you know it should work at home.

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#3

Start here:

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/freeze.html

4 Likes
#4

Thanks for the interesting suggestions! I’d never thought of blanching in this connection, Harters. And Sunshine842, the website you identified looks perfect!

#5

Thanks. About the frozen foods section, I’ve made more use of it lately and tried various combined things (meals) from pizza to pot roast dinners, etc. They never fail to disappoint. That said, I do think frozen peas and spinach and some other individual ingredients remain worthy.

#6

Given the options of freezing before it goes bad, or throwing it out, I’m ALWAYS going to freeze. If texture is a problem, there’s soup to be made. Pureeing is a choice, and in the case of fruit, compote.

#7

I came across this the other day which may be of some help.

#8

Vacuum sealers like Foodsaver are a real plus to avoiding freezer burn.

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#9

Agreed, I’ve been giving my sealer a real workout recently.

In relation to that guardian article (thanks for sharing @paprikaboy), I’m sure Kerridge is right but I’ve frozen quite a lot of meat in the last few weeks to no ill effects. Dry aged ribeye and short rib both survived the trip with no mushy texture. If I had a side by side then perhaps you’d be able to tell but it wasn’t really noticeable. From what I’ve read it helps to keep things in a single layer so they freeze as quickly as they can

#10

That website is a great resource for canning and dehydrating, too.

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#11

We make a judgment when “feeding the freezer” of how long something will be there. Commercial packaging and a ZipLoc bag does for things that will be in the freezer for a month or so. Longer term foods get repackaged in vacuum bags.

It is worth noting that to my knowledge freezer burn is just dehydration. It has an impact on texture and a mild one on flavor but is not in and of itself a food safety problem.

From my reading and experience the key to freezing is really cold and as fast as possible.

#12

Don’t freeze light cream

“Food is a pretty good prism through which to view humanity.”

― Jonathan Gold