Freezing
Obviously, it’s better to use Fresh rather than Frozen.
Most domestic freezing happens slowly, and this brings with it an issue:
When foods are frozen slowly shards of ice begin to form inside the meat, these grow as the freezing progresses and eventually the shards pierce the cell walls creating a rupture.
The ruptures become evident when the item defrosts and you can see liquid coloured with Red Myoglobin, leaking from the meat.
If you “Snap Freeze” the ice shards that form are much smaller and this cellular rupture damage is minimised.
While it has not been proven yet, there is a school of thought that freezing the water molecules in a protein will facilitate the process of denaturing.
This is good news for Low N Slow and, a lot of pit masters do indeed freeze their meats before a competition.
At temperatures above – 20 ℃ (-4°F), biochemical reactions can still occur.
So you will get some oxidisation of the meat and fats, the colour will degrade and ageing continues albeit very slowly.
For this reason, I don’t recommend freezing for more than 6 months.
It’s also a good idea to eliminate contact with the air by sealing the meat in a vacuum sealed package.
To freeze fast you need commercial equipment like a Blast Chiller.
Or use this Quick Freeze method:
Freezing with Ice.
This method allows you to achieve a temperature of -18°C (-0.4°F) in a cooler.
Put a bag of ice in a cooler
Add a couple of handfuls of Pool Salt to the ice.
Stir to combine.
The salt forces the Ice to melt and that process draws heat from the surroundings, so whatever is in the Ice mix will freeze fast.
Use this method to freeze your catch on your next fishing trip!
This is exactly what they do on Prawn Trawlers to preserve the catch at sea!
You can watch this video I did back in 2007 if you promise not to laugh.
This is a handy process if you are out camping and fishing away from a freezer.
Tip:
If you are taking a couple of cold cans of beer or bottles of wine to a restaurant in one of those insulated carry bags.
Keep them cold with a bag of frozen peas, they don’t melt like ice does and you still have the peas at the end!’
Peas also make a great Ice Pack!
