New Items, Recipes & Specials

The question is: When you freeze meat, does it take away the flavor or texture of it?

When freezing meat for a short amount of time – days or just a couple of weeks, in freezer paper or vac packs – the product stays pretty stable and the flavor should be fine – the texture should not be compromised during that short amount of time.

If you keep meat or seafood in loose packaging like a resealable plastic bag or just plain plastic wrap for a very long amount of time – months – the product can get “freezer burnt”.  The product dries out  and it appears to be burned – the texture of the meat is more pronounced and you will get an old taste to it.  Even vac pack bags will lose their seal as time goes on and that will allow the product to get burnt also.

The frostless freezers that we have now pretty much sucks the moisture out of everything in it as it defrosts itself and then freezes again.  Notice if you have an ice maker and you have some ice cubes that are a week or more old – aren’t they smaller than ones that were just made a few days ago?  The freezer causes it to lose moisture and substance.  The same happens to anything that is in the freezer.  How many times have you gone to get a bag of green beans and they are all shriveled up and freezer burnt?

Here at Mert’s we’re not proponents of freezing good cuts of meat, but we know that not everybody can shop every day for their meal items.  Always use anything that you freeze within 4-6 weeks and ensure that it is well packaged and tightly sealed.  Anything after that and it is going to start to deteriorate from just the freezer doing its job.  Even some freezer plastic containers can’t stand up to being frozen for that long.

Now the next question is . . . can you refreeze something after it has been thawed?

Products can be frozen, thawed, and re-frozen without ill effects to humans; however, with that being said – the product has to be in good condition through all of this.  Garbage in, garbage out is the old adage – if you freeze something that is bad, you’ll thaw something that is bad.  Refreezing does not make the product harmful or poisonous, but it can affect the quality of the product and the taste of it.

Beef short ribs look beautiful, but they can be chewy and tough if not prepared correctly.  They like to be braised – which means they like to be cooked in liquid.  We know that slow cookers use liquid to cook whatever is in it, but you can cook on top of the stove, very low and covered, or in the oven in a Dutch oven.  Grilling is not a method that we would recommend for short ribs, as they need the slow cooking to tenderize enough to fall off the bones.  I remember as a child my mother used a pressure cooker to cook short ribs – pressure cookers are coming back into popularity among the foodies because they shorten the cooking time substantially.  Following is a recipe from Curt Hanes, one of our customers, who shared his favorite short rib recipe shortly after we opened.

Red Wine Short Ribs

2 cups dry red wine                                           2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 packet dry au jus gravy mix                           1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper                  1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

8 shallots, halved                                                 8 beef short ribs

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley (optional)

In a 6 quart slow cooker (or equal size Dutch oven), whisk together the red wine, tomato paste, gravy mix, salt, pepper and thyme; add the shallots.

Add the ribs, placing the meatiest side down.  Cover and cook until the meat is very tender, on low 8 to 10 hours, or on high 4 to 6 hours in the slow cooker.  Cook in the oven in the Dutch oven at 325 degrees F for 4 to 5 hours, or until the meat separates from the bones.

Transfer the ribs to a plate.  Using a ladle or a spoon, skim and discard fat from the sauce.  Spoon the de-fatted sauce over the ribs and sprinkle with the parsley if desired.