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#206564 - 08/21/10 09:07 PM Tell Me again why frozen meat is a BAD thing?
Erik_B Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 08/10/07
Posts: 315
Loc: Somewhere in my own little wor...
Fresh, Never Frozen.
somehow, freezing food for shipping seems to have replaced trans fats in fast food ads as the "ours is better because we don't" thing, like freezing it is a bad thing.
personally, i'd rather my burger patty (or chicken tender, or whatever) be frozen,and kept that way, for the trip across the country, to keep it from, you know, becoming a meaty petri dish.
and no, cows WOULND'T frakking come from Antarctica you fluff-headed cheerleading dunce. that doesn't even make any sense.
_________________________
Originally Posted By: scafool
Camping teaches us what things we can live without.


Originally Posted By: ironraven
...Shopping appeals to the soul of the hunter-gatherer.

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#206565 - 08/21/10 09:48 PM Re: Tell Me again why frozen meat is a BAD thing? [Re: Erik_B]
EMPnotImplyNuclear Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 09/10/08
Posts: 382
I guess in a roundabout way its about the age of the meat.
If its frozen, there is no way telling how old it is, and there used to be rumors floating that companies Mc ... King bought some kind of cheap government beef, that was frozen for decades .... and keeping something reliably frozen for years can be tricky and if the government is selling it, it must not be fit for soldiers to eat...

OTOH, if the meat (or lettuce or tomatoes) are merely refrigerated, then they last at most a week (?), so you know they're really fresh, and not 10 years old

That's the only reason that springs to mind, but remember, advertisers are notoriously stupid and liars, what they say doesn't have to be true or make sense, it just has to get you to buy

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#206566 - 08/21/10 09:53 PM Re: Tell Me again why frozen meat is a BAD thing? [Re: Erik_B]
ponder Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 12/18/06
Posts: 367
Loc: American Redoubt
1st Choice - Your neighbor is feeding and maintaining his two horses on a daily basis. The cost is ~$100/month/horse. This is probably the best way to store meat without refrigeration.

2nd Choice - When your neighbor loses his job and is forced to give away the horses, accept with grace. Now a standard 23 cubic foot freezer will store the resulting horse meat for ~$10 month.

Fresh is always prefered to frozen.
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Cliff Harrison
PonderosaSports.com
Horseshoe Bend, ID
American Redoubt
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#206572 - 08/22/10 01:02 AM Re: Tell Me again why frozen meat is a BAD thing? [Re: ponder]
Susan Offline
Geezer

Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 5163
Loc: W. WA
There are two main advantages to truly fresh meat that I can see:

1) I don't have to waste time defrosting it before I cook it;

2) I can freeze it in the form that is convenient to me. If I buy frozen meat (ground or slab) and defrost it (and then cut/grind/reform), I was told that I can't refreeze it because it is a health hazard.

However, I looked up the 'fresh, never frozen' quote and see that it is a quote from Wendy's.

But you also have to keep in mind that beef is usually aged from 7 to 14 to 21 days, depending on the quality and the temperature at which it hangs/ages. If meat is butchered in Kansas on Monday, transported at 34F by truck for three days, and delivered for use within three days or so, it will still qualify as 'fresh'.

But when it comes to advertising, all bets are off. Advertising tends to work best with the ignorant and the gullible. If you want a flesh and blood example, I will send you my brother.

Sue

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#206590 - 08/22/10 11:00 AM Re: Tell Me again why frozen meat is a BAD thing? [Re: Susan]
Phaedrus Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 04/28/10
Posts: 3148
Loc: Big Sky Country
When water transitions from liquid to solid, typically crystals grow slowly. The angular shapes of the water crystals puncture cell membranes, doing tremendous damage. If it wasn't so, why would frostbite and freezing of your tissue be so destructive? Do you ever notice that when you thaw frozen meat, you often have a lot of extra liquid in the bag? That's what leaks out as the cell walls are destroyed by freezing.

Flash freezing (taking the item down to -30 F or more in very short order) is less destructive. Someone who's even more of an egghead than me will have to explain why the rapid phase change creates different crytaline structures, but it's a well documented and understood event. If you freeze something very quickly and very cold, you maintain most of the quality. Seafood caught, processed and frozen at sea is a good example of this. You rarely get the same result at home.

I do consider freezing to be a great tool for preserving food, but as a chef I have to point out the difference in quality. Of taste, at least, probably not nutrition.
_________________________
“I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” —Richard Feynman

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#206594 - 08/22/10 01:53 PM Re: Tell Me again why frozen meat is a BAD thing? [Re: Phaedrus]
MDinana Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 03/08/07
Posts: 2208
Loc: Beer&Cheese country
I don't know either, but I've certainly done the freeze/thaw cycle a few times and no ill effects. Usually with ground turkey or beef. When I lived alone, no point in thawing a 2lbs block, when I used 1/4lbs slabs.

Eventually I wisened up and just started re-bagging everything, but for at least 6 months it was in/out of the freezer and sink.

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#206604 - 08/22/10 06:17 PM Re: Tell Me again why frozen meat is a BAD thing? [Re: MDinana]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3219
Loc: Alberta, Canada

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#206606 - 08/22/10 07:08 PM Re: Tell Me again why frozen meat is a BAD thing? [Re: dougwalkabout]
JBMat Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 03/03/09
Posts: 745
Loc: NC
Just a point here. Should you kill a cow today, you won't be eating it today. First it has to be bled, then butchered, then hung for a while to let the meat age. Meat that is not aged is about as tender as a leather boot, give or take. DW's wife had a dairy farm/cattle ranch. Amazing the stuff she knows.

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#206634 - 08/23/10 01:38 PM Re: Tell Me again why frozen meat is a BAD thing? [Re: JBMat]
TANSTAF1 Offline
Newbie

Registered: 07/27/10
Posts: 25
Loc: Born in ME, in exile in MA
I like Bubba Burgers with sweet onions. Yum.

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