Printable View
How does everyone freeze their fillets? I just froze some in a ziplock bag filled with water. Takes a long time to thaw them out so you have to plan way ahead of time to be able to cook them. Is there a better and quicker way to freeze and then unthaw the fillets?
we used to use the zip lock bags--wife hated thawing them out too. got a food saver and for us that is the way to go. We put back ALOT of fish so the bag material can get expensive but it is well worth it for us. they thaw quick too--no water in them just fish.
X2 on the food saver. Saves a ton or room in the freezer and thaws out quickly.Quote:
Originally Posted by KDAVID1
SeaRay
rinse and pat dry. place on sheet pan in freezer for about 10 mins. then remove from sheet pan and place in ziplock bag. fillets don't stick to each other this way.
Foodsaver is the way to go
I always do the ziplock and water thing. Just recently got a food saver and plan to try that out. Of course that will have to wait until after we exchange it for a new one. Dang thing quit working after about a roll of bags.
Why does it take a long time to thaw em when froze it water? We can thaw em in 20 to 30 minutes when we need to.Quote:
Originally Posted by moe
Allowing the fish to thaw "gradually" seems to keep the filet meat from getting a "mushy" texture, after having been cooked. Fast thawing can change the cell structure of the meat, and fluids/flavor can be lost in the process.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rees Guide
A lot also depends on "how" you thaw the fish ... and how you plan to coat/cook them, as well as how soon you plan on cooking them.
... cp :kewl
"Fast" thawing means using hot water. This will start cooking the fish and ruining the texture/flavor.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiepappy
Not if you don't open the bag of fish, meat will stay cool and not start cooking. We have done it 100s of times with no complaints at all.
I usually, when fast, run the sink full of hot water and drop the unopened bag of fish in. By the time the water temp evens out we drain the water off and then open the bag of fish. A lot of times some is still stuff together and we run cold water and let it sit in it to finish thawing while we start cooking what has turned loose.
Don't like vaccum sealed myself just ole fashion I reckon. Heck if I could get paper milk cartons that's what I would use.
It takes a long time to thaw but we use Folgers 3# coffee containers and cover with water.
I have a vacuum sealer that hasn't been used in a couple of years. I prefer the fish frozen in ice. The sealer tends to suck the moisture out of the fillet during the process. I never have mushy crappie but then, in the summertime, they always go straight to the ice chest instead of livewell. Also, I freeze no more than 10 fillets in a bag and I never use hot water for thawing. I'll put cold water in the sink and then the bag (s) of fillets. It takes an hour or so to thaw but I can usually plan ahead that far.
Something that I do and it helps a lot is not to put too many in a bag and use just enough water to cover the fillets. Then lay the bags flat in the freezer so you don't wind up with a big thick ball of frozen water/fillets.
Attachment 132731
Milk jugs! Because that's how granddaddy did it.
freeeze mine in water and ziplock bag all the time squeeze out all the air and good to go have kept fillets for a year this way still taste great. Made some the other day using recipe found on forum took fillet 1/2 slice of bacon wrapped fillet and bacon in a roll cooked on grill added barbecue sauce when bacon is cooked take off of grill simply excellent
Water filled ziplock bags if we are saving for months for a fish fry, start thawing in frig but yes does take longer.
I tried the food saver and I liked it. If you eat the fish like in a couple of months, but if longer they seem to dry out too much in the food saver bags and I just don't like that I just put them in a zip lock bag full of water and forget it. If you happen to get a little water in your food saver it will ruin the motor
I use the food saver. I like to get the fillets fairly dry with paper towels, then I try to put only 8 in a bag if possible. Its wasteful, but they store nicely and 8 is a nice number of fillets for the two of us for dinner. They thaw super quick, so there''s basically no prep time or need to plan. I've only had a few that got freezer burn after storage over a year. this year, it hasn't been a problem, as we eat em in less than a couple months.
I dont know if this would work for crappie Fillets but when we use to get lots of shad for bait we froze then but they always were hard to separate and were mushy. We started freezing them in ziplock bags with corn meal in it. The cornmeal would keep them apart and made getting them separated easier. We didn't try the eating part though.
We use ziplock bags 10 fillets to a bag.Fill with water press air out of ziplock bag add a pinch of table salt or nosalt.keeps fillets from sticking and easy to store in freezer.
Foodsaver. The food is never mushy and it don't get frost burn. It's also useful for buying big boxes of bacon and freezing it in 1/2 pound bags. I started buying cheap Chinese bags off ebay and have had no problems with them. Permanent marker has the date frozen and what cut of meat - it helps for rotation.
i'm new to it all but i got a foodsaver a few months ago. plan to use it as much as possible.
has anybody tried the zipper lock vacuum seal bags? my plan is to reuse any bags i use for something. don't know yet but i figure they may be good for bait or other stuff I may want to pack up or store.
lazi, the zipper locks don't hold the vacuum for long, but they do work for a while. I wish my wife didn't like them so much. I'd much rather have a good foodsaver system with good bags but I can't convince her to drop the coin on one. They will hold food better than a standard ziplock. But I've noticed many bags are not form fitting when I pull them out.
If I'm going to eat them relatively quick I will just put them in a ziplock and squeeze as much of the air out as possible the freeze. If they are going in my stock pile for a fish fry I put 3-5lbs in a food saver bag and place a piece of folded paper towel on top then vacuum seal. Gander mountain used to sell bulk vacuum bags which made it more cost effective.
foodsaver A+
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rees Guide
:hesaid
I got a foodsaver as a gift for my birthday and I have to say, I'll never do it any other way. It's well worth the money in my opinion.
What would cause the fillets to be tuff after they are fried? They are frozen dry in zip lock freezer bags. They don't do that when we fry them fresh (before they have been frozen). Thanks.
This is only a theory but my guess would be as with most things that you freeze, they will have a tendency to dry out some. Bread is a perfect example, after you take bread out of the freezer it will stale alot faster due to moister being drawn out during the freezing process. Same I would suspect goes for fish fillets. If you add water to the bags covering the fillets then forcing any air out during the closing process you wont have this problem. :twocents
I would bet on freezer burn or over cooking.
Thanks guys.
If you have a good sized freezer, I think the Food Saver may be the best money-saving small appliance you can invest in. Since the government likes to subsidize so many "Green" things, you'd think they'ed hand out some tax breaks for pressure canners, food savers, etc. Not as glamorous as electric cars, but much more practical.
get a food saver and buy bag material online at amazon or ebay, very inexpensive compared to walmart or anywhere else
Back in the day, as some say today my parents used milk cartons as did most others. The only thing I know that you can still find in one of these cartons are some of the juices. I have seen some plastic square containers at wally world that are similar to the half gal size milk carton that could be used to freeze the fish with water and still remain reuseable. I believe that fish frozen in water have a more fresh caught taste.
:fish FISH ON
Vacuum seal.