OT Longevity of frozen turkey

JR North on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 20:03:35

-0700 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

It is good. It might have a texture which is "funny", but as far as I'm concerned, it is good.

Same goes for not being the lead lemming ...

Yep, it should be good.

i

You could always saw off some and cook it before planning a large family gathering around it. I would. I don't believe it would hurt you but it may taste funny/bad. My mom often kept food in the freezer too long...

Bill

Or cook the whole thing up for home use, but not for guests.

Soup, hash, stew. But I've done year old turkeys. I'm a bachelor, so keeping a turkey in the freezer till I get the next one from work is not unusual.

pyotr

My freezer is kept at -1 deg F (-20 deg C). I buy various cuts of beef & pork, and bread when on sale and use it up when prices are higher. Although I have no experience with turkey, I can vouch for the fact that meats and bread keep very well for lengthy periods... Used up bread after almost 2 years and after thawing and toasting it was impossible to tell the difference from fresh.

The only disappointments I have had with freezing are blueberries and salmon; these invariably taste much better fresh. Perhaps there is a secret to freezing these that I don't know about?

Wolfgang

Wolfgang, there may be a secret to thawing as opposed to freezing. Let it thaw as slowly as possible.

i

Yep. A week in the refrigerator.

wolfgang wrote in rec.crafts.metalworking on Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:32:35 -0700 (PDT):

I can't speak for the fish, but for fruit, freezing quickly is important. If you can find a source for dry ice you can freeze your own. Smash the dry ice and mix with the fruit until frozen. Once frozen with the dry ice, it can be stored in your standard freezer. Quick freezing makes for smaller ice crystals and less damage.

Yes - they need to be quick-frozen, like dropped into a bucket of liquid nitrogen. If you just put them in the ordinary freezer, the ice crystals will disrupt the cell structure and, for lack of a better term, "let the flavor out."

Cheers! Rich

Same thing for poultry (and I would guess everything). My wife use to work at the poultry processing plant occasionally in her job at PSU and the "blast freezers" there were a miniature hurricane at below 0. I've helped put things in and out of them. ...lew...

50+ years ago, before home freezers were readily available, our family utilized a frozen food locker and froze a great deal of fresh garden vegetables along with home grown meat. The only products I remember with distaste were cauliflower and green beans, they tasted great for about the first three months then assumed the taste and texture of semi-cooked rubber. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Thanks to all of you who offered advice on my observed problem with freezing blueberries and salmon!

In preparation for next year's blueberry season I will line-up a supply of dry ice and try the quick freeze (and slow thaw) method described above.

I just looove blueberry pancakes and muffins. I enjoy the berries by the handful all by themselves too.

Wolfgang

I've ate a lot of 1 year + turkeys. As long as mom baked them, they tasted just fine.

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller