old meat, what to do ?

[Koffer]

I love to cook but I 'll let you know I cant cook worth s*** .

I had some old (5 years+ ) minute steaks the real style that are real thinly cut tuff meat with 3 or four layers . They were vacuumed packed and in the way so out they came to be cooked . I tossed them on the grill and cooked them up with a little salt and garlic powder .
Wow they tasted like bland freezer burned ass
I cant make them worse so into the fridge I go and find some cheap BBQ sauce . I pull the steaks apart so they are now like pulled pork and mix in some more garlic powder , a little more salt and a nice amount of the BBQ sauce . I mixed it all up and then let it simmer till everything was coated and the meat was infused with the sauce .
It turned out pretty good for the mess the started with and now I have something for lunch next week .

Next week, I'll dig around in freezer and see what else I can try to poison myself with

 

[splitshot]

Frost free freezers are the worst IMO. Even vacuum sealed, there is a limited shelf life.

Rotate your junk, if it looks burned, don't waste your time trying to salvage it.

 

[NorCalDoug]

IMO, there's no way to salvage anything that's been freezer burned.

 

[Koffer]

I thought it wasnt going to work , but this one I pulled this one out of the hat , was even better the next night (sort of like chili )
I guess BBQ sauce is like deep frying of condiment world .

 

[bigndn]

Best way to prevent freezer burn is to wrap tightly in heavy duty saran wrap and then in butcher paper. I used to get my beef/pork from my butcher that way. I still have some from '07 and there's no freezer burn.

 

[NorCalDoug]

Best way to prevent freezer burn is to wrap tightly in heavy duty saran wrap and then in butcher paper. I used to get my beef/pork from my butcher that way. I still have some from '07 and there's no freezer burn.

it's tough to completely eliminate freezer burn, but another method is to use a food saver or a similar home vacuum sealer.

freezer burn is caused by air trapped next to the food.
I won't go into detail to explain the entire process, but basically, if you can eliminate as much air as possible when you originally wrap it and prevent any additional air from reaching it.

 

[Combat Chuck]

Best way to prevent freezer burn is to wrap tightly in heavy duty saran wrap and then in butcher paper. I used to get my beef/pork from my butcher that way. I still have some from '07 and there's no freezer burn.

it's tough to completely eliminate freezer burn, but another method is to use a food saver or a similar home vacuum sealer.

freezer burn is caused by air trapped next to the food.
I won't go into detail to explain the entire process, but basically, if you can eliminate as much air as possible when you originally wrap it and prevent any additional air from reaching it.

I do both of these:
If I plan on keeping something for the long haul, it gets vacuumed, and then wrapped tightly in 2 layers of aluminum foil with a layer of seran between.

Freezer burn is a huge misnomer because it isn't a "burn" at all, it's really just freeze-drying, or "meat frostbite". If there are air pockets next to frozen produce, moisture will sublimate from the higher pressure meat into the lower pressure air pocket, causing freezer burn.

Properly chilling and then storing products is essential to preventing freezer burn. Sometimes it helps to pre-freeze items (like steaks) on an exposed metal surface for no more than a few hours to bring them to the right temperature, then either bag and evacuate the air, or better yet, vacuum seal the product. Several layers of seran and foil will help prevent "freezer taste" where fat soluble flavors in the air of the freezer (IE Tuna Casserole can mingle in the fats of the meat (IE New York Steaks). One layer of plastic is not enough because plastic and fat are very similar in structure, and over time, the plastic can transport the flavors across to the meat, hence why I double wrap with foil and a single plastic barrier: if the flavors penetrate the first layer of foil, they'll get stuck in the plastic, and with restricted airflow, they will be better controlled from transporting into the next layer of plastic, and in turn, the food.

 

[bigndn]

it's tough to completely eliminate freezer burn, but another method is to use a food saver or a similar home vacuum sealer.

freezer burn is caused by air trapped next to the food.
I won't go into detail to explain the entire process, but basically, if you can eliminate as much air as possible when you originally wrap it and prevent any additional air from reaching it.

I've had vacuum sealing failures, but never had the saran wrap/butcher paper fail me yet. Just sayin.

 

[Bogo]

Rotate your junk, if it looks burned, don't waste your time trying to salvage it.

IMO, there's no way to salvage anything that's been freezer burned.

Put them in a crock pot, cover them with water and cook them up for a few hours like you would a roast. You may need to add a slight bit more water than normal, but it will rehydrate the meat.

Best way to prevent freezer burn is to wrap tightly in heavy duty saran wrap and then in butcher paper. I used to get my beef/pork from my butcher that way. I still have some from '07 and there's no freezer burn.

The meat scientists at ISU back you up on this. The butcher paper serves as a buffer layer to take up some abrasion in the freezer. This helps allot in keeping the plastic layer from getting damaged. Vacuum packing then freezer paper may be better, but no decent butcher wants to spend the time doing the vacuum packing.

I've had vacuum sealing failures, but never had the saran wrap/butcher paper fail me yet. Just sayin.

I've also never had problems with meat wrapped this way. In fact I always request it whenever I have a steer butchered.

 

[NorCalDoug]

it might rehydrate the meat...sticking it in a crock pot, but unless you add a bunch of some sort of magic sauce, you'll have that nasty freezer burned funk that just tastes sucky...