Can you eat frozen chicken? Do you like the taste?

[french fries]

I can't eat frozen chicken. I mean, I can eat it, of course, but I just HATE the way it tastes. It doesn't matter if I buy a frozen chicken, or if I buy the absolute best free-range organic chicken and freeze it myself just for 3 days, it doesn't matter if it's a whole chicken or a boneless/skinless breast, once properly thawed and cooked, the chicken is tough and dry, and the "fresh chicken" taste is just not there.

I'm wondering... is that something that everybody experiences? I used to not really make the difference until my wife pointed it out to me, now I can't stand the taste of frozen chicken.

I also wonder, in a very fine dining restaurant, would they occasionally freeze meat, or is it considered a no-no?

PS: I don't like to freeze any meats, but chicken seems to be the one reacting the worse to freezing. The only exceptions are bacon, which I like to always have handy (although I can taste the difference between fresh bacon and bacon from the freezer), and chicken carcasses for my stock (and where stock is concerned, I've never tried to compare a stock from frozen bones vs a stock from fresh bones, so I couldn't say if there's a difference).

 

[dc sunshine]

I prefer not to freeze fresh meat also.  The cell walls of the protein break down once frozen, then when thawing it lets off a lot of the natural moisture which the fresh meat had.  I defrosted a bird the other day, roasted it normally, and the result was not all that pleasing.  As you say, tough and dry.

Fish and seafood especially, and steak also,  I find, lose much of their flavour and texture.  Ugh, try thawing frozen scallops and cooking them /img/vbsmilies/smilies/eek.gif   Lamb and pork chops seem to suffer less- not sure why.  One meat I find benefits from freezing and thawing is lamb's kidneys (call me odd but I really find them tasty).  Again, don't know why they don't deteriorate as much as chicken etc.

I have to shop more often than using the freezer, but for the taste's sake, I don't really mind.

Just one more thought - sometimes we put diced chicken thighs in a marinade and then into a zip-lock bag and freeze.  It beats unmarinated chix.

 

[french fries]

I haven't been lucky with fish either, although I have to say I buy those big 4lbs bags of frozen shrimps at Costco, and that usually works well. My understanding is that most of the shrimp we buy is frozen at some point anyway.

Lamb kidneys huh? I don't think I've ever tried that, and believe me I've tried some weird things. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif

Thanks for the tip on marinating diced chicken. If I really have to freeze chicken again one day, maybe I'll give that a shot next time!

 

[chrisbelgium]

I mostly buy whole chickens but sometimes just frozen chickenbreast, let it thaw and panfry it without any complaint from anyone.

Maybe we could agree that frying chickenbreast is not that easy, fresh nor frozen ones.

Thaw and quickly brown it -on high fire- on all sides, then cover with a lid or cover nicely(=not loosely)  with a sheet of aluminium foil , and put the fire quite low, season now. Let it like that for another 15 minutes, but, turn halfway. Let rest under aluminiumfoil! Always perfect moist and tender chickenbreast.

BTW, same history with porkloin, frozen or not, always difficult to fry. Same procedure as above, perfect piece of meat.

 

[donmoocao]

There is a discernible difference between fresh and frozen for fish and meats although it doesn't bother me too much as the hassle of trying to find fresh in the first place.  Luckily our family does get very fresh fish and free range chickens and we freeze what we can't eat right away.  So even though some of the quality is lost it still is tons better than what you find in the supermarket frozen section.

A few questions on a semi-related note:  I've always thought about opening a restaurant (just a thought in the back of my head) and the biggest question I have is how do high end restaurants not freeze any of their proteins?  And what is the average shelf-life of the common proteins in the refrigerator?  Let's say that you are buying locally and can get your proteins that were slaughtered or caught that day.  What do you do with food that is on the verge of it's shelf-life?

 

[koukouvagia]

I try to buy meat fresh when I can.  There are certain things that are hard to find because of the distance - pork products for example I only get from a certain market that I only visit once every month or so and so in that case I do buy tenderloins and spare ribs that freeze perfectly in their original packaging which is  vacuum sealed.

Frozen shrimp - there is no other way to go.  Inexpensive, and quick to thaw.  They do have to be dried thoroughly with paper towels otherwise they don't sear well.

Chicken is ok, I get the individual organic chicken breasts from costco and find them very tasty and easy to defrost.  Any other kind of meat like a rib roast, chuck, ground meat, whole chicken, lamb shoulders etc I buy when I need them and cook within 24hrs.  This keeps my freezer nice and tidy and space available for important things like home made stock and frozen peas.

I am thinking about asking Santa for a vacuum sealer for Christmas.  It seems like meat holds up better in the freezer if it is vacuum sealed.

 

[dc sunshine]

There is a discernible difference between fresh and frozen for fish and meats although it doesn't bother me too much as the hassle of trying to find fresh in the first place.  Luckily our family does get very fresh fish and free range chickens and we freeze what we can't eat right away.  So even though some of the quality is lost it still is tons better than what you find in the supermarket frozen section.

A few questions on a semi-related note:  I've always thought about opening a restaurant (just a thought in the back of my head) and the biggest question I have is how do high end restaurants not freeze any of their proteins?  And what is the average shelf-life of the common proteins in the refrigerator?  Let's say that you are buying locally and can get your proteins that were slaughtered or caught that day.  What do you do with food that is on the verge of it's shelf-life?

For food that's on the verge, my way of dealing with it is to make a cooked dish, then freeze for use later.  This is for home, not sure how practical it is for restaurants.