Ice bath question

[deegee68]

Hello,

I am curious on how long everyone keeps their processed chickens in an ice bath prior to freezing. I am seeing things all over the board, from a couple of hours to 3 days.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Mountain Roost]

We keep our meat for three days in ice water or in the fridge on paper covered trays. Larger animals need longer. Deer for example is 5-7 days.

The science behind aging is that Rigor mortis has a chance to run through the meat and passed. Leaving flexible meat instead of firm and stiff.

 

[Molpet]

I used to iced bath whole birds loose in coolers until rigor mortise passed.
A couple years later I started packaging after cooling down in ice water. Nowadays I mainly part them out, cool down , packaging . I usually rest in refrigerator or freeze with a note to rest after thawing.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I usually just have them in ice water until they are cooled and I am done cleaning up the processing equipment. Then I let them dry and put them in the fridge until rigor passes - about 3 days. I always thought if I kept them in the ice water the skin might get water logged, making it less crispy when cooked. That's just my guess though. I have heard of people keeping the meat in ice water until rigor passes.

Keep in mind we only do 6-7 chickens at a time, so it's easy for me to let them dry on a table for 30 minutes with some towels over them to keep flies away. I have seen other people use special racks that go in the fridge so they can drip dry. I don't know how many you are doing, but the drying part is a factor to consider.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I have my birds professionally processed, and the butcher puts them in ice water until I come to pick them up, usually a couple of hours. Then they go in my fridge for three to four days until I can move the leg joint easily, then they go in the freezer or I'll cook one at that point.

 

[Mountain Roost]

I have done both ice water and dry-in-the-fridge for the full three days and the skin is fine both ways. My determining factor is usually the weather. If its below 50 F then ice water bath outside it is; otherwise I age them dry in the fridge. You can do water age in the fridge too. When I have only one bird to do (injury, etc) I put the meat in a big pot with water in the fridge.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I am curious on how long everyone keeps their processed chickens in an ice bath prior to freezing.

You are freezing them so you have to consider rigor mortis. That means you need to age them until the joints move freely after they have gone into rigor mortis. They do not instantly go into rigor mortis, it takes a while for it to set up, but not a long time. Mom would cook a chicken immediately after it was butchered, before rigor set up. That worked.

Most people probably age them before freezing. You can do that aging many different ways. Some age them whole, some cut them into serving pieces first. Some do it dry, some do it wet in refrigerators or ice chests. Some even hang them, don't even clean them for a few days. If you hang them it needs to be cold enough to keep insects away. For all methods it needs to be cold enough than bacteria can't grow.

I age mine after freezing. Mine are in the freezer the same day they are butchered. I keep them in ice water so the heat is gone and pack them thin so they freezer fairly quickly. If you make a thick package or pile packages together it may take a long time for the middle to freeze. When I take them out of the freezer I thaw them in the fridge and then age them. If I plan to cook the meat on Thursday, I take them out on Sunday to thaw and age.

I am seeing things all over the board, from a couple of hours to 3 days.

That's really common on this forum, seeing what you think is conflicting information on about any topic. The details matter. In this case if you are going to cook it as soon as you thaw it without aging, then you need to age it before freezing. If you age it after thawing then you can freeze it immediately. To me, that is not conflicting information, just parts of two different procedures that both work.