important question about brining and freezing.

[agnes_day]

ok..the 2 roosters i am doing tomorrow will be going in the freezer, not eaten right away. do i still brine them for a day? or do i butcher and freeze, and then brine?
i thought that i was supposed to brine them for a day and then freeze them to keep them from being tough but then i read it can make the meat mushy. i dont know what to do!

 

[pdpatch]

depending on who else replies it can be done either way.

We prefer to do our soaking while we let the meat rest. Some say it's best to let the rigor leave the meat before freezing, which we agree with. That takes a minimum of 4 hours for most to leave the meat, but 24 hours seems better.

We let ours soak in plain Ice water for 48 hours before freezing, I didn't notice any mushy meat. So far all has been moist and tender, but we baked, broiled, BBQ all of our poultry from last year.


The most common method is to do the butchering, let rest 24 hours in the refrigerator, freeze, the soak in brine before you cook and after you thaw.

Tom

 

[jaku]

You should let the cool/rest for 24 hours. You can do that in ice water, and I like to add a bit of salt to the water, but the actual brining is done right before you cook the bird. A brine is different than the pre-freeze bath because a brine is super-salty water, usually with some other ingredients mixed in, like sugar and spices.