Freezing & refreezing duck livers

[doctortim]

I've been toying with a duck liver pasta idea, but I'm having some trouble finding duck livers. One butcher I trust can get frozen livers from his supplier, but only in 2kg lots. I have two questions:

1. Does freezing diminish the quality of duck liver for sauteeing? I can ask the butcher how long it has been frozen for.

2. Would I be putting my health at risk to thaw them in the fridge just enough to separate them to refreeze individually?

Any input would be great.

[joesan]

I've been toying with a duck liver pasta idea, but I'm having some trouble finding duck livers. One butcher I trust can get frozen livers from his supplier, but only in 2kg lots. I have two questions:

1. Does freezing diminish the quality of duck liver for sauteeing? I can ask the butcher how long it has been frozen for.

2. Would I be putting my health at risk to thaw them in the fridge just enough to separate them to refreeze individually?

Any input would be great.

←

Hi Tim,

Any freezing will slightly damage the structure of the protein but I regularly use both frozen duck and chicken livers and the taste and quality is fine. Deforst them in the fridge and refreeze as quickly as possible after separation. Repeated freeze/thaw cycles will damage the meat but once you should be okay. Health concerns would arise if the meat reached above fridge temps but not at them. Might be good to defrost them in running water to quickly acheive the separation?

[Shelby]

I've been toying with a duck liver pasta idea, but I'm having some trouble finding duck livers. One butcher I trust can get frozen livers from his supplier, but only in 2kg lots. I have two questions:

1. Does freezing diminish the quality of duck liver for sauteeing? I can ask the butcher how long it has been frozen for.

2. Would I be putting my health at risk to thaw them in the fridge just enough to separate them to refreeze individually?

Any input would be great.

←

My husband is a HUGE hunter and we always save the livers and hearts out of ducks and geese (I could ship you some during winter lol)

We have vacuum packed them before, but it's a pain because they are so "juicy". I usually freeze them in a storage container. I don't unfreeze and re-freeze, though. I think they start to taste funny (but that could be in my head).

[Peter the eater]

1. Does freezing diminish the quality of duck liver for sauteeing? I can ask the butcher how long it has been frozen for.

2. Would I be putting my health at risk to thaw them in the fridge just enough to separate them to refreeze individually?

My feeling is that freezing diminishes the quality of everything and multiple freeze/thaw cycles can heave asphalt. Having said that, I freeze organ meats all the time and very often the loss in quality is imperceptible. I buy fresh duck livers (Martock Glen, NS) and often freeze them before I get a chance to saute for pate or whatever.

As for refreezing and safety . . . I do it the way you describe, usually just enough to free a chicken breast or pork chop. Since I cook them through to a safe temperature I'm not too concerned about bacteria that may have perked up in the microwave prior to being refrozen.