Brining and Freezing/Thawing

[Kim Shook]

I never thought about it before, but someone on another website mentioned that she brines large amounts of stuff and THEN puts it in the freezer and doesn't have to brine before she cooks it. Just thaws and cooks. Does this really work? I never thought of it, but if it did, I'd use brined things a LOT more often. I like the effect of brining, but just don't plain enough in advance to do it.

[Dave the Cook]

Yes, but gradual thawing is essential to minimize cell damage and the resulting loss of liquid.

[HowardLi]

Yes, but gradual thawing is essential to minimize cell damage and the resulting loss of liquid.

Doesn't the cell damage occur when the ice crystals form?

[Dave the Cook]

Good point: damage occurs in both directions. Freeze fast, thaw slow.

[BadRabbit]

I've got a frozen pork shoulder that I need to brine. Is there any reason not to defrost it in the brine?

My thought is I can speed up the defrosting process by putting the shoulder in room temp brine. This should fairly quickly bring the brine down below 40F. I was then going to leave it on the counter until the brine rises above 40F at which point I'll put it all in the fridge. All that should still be within safe conditions, correct?

I'll probably not brine much longer than usual as I'd rather err on the side of "not salty enough" and I will allow it to rest out of the brine for 8 hours afterwards to equalize levels.

Thoughts?

[OliverB]

I'd probably refrigerate the brine, then put the meat in and put it all back in the fridge. It will take a lot longer, but unless you watch the temp and stir it occasionally, I'd be concerned that the outside would get a bit too warm? Not that I'd be too concerned, the meat is frozen and then will be under water.

An other concern might be that the outside will thaw and brine much earlier than the inside. Letting it rest for 8 hours to even things out might help, but then you might just as well do the thole process in the fridge over a day.

Since I found that marinated and then frozen meat seems to take much more "marinate flavor" on while thawing in the fridge or even in a water bath, it might be an experiment worth doing though.

[BadRabbit]

I'd probably refrigerate the brine, then put the meat in and put it all back in the fridge. It will take a lot longer, but unless you watch the temp and stir it occasionally, I'd be concerned that the outside would get a bit too warm? Not that I'd be too concerned, the meat is frozen and then will be under water.

An other concern might be that the outside will thaw and brine much earlier than the inside. Letting it rest for 8 hours to even things out might help, but then you might just as well do the thole process in the fridge over a day.

Since I found that marinated and then frozen meat seems to take much more "marinate flavor" on while thawing in the fridge or even in a water bath, it might be an experiment worth doing though.

I ended up sticking with my original plan to no ill effects. I didn't have time to wait for it to thaw in the fridge so that wasn't really an option. I keep my fridge at 34F and something the size of a pork shoulder takes a couple of days to thaw.

I wasn't really worried about the outside getting too hot. The brine came to <40F in less than an hour and I kept it stirred. It took several hours to exceed 40F. I also figure that a brine (even one over 40F) is not a very good environment for bacterial growth anyway.

Edited for accuracy

Edited April 30, 2012 by BadRabbit (log)

[Toliver]

I always marinate using frozen meat. The meat thaws in the marinade and it seems takes on much more flavor than if I had put in thawed/room temperature meat. Basically, the marinade is acting like a brine.