Your favorite frozen ingredients

[lullyloo]

Why stock in ice cube trays?  In case you only need a small portion, say for gravy or something?  

Peas, yes!!  It's the one non-fresh form of a vegetable I actually have a thing for (besides canned corn. . . . comfort food?)  and is a great addition to lots of dishes as Fat-guy mentioned.  Bread, yes.  (I'm single, so I can never get through a whole loaf before it goes bad.)  Stock in plastic quarts, grandma's freezer jam, minced fresh parsley and basil in ziplocs (great for tomato sauce and that way I don't waste a whole bunch of parsley when I want to buy it for one dish.  But what do you all do with cilantro?  I can never seem to use a whole bunch up before it goes bad and the only times I ever use it are when it's fresh and raw.  maybe in the frozen form for Indian cooking?), tomato paste in a ziploc, mom's pesto, occasionally a roll of spicy breakfast sausage (functions similarly to peas) and boneless, skinless chicken breast, tofutti, almonds, nuts mmmmmmmmmmmm, and of course candy bars!

[Julliana]

A few questions:

Do people here date the food they freeze themselves? If you dont, do you have a time limit or appearance test that you use to determine whether something has passed its prime?  Do you cook it up things that seem borderline?

About the parmesan...

do you grate it cold or let it come to room temp.

As long as we're talking about parmesan I was wondering how everyone grates theirs?  I use a zyliss crank type cylinder gizmo. I dont like the texture of the little pebbles that you get from a food processor and I dont own a blender, which I've heard you get mixed results from.  I havent tried one of those new  long thin plane graters that seem to be popular lately.

Julliana

[Jinmyo]

I have stock in bags, about 3 cups each. Some herbs in ice cube trays. But uusually anything frozen is initally laid flat so it can be stacked or stood.

Time limit? Depends upon the product. But I always use colour/texture/appearance and often turf items that displease.

Everything is always dated and inventoried. General food inventory is four times a week. Freezer inventory is monthly. Put into a text file, synched to a Palm handheld, beamed where needed. Heh. Not kidding.

Bear in mind though, this is not a domestic kitchen nor a restaurant. I just feed a lot of people, often and on a schedule. But I think dating anything frozen is essential whether it's just for you or for for dozens.

[goose]

hehe, My first post!  

My fav's are: frozen peas, forzen corn, stock cubes, and some pork fat (leftover from a ham).

[lullyloo]

Why stock in cubes???

[Pitter]

I think that when folks are mentioning "cubes," this is short-hand for the folks who take their stock and simmer it off until it is very thick, like a "glace."  Then they pour it into icecube trays, freeze it, and use a cube at a time to mount sauces, thicken stews, or dilute for soups.  Most of stock is water.  If you evaporate that off, you still have the good stuff of stock, but in a much more manageable form.  If you are a real purist, and evaporate enough water, a "cube" can be diluted to a "cup" of real stock.

[Fat Guy]

I use a very low tech system for dating frozen foods. It's called "Honey, how long has this been in here?"

[Suvir Saran]

I keep lots of peas, butter, curry leaves, grated coconut, M & M cookie icecream sandwiches, 12-15 pints of Ben & Jerrys and Hagen-Dazs Icecream, Pineapple that was very sweet and perfectly ripe (great to defrost an hour or two before serving.  It is amazing, the sweetness gets very intense), Kulfi and pumpkin flesh (to make muffins and pies) and some frozen corn,.  But the quality of corn one is able to find even in the neighborhood green grocer is so good in the dead of winter, that it seems strange to have it now.

I wish I had 5 freezers.  I would be able to keep more ice-cream.

[Lesley C]

In the freezer right now: all nuts and nut powders, pizza dough, homemade chicken and veal stock, store-bought duck stock, rhubarb, pumpkin puree, organic bread flour, organic cornmeal, organic grits, peas, pesto, vanilla ice cream, 5 individual raw flourless chocolate cakes, a bottle of vodka, and about 10 babkas from a babka story I did two years ago.

A word of advice from someone who lived through a vile African meal worm infestation a few years ago: keep all organic flours -- especially cornmeal (they usually arrive in the cornmeal) -- in the freezer. Those little buggers ate their way through everything but the sugar.

[goose]

Pitter hit the nail on the head.  After I reduce my stock, I pour them into into a small icecube trays, and bag them after they cool.   I usually cook for 2, so it's easy to bring a few stock 'ice-cubes' up to temp than it is to re-heat a few pints of stock.

[lullyloo]

Pitter, Goose - How long does it take to reduce your stock and when you want to turn this reduction back into stock how much water do you add?  Once cup per cube as you mentioned, Pitter?

(thank you in advance)

[stefanyb]

The usual- Cascadian farms fruits and veggies, coffee beans and  Absolute Citron Vodka- best in syrup form

I don't like the taste of any bread products that have been frozen (am I doing something wrong?)

Flattened boneless chicken breasts(the fastest defrosting meat item bar none)

[LaurieA-B]

My favorite freezer item is frozen berries:

Strawberries for making smoothies (blend with very ripe bananas, some orange juice and an ice cube or two).

Blueberries for muffins, coffeecake, clafoutis, pancakes... frozen ones are often better than fresh for baking, and they're certainly more available

Cranberries, as they're only available during November and December, and you can throw a couple of bags in the freezer.  I use them as I do the blueberries (though I've never tried cranberry pancakes.  With orange zest?)

I buy strawberries and blueberries at Trader Joe's, where they're always good quality and loose in bags, not frozen in a solid block.

Another good freezer item is bacon.  With two of us in the household, we never eat a whole package of bacon quickly (though we could, if we let ourselves).  I picked up the tip somewhere (Cook's Illustrated?) to roll slices of bacon and freeze the rolls in a ziplock bag.  This works beautifully, because you can pull out the exact number of slices you want at any time.  The bacon thaws and unrolls very quickly when you put it in a frying pan.   I've done this with both thin- and thick-cut bacon strips.

[Fat Guy]

I was going to use bacon to challenge stefanyb's claim that chicken breasts are the fastest defrosting meat item. I would also add to that list hot dogs because you just handle frozen ones as you would refrigerated ones: You cook them for maybe a minute longer and change nothing else.

Stefanyb, in terms of bread, freezing is a technique best used for bread that you're going to eat toasted. If you freeze it properly, it is quite difficult to discern any difference between the toast arising from fresh and frozen bread. How do you freeze it properly? I take pre-sliced bread and usually freeze it in the small Zip-Locs with either one sliced bagel or three or four slices of bread per bag. I try to loosen the slices a bit so they don't adhere too much when frozen. I get as much of the air out of the bag as I can (air and moisture are the things that really mess up frozen foods), and I find that the Zip-Loc bags specifically formulated for the freezer are best. I keep my freezer set pretty much as cold as I can get it. Then I just put the bread in an oven or toaster and treat it as though I was toasting it from a fresh state -- but I add some time. For very thick bread, a few seconds in the microwave helps the process. If you're going to defrost bread for non-toasting purposes, you'll pretty much always notice that it's inferior to fresh. But bread frozen when it is at its peak of freshness and carefully defrosted in the microwave is in my opinion almost always better than day old bread.

Frozen bread is also very convenient for sandwich-making when you need to pack a lunch. I sometimes take two slices of frozen bread and make a sandwich right on them. I wrap it tightly in aluminum foil. Such a sandwich will self-refrigerate for a while and be lovely at lunchtime. The frozen bread also is less permeable and therfore stays non-soggy for longer than fresh bread.

[bigbear]

I took a look in the freezer. The things that I could recognize were butter, bacon, containers of meatballs with tomato sauce, English muffins, knockwurst, sugar-free ice cream, pita bread and a couple of those gel type ice-packs.

[stefanyb]

I suppose using LaurieA-B's bacon freezing method that would put bacon ahead of flattened chicken breasts in speed but I must admit that I don't think of bacon in quite the same protein providing way that I think of chicken, but maybe thats just me.  

Your frozen bread info was interesting especially the frozen bread sandwich-to- go. Its on my list to try (#10001)

[Pitter]

Lullyloo:  It's hard to say how long to reduce stock until suitable for cubes.  I usually reduce it until I can't stand waiting anymore, then reduce it another two hours.  Not scientific!  Use low, low heat in the final stages until it is literally like syrup.  When cool, it should be wiggly-jiggly.  Pour into ice cube trays and freeze.  After they are frozen, I usually put them into ziplock bags for easy access.  Simply use the number that tastes right.  In classical cooking, one cube should be diluted with one cup of water to make a tall cup of stock.  If I am making a big pot of soup, I'll toss in 8 or 10.  If I want to enrich a sauce, 1 or 2.  Cooking is all about improvising.  Just have fun, and good flavor will follow ---  Sorry I can't be more specific.

[lullyloo]

Thank you, Pitter.  I get the picture.  

[Heather]

A few items in my freezer that I haven't noticed mentioned in this discussion already:

Frozen chunks of banana. I'm a picky-picky banana eater - I like them medium ripe. Once they start to get black spots on them, it's too late - even though, technically, they're not overripe. So, I peel them, and cut them in chunks and put them in a Pyrex container in the freezer. (Pyrex like all of my containers, because it doesn't absorb flavours). Frozen banana is brilliant in smoothies, giving them a thickshakey quality. Alternatively, you can puree the frozen banana on its own, to create a rich, creamy, fruit-only soft serve. For vibrant colour, add some frozen berries.

Frozen legumes. Cooking legumes - beans especially - from scratch requires forethought and time. So, I typically make a big batch and maybe use some straight away, freezing three meals' worth in individual portions. Great to have on hand as a base for healthy mid-week meals.

Pre-cooked, pre-sauced Japanese freshwater eel fillets. Even Australia's best Japanese restaurants use these imported frozen fillets for their unagi-don (grilled eel on rice) and eel sushi. We buy them at our favourite local fishmonger, which has an impressive sushi section. Defrost overnight in the fridge, reheat in a moderate oven for around six minutes. A rare example of frozen seafood being tremendously tasty.

[knews9]

I found the topic of agata and valentina, citarella, and fairway fascinating--maybe someone shd start that thread?  i just moved to downtown brooklyn (a market wasteland) from 77th and 2nd.  i found A&V to have the best everything; loved their special imported own label things like that nut honey; produce was usually great, pasta good, and the cheese folks were just lovely.  i never felt good about citarella, though the fish guys were nice.  so while you folks bicker, just know that outside of sahadi (which is amazing!) i am stuck when it comes to fresh produce (until the CSA starts).  but since this is the freezer thread...

peas, peas and pearl onions, some gross bag of mixed veg for when i am desperate for some sort of veg, usually mixed in with a simple pasta, butter and parm., ditto for chopped spinach.  artichoke bottoms.  limoncello and vodka.  some ground meat and chicken breasts.  pecans.  chocolate.  coffee.  ice cubes.  oh and frozed strawberries, raspberries and blueberries which is defrost and mix in with morning oatmeal and honey.  mmmm.

[PaulaJ]

-grated parm and gruyere [for quick gougeres]

-special stocks

-peas, of course

-flash frozen porcini

-passion fruit puree

-homemade french onion soup, the ultimate 'urge' fulfiller!

[Ron Johnson]

In my freezer:

Ice

Phyllo Dough

Vodka

Limoncello

I generally don't like to freeze food items because you have to thaw them before eating.  This requires either a lot of time or a microwave.  I have neither.

[Rachel Perlow]

I don't know why I've avoided this topic for so long, but here goes:

Chicken breasts - freeze flat on a sheet pan (IQF) then transfer to ziploc so you can remove just what you need. Or, put the amount you'd regularly use for a family dinner in a ziploc, add a marinade, smoosh out all the air, freeze flat. Defrost overnight in the fridge and grill. I set up a bunch of bags, add the chicken, then add a different marinade to each one.

Bagels - Important! Preslice before freezing. I usually put four in a gallon ziploc, as that way they fit flat. Our toaster oven has a frozen button, so they can go straight in there without thawing first. Buy cheap day-old bagels, after toasting they're fine, and you wouldn't eat a frozen bagel untoasted.

London Broil - I cut into meal size portions and add marinade (usually teriyaki), just like the chicken breasts.

Hamburgers - If you're going to get all messy making hamburgers, make 3-4 times what you need that day. Freeze the patties on a sheet pan and stack with squares of wax/butcher/parchment paper in between each patty. If you like them rare or medium-rare, cook from frozen state. You can also cook ground beef before freezing. Use in chili, tacos, tomato sauce, etc.

Edemame - Japanese soybean. Boil briefly, sprinkle with sea or kosher salt. Eat as is.

Baby or Tiny Peas - a half a cup gets thrown into so many dishes it's a staple. The baby ones are so much better than the regular frozen peas.

Eggplant Cutlets - Slice crosswise and bread eggplant with a combination of crumbs with a little parasean cheese and herbs. Bake for about 20-30 minutes until just lightly browned on the edges. IQF, use for moussaka and eggplant parmesean.

Bacon - I cook the whole package, then freeze the leftovers. They crumble by default. When I want some for an omelet or to top a salad, I shake out a handful onto a paper towel and microwave for less than a minute. They recrisp no problem.

Stock - Some in quart containers, some in ice cube form.

Turkey - Jason has to have real turkey breast for sandwiches, not "turkey jello" as is most stuff at the deli. I'll cook a whole turkey or a turkey breast. Put one half of breast away unsliced, wrapped really well (the other half gets eaten that week). The dark meat can be shredded and used for salads, enchilada/taco/quesadilla fillings, casseroles - however I usually just use it up when Jason's not around cause he doesn't eat dark meat (which is why I usually just do the breasts at non-Thanksgiving time).

Sausage - cooked and uncooked. Don't need to thaw before cooking on the grill, but start on low until they are defrosted.

Tomatoes & Tomato Sauce - have too many tomatoes to deal with from your garden? Just throw them in a plastic bag and make sauce in the winter. Throw them in a pot frozen, with a little water & cover. Stir every so often until they are defrosted and getting saucy, then uncover. Strain with a food mill to remove skin & seeds. Of course, you can always make the sauce in the summer & freeze it too, in ziploc baggies, freeze flat for easier defrosting.

Cheese - We bought our chest freezer when a local supermarket was closing. It took us a year to get through the blocks of cheese and fresh pastas bought for $1 each.

Pasta - tortalini, ravioli, fresh pasta (see above)

That's enough for now. I'd have to check the freezers to see what else is in there.

[JSD]

Rachel, I like your idea regarding freezing tomatoes whole.  I cooked a lot of tomatoes last fall, pureed (but with seeds and skins) and froze in ziploc bags.  I'll try your way this year.  At the very least, it could save time when we're inundated with produce.

[sandymalloy]

Another vote for stock frozen in ice cube trays.

Why cubes? Because I almost never make soup, but frequently use stock cubes to make rice, or as a part of sauces for pasta or pork chops.  (E.g., Alice Waters has a wonderful recipe for a pasta with bay scallops, leeks and roasted red peppers, and the sauce is a reduced chicken stock.)

Also have cubes of pesto (since we use so little at a time) and verjus, another nice way to make light sauces.  (As you can see, I like reductions--neither my husband nor I like heavy sauces on our food.)

Peas, parmesan cheese (not a purist, freeze the pregrated stuff we get at Safeway), coffee, a variety of sausages, Gardenburgers & buns, blueberries (they freeze extremely well & can be added to pancakes without thawing!)  Meats on sale, and the remains of a half lamb we ordered.  Yes, we have a freezer in the garage....

I've had freezing help lasagna and some other tomato-based products (spaghetti sauce etc.) that I've made or bought.  Seems to mellow & blend the flavors.  

Good thread!

Sandy