Re: Best Way to Freeze Fish Filets

[Big Dawg]

I have a question . . . . .

This week at my local supermarket (Harris-Teeter) have my trifecta of fish all on sale at the same time:

 - Alaskan Sockeye Salmon - $8.99 lb.
 - Yellowfin Tuna - $9.99 lb.
 - Steelhead Trout - $10.99 lb.

So here's my question:

I know that all of this comes into the store frozen.  Can I portion it and refreeze using your process and my vacuum sealer?  Or will that ruin the texture of the fish?





BD

[Lemonhead78]

Sorry for non answer but maybe you can ask the fish department associate if they have any still frozen in the back. This way it won’t get frozen twice ya know. What freezing process would you use ?

[Salmonsmoker]

As long as you thaw meat/fish products in the fridge(below 40F) you can re-freeze. Thawing in the fridge slows down the thaw process enough that you could possibly get them apart when they're still "soft frozen", vac pack and re-freeze. Then they're not really thawed. Any change in quality would be miniscule. I use the same procedure when I make bulk breakfast sausage. I fridge thaw the frozen tube of sausage in the fridge-put it in fridge before bed, in the morning it's still frozen(soft), but I can cut it into patties, stack with a piece of patty paper between each and then back in the freezer.

[Big Dawg]

Sorry for non answer but maybe you can ask the fish department associate if they have any still frozen in the back. This way it won’t get frozen twice ya know. What freezing process would you use ?

As long as you thaw meat/fish products in the fridge(below 40F) you can re-freeze. Thawing in the fridge slows down the thaw process enough that you could possibly get them apart when they're still "soft frozen", vac pack and re-freeze. Then they're not really thawed. Any change in quality would be miniscule. I use the same procedure when I make bulk breakfast sausage. I fridge thaw the frozen tube of sausage in the fridge-put it in fridge before bed, in the morning it's still frozen(soft), but I can cut it into patties, stack with a piece of patty paper between each and then back in the freezer.

By combining both ideas, it may just work as I was hoping to portion the fish out and then freeze.  I don't know when I would ever need an entire side of sockeye or steelhead, and the tuna comes in a "loin" that would also need to be broken down into individual servings.





BD

[tlg4942]

 We had Salmon from the freezer last night that was great.
Buy it frozen and cut frozen. Vac seal and back into the freezer.   It can be a bit tricky(hard as a rock) if still at super low
temps from the IQF. You can let it warm a little where its cuttable if thats the case and still be plenty cold.
 If it's already thaw at the store -or- you let it warm up at home keep it very cold,like SS said blow 40 at the warmest...  cut and vac seal ASAP. Should be fine.
 The length of the freeze time may be a bit shorter so plan to eat some regularly until its gone...
   

[Salmonsmoker]

We had Salmon from the freezer last night that was great.
Buy it frozen and cut frozen. Vac seal and back into the freezer.   It can be a bit tricky(hard as a rock) if still at super low
temps from the IQF. You can let it warm a little where its cuttable if thats the case and still be plenty cold.
 If it's already thaw at the store -or- you let it warm up at home keep it very cold,like SS said blow 40 at the warmest...  cut and vac seal ASAP. Should be fine.
 The length of the freeze time may be a bit shorter so plan to eat some regularly until its gone...
 

Good thoughts tlg. To expand a little more, I smoke about 250# of Alaskan Salmon every year and buy it bulk, H&G(headed and gutted) frozen whole. The one's that are going to get smoked stay frozen whole until thawing, filleting and brining. The others that we use for bbq etc. are too big to cook all at once as there's only two of us most of the time. I cut these ones into three pieces. I have a butcher's meat saw that works fairly good, but more recently, I bought a tree pruning blade for my sawzall which works extremely well and fast. Sanitize the blade and the end of the sawzall. No thawing at all. Then I vac pack. It'll keep at least a year. You could collect the salmon"sawdust" and make a salmon patty.

[sparky]

You take a seawall to salmon?. I'd like to see that.  Must be a big salmon?

[Salmonsmoker]

You take a seawall to salmon?. I'd like to see that.  Must be a big salmon?

The salmon are in the 6-9 lb. size grouping, which works best for my smoking. The sawzall works great. Just like cutting through a 4 X 4.

[Big Dawg]

I checked and they are coming in frozen, at least this time of year.  I went ahead and bought a Steelhead filet, cooked one portion and froze the other three just to test them out and see what happens.





BD