Latest news with #meat
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Cheaper imported chicken and beef increasingly seen in UK supermarkets
Cheap chicken and beef from Australia, Poland and Uruguay is on the rise on UK supermarket shelves, according to the National Farmers' Union, as supermarkets look for money-saving options. The NFU regularly monitors supermarket shelves and notes that Morrisons is now selling raw chicken from Poland in its poultry aisle. Chicken in Poland is generally produced to different standards from those in the UK, and is cheaper to produce as a result. Morrisons requires that for its UK chicken, poultry must be kept at a maximum stocking density of 30kg/m2, giving the chickens more space to roam. In Poland, this is up to 39kg/m2. The retailer has also begun to sell sirloin steak from Australia, made possible, according to NFU sources, by the unpopular trade deal struck by Liz Truss with Australia. Australian beef, like Polish chicken, is generally produced to different animal welfare and environmental standards than meat in the UK. Feedlots are commonly used and, according to the RSPCA in Australia, the country is ranked D for farm animal welfare compared with B for the UK. The supermarket sponsors the TV show Clarkson's Farm and frequently reiterates its commitment to British farmers. Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson, said: 'This is appalling from Morrisons. They seek kudos for their UK sourcing but then sneakily do this, undermining British farmers and undermining their own integrity and brand.' Other supermarkets are also sourcing meat from farther afield than previously. Asda is now selling sirloin and ribeye steaks from Uruguay, priced much lower than their UK counterparts. They are priced at £21.94/kg and £23.70/kg respectively, which is about 20% less than their UK and Irish beef, priced at £27.93/kg for sirloin and £28.81 for ribeye. Stuart Roberts, a beef, sheep and cereal farmer from Hertfordshire said: 'With farmers under pressure from multiple directions I'd be fascinated to learn why Asda have decided this is an appropriate time to start stocking Uruguayan beef. There is no excuse for this huge betrayal of the UK's hard-working family farms. Consumers and farmers deserve better.' Sainsbury's has also been found to be stocking beef steaks from New Zealand. Supermarkets said they were doing this to offer 'outstanding value' to customers. The cost of red meat has soared in recent months, with UK farm gate beef prices at 713.3p/kg on 3 May, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), a 43.8% year-on-year increase. The AHDB predicts that beef production will fall by 5% in the next year due to a decline in farming profitability and an expected cut to subsidies. The NFU livestock board chair, David Barton, said: 'It's deeply concerning to see major retailers now move away from their previous commitments to sourcing British … in favour of imports many of which have been produced to lower standards. Farmers' longstanding partnerships with retailers have supported sustainable supply chains, so this shift is alarming. 'Decisions to renege on sourcing commitments erode trust and damage farmer confidence at a time when the sector is facing immense challenges and, with increased global insecurity, the need to build sustainable food supply chains has never been more important. 'British farmers have invested in higher standards such as reducing antibiotic use in beef and lowering poultry stocking densities in sheds. But delivering these standards comes with additional financial costs. Long-term sourcing commitments from retailers are essential to ensuring that the high welfare British food consumers want remains available.' A Morrisons spokesperson said: 'Morrisons remains 100% British on all our meat counters. In our aisles – alongside our New Zealand lamb – we are introducing trials of some imported meat from trusted suppliers to help us offer outstanding value through the seasons and through any supply fluctuations. 'We are proud to be the single biggest direct supermarket customer of British farming and are looking to grow the overall volumes of British meat through Myton Food Group.' An Asda spokesperson said: 'We always look to offer customers a wide choice of products to suit all budgets, and the country of origin is always clearly labelled on pack so customers can make an informed choice about their purchases. Grass & Grill steaks are provided by a branded partner and available in our stores for a limited time only. All of Asda's own brand fresh beef continues to be sourced from farms in the UK and Republic of Ireland.' Sainsbury's has been contacted for comment.
The Herald
03-06-2025
- General
- The Herald
Hijacking of meat delivery truck ends with arrested suspects facing the heat
A group of thieves planning to profit from hijacking a meat delivery truck got cooked after a joint operation by SAPS units led to their arrest and the recovery of meat valued at almost R20,000. Police spokesperson Capt Andre Beetge said the truck was hijacked by five armed suspects on Friday at about 4.15pm along the R75 near Bayland, while en route to Despatch. 'The suspects forced the driver and two assistants into their vehicle and later abandoned them in Kwazakhele.' Beetge said by 5.20pm, SAPS K9 unit members located the hijacked truck abandoned and empty in Milner Avenue, Sydenham. In a co-ordinated operation involving the SAPS K9 unit, stock theft unit, provincial serious violent crime investigation unit, and crime intelligence, the subsequent investigations led to the arrests. 'On [Friday], premises in Hart Road, Sidwell, were searched, resulting in the discovery of two front quarters of stolen meat [estimated value R9,000]. 'A 30-year-old man was arrested for possession of stolen property. 'Five additional undocumented men [aged 25 to 37] were arrested at the scene and detained at SAPS Algoa Park.' The next morning, at about 8am, a tavern in Jijana Street, Wells Estate, was also searched. 'Two additional front quarters of meat [valued at R9,000] were recovered and confiscated, though no arrests were made. 'On Monday, at 3.30pm, SAPS K9 members confiscated a Nissan eight-tonne cooling truck and arrested a 25-year-old man at premises in Military Road, Central. 'The truck is linked to the hijacking and was allegedly used to transport stolen meat. This suspect faces charges under the original hijacking case.' He said the investigation was ongoing. The Herald
CTV News
02-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Caseloads of steak and chicken are on the lam
A daring daylight break-in at an Alliston business targeted meat and poultry by the caseload on Friday shortly before 3 p.m. A preliminary investigation at 33 Paris Street by the Nottawasaga Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) shows that between 5 p.m. Thursday and 2:15 p.m. Friday, suspects entered the store through the rear door. They made off with cases of steak and chicken, an Epson printer ET 3830, an HP laptop, a Dell computer monitor, a vacuum sealer, meat grinder, two weight scales, a meat slicer and kitchen knives. Police are asking anyone with dashcam or camera video to review that time frame and report any activity related to this crime to the OPP at 1-888-310-1122. Or you can provide information anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
Forbes
29-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Forbes
Summer Grilling And BBQ: The Best Mail-Order Meat And Seafood
Backyard barbecue season is here, and there are limitless choices of great meat and seafood you can ... More grill—if you know where to shop. It's not officially summer yet, but Memorial Day usually marks the start of backyard grilling season, and the holiday came about as early as possible this year. That means it is time to start cooking outside. But if you want to have the best possible home grilled foods, entertain friends and be the envy of your neighborhood, you need to start with better ingredients. The best meats and seafood for outdoor cooking are things you typically cannot get at your local gourmet store or butcher shop. The items below are all exceptional, hard to source, and all of them have been personally tested, tasted and approved by yours truly. This is a subject I have covered for years, I am a NY Times bestselling food writer, and these are truly the best mail-order meat and seafood for grilling and smoking this summer. No butcher offers the sheer selection of Chicago's famed Allen Brothers, with 10 options for rib eye ... More steaks alone! This is a 50/50 Wagyu/Angus version, naturally rasied by Texas' Rosewood Ranch. If I could order meat from only one place, it would probably be Allen Brothers, an acclaimed Chicago butcher shop founded in 1893 and tied to the history of American cattle drives and meat processing since the city's stockyards days. Allen Brothers supplies many top steakhouses across the nation, and if you go out to an expense account steak dinner you may well be having exactly the same meat you can get for your backyard—for much less money! They have also been doing consumer mail order meat much longer than most competitors and are excellent at it. Beyond beef, they carry a very full lineup of specialty lamb, pork, poultry, seafood, veal and would game, even exceptional prepared foods for parties. It's one stop shopping for protein fans. But today let's talk beef. While there are many places where you can get a great rib eye or porterhouse, no one has the range Allen Brothers offers. Do you want your porterhouse USDA Prime? Dry-aged? Angus? Do you prefer it extra thick? They have you covered. Ribeyes are an even broader array from bone-in to boneless to giant celebratory tomahawks worthy of any home steakhouse dinner. Just in this one hard to find cut, tomahawks, they have multiple choices including USDA Prime, dry aged USDA Prime and Australian wagyu. Wet aged? Dry Aged? For regular rib eyes they have more than ten options, cut differently, aged differently, from different kinds of cattle and different countries. They have things you can find virtually nowhere else, like USDA Prime rib cap spinalis steak, and if you don't know what that is you should probably order one because it is a top-secret butcher cut that may be the best meat on the entire steer. Speaking of 'Butcher's Selections,' they have an entire section of their site for that, and it has crazy hard to find items, like wagyu beef short ribs or wagyu beef back rib racks, Argentinian-style flanken cut short ribs, one of the best cuts for grilling but from Australian wagyu, something I have never seen sold elsewhere. Need a Brazilian picanha cut that is also USDA Prime? Wagyu beef cheeks? If you love red meat, this is the place. Nashville craft butcher Porter Road takes locally, naturally raised meats and turns them into ... More amazing hot dogs, sausages, burgers and much more. You do not have to be a skilled cook to enjoy grilling, and many folks like to keep things simple with the classic American backyard barbecue, but you can still be a backyard rock star if you start with the best products. Hot dogs and sausages are among the most processed meats you can grill, and are usually made with low quality ingredients—even simple ground beef can be suspect with fillers and commodity meat. Your family and guests deserve better, and you can elevate your grilling game way above mass-produced supermarket commodity brands by shopping at one of my favorite e-tailers, Nashville-based specialty butcher Porter Road. They are an artisan brick and mortar butcher that also ships nationwide, but their aesthetic is regional and they work with local family farmers in neighboring states to obtain high-quality, ethically pasture raised poultry, beef and pork, all without hormones or antibiotics. As a whole animal butcher, they focus on sustainability, and use everything, so in addition to great steak, chicken (one of the best places to buy whole birds for roasting) and pork chops, they stand out for their house-made products, including excellent ground meat using dry-aged beef, a rarity, hot dogs, sausages, salamis and even dried beef sticks, the best I have tried. After researching and writing my New York Times bestseller, Real Food, Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating & What You Can Do About It (read an excerpt here at Forbes), I switched my personal consumption to almost exclusively drug free, naturally raised meat, but in that style, these are among the hardest product categories to shop for. However, Porter Road makes it easy, and carries purer links of chorizo, kielbasa, Italian, andouille, bratwurst or breakfast sausage made with such quality meat. Even their bacon is better. Yet their prices are very reasonable, especially compared to most mail order gourmet fare, and in most cases, less than you'd pay at local butcher, with free shipping over $125. The aptly named "Grilling Box" from Wild Alaksan Company with wild-caught salmon, halibut and ... More pollack. Seafood is tricky on the grill, but for backyards, salmon is everyone's favorite, and the world's best salmon comes wild from Alaksa. Another lesson from research for my book was learning a lot about aquaculture and imported seafood. Knowing what I now know, I try to eat only wild-caught domestic fish, which means mainly Alaska. Fish farming is illegal across the board in the 49th State, so it's all wild-caught, and it's one of the world's cleanest and most sustainable fisheries. Also, what many foodies do not realize, because they constantly see menus brag about Scottish or Icelandic or Faroe Islands salmon, is that Atlantic salmon is commercially extinct and all Atlantic salmon, no matter where it is from, or how fancy it sounds, is farmed (unless you catch it yourself). If you want wild caught, you want one of the five species of Pacific salmon found in abundance in Alaska: King (Chinook), Sockeye (red), Coho (silver), Pink (Humpy) or Chum (dog). Wild Alaskan Company delivers this sustainably-sourced seafood straight to your kitchen in individually vacuum packed, 6–8-ounce fillet portions perfect to get rubbed with extra virgin olive oil and go straight onto the grill. But it's not just salmon: these perfect sized packages can also contain wild caught Alaskan halibut, cod or pollock (the salmon is coho and sockeye). If you are an empty nester or live alone, these are also perfectly sized for dinner for one or two, thaw quickly and grill easily. It is tricky to find on the company's website, but they also offer several other great seafood choices, including salmon burgers, and wild caught shrimp, prawns and scallops, all great when grilled. Enjoy the world's finest pork, from Spain, 4-ways with Campo Grande's Grillmaster Box. Campo Grande is a specialty distributor focused on the best of Spanish meats—which means some of the best meat on earth, especially pork. Spain's claim to fame is the 100% Iberian Pata Negra (black paw) breed, generally considered the world's best. Because little actual meat is imported, it's better known here in cured meats, serrano ham and jamon Iberico, but if you can get your hands on it, you won't find better pork chops, roasts, tenderloin, ribs or butcher's cuts like very hard-to-find 'secreto,' a strip adjacent to the belly, combining the fatty rich deliciousness of pork belly with a meatier, steak-like texture. Campo Grande sells all of these cuts from the finest Spanish pigs, their stuff is just amazing, they specialize in curated sampler and gift boxes, including a couple specifically with a selection of cuts for grilling, making shopping easy. The Gunslinger, bone-in USDA Prime rib steaks with house seasoning and compund butter from iconic ... More Las Vegas steakhouse the Golden Steer. I have eaten at and written on the world's most famous steakhouses, from Spain to Buenos Aires to Kobe, Japan, and the Golden Steer in Las Vegas remains one of my all-time favorites (read more about it here at Forbes). While just about every other high-end red meat spot in Sin City is in a ginormous casino resort and relatively new, the family run spot is independent, free standing and one of the city's oldest eateries. History and tradition live on, with white-jacketed waiters making tableside Caesar salads and presenting tiered seafood towers. It was Sinatra's regular spot, to the point where he had his own meal, off-menu, and his own banquette (you can eat there now). All of the Rat Pack came regularly, Dean Martin also had his own booth, and one of the mail order packages is named for Sammy Davis Jr. But pretty much every star and celebrity who has visited Vegas in the past half century has eaten here, including Joe DiMaggio, Muhammad Ali, Charles Bronson, Nicolas Cage, Mario Andretti, Bette Midler and the King himself, Elvis Presley. Presley was such a regular during his famed Las Vegas residency that they have two Gold Records on loan from his personal collection hanging on the wall. But for your grill, what's most important is that the Golden Steer is one of the best 'steakhouse at home' models available. Not only do they ship their first-rate USDA Prime 30-day wet aged steaks, but they include their signature seasoning, which I have used many times and is excellent, as well as their house made decadent maître d' butter. If you have never spooned a lump of seasoned butter on top of a hot steak, you do not know what you are missing! Too set the mood, each box even includes a customized Spotify playlist, and if you are not a great steak cook, they offer 'The Bambino Immersive Experience' that includes their two signature cuts, USDA Prime Bone-in Ribeye and Filet Mignon, along with an 8-minute Masterclass video on how to cook steaks like the best chefs of the Vegas strip. The newest offering is 'The Gunslinger,' four 20-22-ounce bone in rib steaks plus seasonings. Whatever friends you invite for this feast will be overjoyed. Their Steer Setup Dining Experience is a complete dinner with two steaks of your choice (ribeyes, filets, one of each), or one giant tomahawk for two, plus the Steer's signature twice-baked potatoes, creamed corn and the usual seasoning extras. The way they package everything makes it easy to prep at home and tastes like you are eating out. World-class steakhouse dinner for two at home from legendary Tampa eatery, Bern's Steakhouse. Another big personal favorite of mine is Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa, and I'm not alone: few restaurants in the U.S. of any kind have received the acclaim and cult following Bern's has. While its food is amazing, it may be best known for having the nation's single best restaurant wine program, the largest cellar in the country, with an amazing selection by the glass, things you can taste this way no place else, and it is a perennial winner of the rarest Wine Spectator Grand Award of Excellence, the industry's highest honor. You'll have to buy your own wine, but now you can enjoy Bern's steaks and sides at home, through mail order food specialist Goldbelly. I'm not usually a big fan of the site, since much of the food is marked up way above what the restaurants they represent sell for, and shipping prices can be astronomical, but one of the things that is so impressive about Bern's—one of the hardest reservations in the country and always sold out—is that despite its popularity, prices are very reasonable, and it is probably the most affordable great steakhouses in America. The same is true with the mail order—like two extra-long dry-aged (5-6 weeks!) USDA Prime NY Strip steaks plus large sides of creamed spinach and Bern's famous sour cream mashed potatoes, for $139, shipping included. That's a great dinner for two for what you would easily spend on one person at a steakhouse—a steakhouse that is not nearly as good as Bern's. Force of Nature has grilling meats you will be unlikely to source elsewhere, such as regeneratively ... More raised elk, venison, bison, and wild boar. I have long been a fan of bison, which is almost always raised under better, more natural, free ranging conditions than beef cattle, is easy to find in a drug-free state, and is leaner and arguably healthier than beef, yet with the same robust red meat flavor. The biggest issue with buying bison is simply availability, and while many supermarkets now carry ground bison, getting steaks or other cuts is still quite challenging. But even harder to find than bison is grass-fed, regeneratively raised elk, venison or wild boar, all of which Force of Nature specializes in. Force of Nature is a mail-order specialist focused on regeneratively-raised meats produced with the highest quality farming techniques, and they offer things you'd be hard pressed to get anyplace else, like a grass-fed venison tomahawk steak! They have venison and grass-fed beef sausage, wild boar and beef sausage, and I have been using the wild boar sausage to make amazing breakfast sandwiches, unlike any you have ever tasted. They also sell ground meats from all of these meats so you can wow the neighbors with elk or wild boar burgers, something no one else in the neighborhood is likely to fire up. Colorado's regenerative Eagle Rock Ranch raises high-quality cattle in the most ultra-natural ... More fashion, then dry ages its great steaks. 'Our mission is to produce the highest quality beef possible—beef you can feel good about.' That is what they believe at Colorado's Eagle Rock Ranch, and it is music to my ears. They do things the old-fashioned way, open their ranch to visitors so you can see the cleanliness and high standards, but most of all they make superb natural beef in the most sustainable way. Like local CSAs, you can even buy a share of a whole animal, an eighth, quarter or half ($825-$1,525), but if you go this route make sure you have a big freezer. Even an eighth of a steer weighs in at 50-pounds of finished butchered beef, half ground half as steaks, roasts and short ribs. A more manageable order would be something like a box of NY Strip Steaks or Rib eyes, 21-day dry aged, each in three sizes. They offer a Caveman worthy oversized tomahawk, 3-inches thick and weighing in at more than 3.5 pounds. Beyond normal steaks, they carry specialty items like pot roast, short ribs, tri tip, beef osso buco, oxtails, and organ meats, all from the same meticulously cared for, drug free, grass-fed cattle. I love the way Eagle Rock does business. For amazing dry-aged and ultra-aged beef, it is hard to beat San Francisco's famous butcher to the ... More stars, Flannery Beef. The latest frontier of high-end steakhouse dining has been ultra dry-ageing, taking the industry standard 28-31 days and pushing it to 60, 90 or even 120 days, developing more nutty, intense favors. There are just a handful of standout steakhouses like James Beard-award winning chef John Tesar's Knife in Dallas, and one of my favorite restaurants in the world, crazy good fine-dining Italian Brezza in Las Vegas, where Itay's classic steak dish bistecca Fiorentina is elevated to a whole another level (Brezza sells its dry aged, exception steaks for home use, but currently only in person in Vegas). If you want to try extra aged beef at home and see what all the fuss is about, the best place to get it is from San Francisco's Flannery Beef, opened in in 1963 by Bryan Flannery, Sr. after he spent decades training with and working for a high-quality French butcher. Still a third-generation family-owned operation, Flannery supplies many top California restaurants and celebrities, and specializes in selecting the best USDA Prime (less than 6% of all beef) beef available, mostly raised in California by farmers they know, butchering it themselves in house and running their own dry-ageing facility, which is unusual. But perhaps most unusual is that many of the cuts, such as rib eyes, come from Holstein cattle, normally known as a dairy breed. In other countries they often eat the meat of dairy breeds, which tend to be more marbled, but not so much here. In addition to higher marbling and flavor Holstein rib eyes are smaller in diameter so they can be cut thicker at the same weight, which cooks better. I have tried many Flannery steaks over the years and have always been wowed. In fact, their exceptional Jorge Rib steak is one of the best pieces of meat I have ever tasted. It is cut from the first few bones at the chuck end of the primal rib, which has a higher amount of the exceptionally flavorful spinalis dorsi rib cap. If you don't know who much just cutting a steak can affect quality, you need to try the Jorge, a perfect giant steak for the grill, bone-in and three inches thick. It's dry-aged for about 30-35 days, a bit longer than usual dry-ageing (which is the best ageing and unusual to begin with for any length of time), but Flannery also offers more unusual extra-aged cuts, such as a 55-day bone-in rib steak, and most notably, the signature 'California Reserve Dry Aged Rib Eye,' aka 'The Old Ones,' aged 45, 60, 75 or 90 days, almost impossible to find elsewhere. That is why Flannery makes this list of the best mail-order meat and seafood. Enjoy!
CNET
23-05-2025
- General
- CNET
Don't Forget to Thaw Your Frozen Meat for Memorial Day Weekend Grilling
Grilling for memorial day weekend? Don't forget to properly thaw your frozen meat first. That means you need to move your frozen grill meat to the refrigerator today. Experts warn against cooking frozen meat because the internal temperature often doesn't get high enough to kill lingering bacteria, especially around bones and more central structures. If consumed, this can pose a very serious health risk. We asked Diego Campos Vargas, executive chef at CAMP in Greenville, South Carolina, an expert when it comes to churning out high-quality dishes for carnivores and agrees with this advice. I recently dined at his establishment where I noshed on everything from seared scallops and grilled octopus to steak pinchos and merguez agnolotti — all of which were cooked perfectly and left a lasting impression. "Unfortunately, we live in a society where we expect things to move fast and to be ready, but food shouldn't be that way. You shouldn't speed up cooking methods and processes," he says. "You can cook meat from frozen, but not with all products," he adds. That said, Vargas shares with us one exception to the thaw process. Here are his top tips for anyone who may be short on time, but not on achieving flavorful mealtime success. Best practices for safely thawing meat Poultry and other large cuts if meat should be thawed slowly in the fridge for safety. Getty Images 1. The slow thaw is best Nothing beats a slow thawing method to preserve the integrity of meat and prepare it safely. "Ideally, you want to thaw proteins slowly in a fridge," says Vargas. "At CAMP, we plan ahead. When we get our delivery on Wednesday, we know we will need to prepare the duck confit, octopus, etc. over the weekend." "Instead of storing in the freezer, we will store it in sheet pans inside our walk-in. This way, the product slowly gets to the same temperature as the walk-in. By the second day, the protein is ready to be processed and cooked as needed," he adds. 2. Thaw under cold running water But if time is of the essence and you're in a situation where meat must be thawed immediately, Vargas says that the best practice is to place the protein in a container under the sink and allow cold water to run continuously over it. " This will ensure the water stays at a constant temperature," he says. "The Department of Health and Environmental Control recommends that you run cold water when practicing this technique because bacteria love that 70 degrees Fahrenheit to 100 degrees Fahrenheit environment." Read more: How to Properly Thaw Turkey 3. No time to thaw? Braising is your best bet If there is one cooking technique that yields the most successful cooking-from-frozen outcome, it's braising. Not only does the initial high temperature and subsequent extended cooking time kill bacteria and break down the meat's tough fibers, but it's a method that also allows the layering of flavors along the way. "You will be able to infuse more flavor and moisture to the end product throughout the cooking method," Vargas says. The best way to thaw frozen meat is in the fridge over night. AnnickTo braise frozen meat, start by searing each side of the cut (see below on the best cut types) with olive oil or butter in a Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high heat. The meat should develop a crust and turn golden brown. Once this happens, remove the meat from the pot and set it aside. Next, add aromatics such as garlic and onions and soften them in the leftover fat. You may need to scoop out a bit of the protein's juices beforehand, as frozen meat will release more liquid than thawed meat. Deglaze the pan with a liquid of choice. This will typically be stock, broth, wine or even beer. Bring the pot to a simmer and add your meat, ensuring that the liquid doesn't completely cover it. Instead, the protein should be sitting in a shallow bath on low heat. Cover the pot and allow for the meat to cook for a couple hours or until it reaches desired tenderness. You can also add vegetables, herbs or anything else to enhance flavors, though cooking times will vary by ingredient (i.e. a potato is going to take longer to cook than celery). It's also advised that frozen meat be cut into smaller pieces before or after searing, as it will cook more evenly and timely. Safety tip: The type of meat and cut matters Tender cuts of steak should be thawed before cooking, no questions asked. Chowhound It's no surprise that different protein cuts often require different cooking techniques and times to maximize their flavor and tenderness. Vargas recommends, at least with beef, that you take the cut of meat into consideration before deciding to braise from frozen. Typically, larger cuts that demand longer cooking times such as osso bucco are ideal for braising. If it's a filet mignon that only requires a few minutes of sear, the meat must be thawed. A good rule of thumb: If the protein will literally transform and break down through braising, it should be OK to cook from frozen. Anything smaller and with less fat content will require a thaw. How long you freeze your proteins matter, too Simply placing meat in the freezer won't suffice to extend its life. Different types benefit from different freezing techniques and lengths of time. Some meats will thaw quicker thanHigh-fat cuts like rib eyes can certainly last in the freezer for longer, but it's wise to follow these recommended freezing times for more popular options: Octopus: one month Chicken breast: two months Chicken legs and thighs:three months Pork butt: three months Pork chops: two months Beef filets: two months Chuck beef: four months "As a rule of thumb, I would say that you want to freeze proteins for less time if they cook at a lower temperature," recommends Vargas. "For example: fish is cooked 'well-done' at 135 degrees Fahrenheit while beef is cooked well-done at 165 degrees Fahrenheit. You want to freeze fish and all other seafood for less time than you would beef and pork." Proper sealing is key during the freeze To achieve maximum freezer capabilities, Vargas recommends investing in a vacuum seal machine with proper storage bags. "I freeze leftover raw proteins all the time in my house," he reveals. "The bags also make it easy for thawing in the fridge." Fish can also be frozen, but not for as long as beef can be."When freezing, water molecules freeze, but when thawed out, the molecules melt and become the liquid that leaks from the protein," explains Vargas. "All those juices could be part of the protein, but they are lost after freezing. This influences the quality of the product greatly." Looking for the latest and greatest models to keep meat and all of its components intact? Check out our round-up of the top vacuum sealers of 2025.
