Can I freeze it, thaw it, then eat it?

May 9, 2012 5:13 PM

Can I freeze beef aspic?

I boiled the ever loving bejeezuz out of some beef knuckles and ended up with about 5 cups of aspic, or whatever you might call it when you don't clarify it then mold it.

Can I freeze some of it, and will it be delicious and edible when thawed or gross and inedible? I get that it breaks down the jelly-ness of it all, but honestly I was trying to make stock anyway.

Should I even eat this without clarifying? It smells fine, even tasty, and I'm thinking it's like gelatine and I can just glop bits of it into servings of soup and such.

Thanks!

posted by Rube R. Nekker to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

Best answer: That is stock. Freeze it. You'll be fine. A good rich stock gels when cold
posted by JPD at 5:23 PM on May 9, 2012

Response by poster: Yay! Just got taken aback by the ever-lovin' gloppyness.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 5:28 PM on May 9, 2012

Best answer: I always freeze my stock, and it always gels when cold.
posted by KathrynT at 6:07 PM on May 9, 2012

But if you boiled the hell out of it, the fat will have emulsified, rather than rising to the top. Did you strain it through cheesecloth?
posted by Ideefixe at 6:34 PM on May 9, 2012

freezing it into ice cube trays will give you a perfect way to portion what you thaw.
posted by violetk at 6:37 PM on May 9, 2012

Response by poster: Ideefixe, it was actually three boilings come to think of it; first was for blood leeching (and didn't yield much color, but still tossed liquid) and I'd cooled and skimmed fat in-between second and third (same liquid). There wasn't that much to skim, so I think the bones were trim to begin with?

Straining was just through a pasta attachment that fits on the stockpot, so nothing very refined. But the result looked clear and clean. Just ... thick!
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 6:55 PM on May 9, 2012