I wanna eat these leftovers! Just not right now.

October 22, 2012 1:37 PM

If I freeze this soup, will it be edible once defrosted and warmed up? Difficulty level: squid.

Just made really tasty squid soup, using squid that was fresh on the day I bought it and then immediately frozen. Squid spent roughly 3 weeks in the freezer before I defrosted it in the fridge today for the aforementioned delicious soup. A rough ingredients list, in case it's relevant: onion, garlic, cumin, coriander, chickpeas, tomatoes, stock, squid, and stelle pasta.

So my question is twofold:
- presumably reheating the soup fully would negate any possible bacterial nastiness with the squid, right?
- will the veg and pasta just end up turning into a horrid mush if frozen, defrosted, and reheated?

posted by catch as catch can to food & drink (6 answers total)

Freezing stuff works great, veggies etc. My only concern is the squid which is so easy to over-cook.

I'm thinking that it might get too chewy when it's reheated.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:47 PM on October 22, 2012

It's more of an overcooking problem then anything else. Overcooked squid is like rubber.

Will you be able to reheat the squid separately? Or is it already in there to the point where you can't take it back out?
posted by theichibun at 1:56 PM on October 22, 2012

Bacteria shouldn't be an issue with the heating/freezing schema you're describing. The thing I'd be concerned about would be the pasta getting nasty during thawing/reheating and disintegrating into a starchy mess. You might be better off cooking a small amount of pasta separately whenever you're inclined to thaw out and eat the soup.
posted by aecorwin at 2:00 PM on October 22, 2012

Yeah, it'll be the reheating that'll make trouble.

I make clam chowder and freeze portions; one thing I've learned is to NEVER BRING IT TO A BOIL once the clams are added, because that just makes the clams tough --- I'd imagine squid would have the same problem. Bring it to just barely beginning to simmer, then take it off the heat and you should be okay.
posted by easily confused at 2:02 PM on October 22, 2012

in the future, i'd make the stock of the soup and freeze it, but leave out the pieces of squid, chickpeas, and pasta and then add those when you reheat the soup. how i do this is i make the soup up to a point, pull out what i'm going to freeze, and then keep making the rest of the soup for dinner that night. since the squid probably makes some of the flavor of the soup, let it cook in there, but just don't freeze that part.
posted by nadawi at 2:12 PM on October 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Agreed that reheating will be the problem, BUT I think if you reheat it slowly on the stove, as easily confused suggests, you should be fine.
posted by two lights above the sea at 2:47 PM on October 22, 2012