Frozerburned Beeft

December 5, 2018 5:22 PM

Six months ago, I froze 2 pounds of lean ground beef in the grocery store styrofoam tray. It looks frosty and dry. Is there any possible recipe that will make this not-disgusting? I assume it needs lots of moisture and fat added back in...? Or should I just chuck (heh heh) it?
posted by pseudostrabismus to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

It's not that old. I'd eat it. In chili!
posted by Temeraria at 5:25 PM on December 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

Best answer: Chili
Sloppy joes
Add it, some onions, a beef bouillon cube or two, and herbsnspices to a jar/can of cheap-ass pasketti sauce

Anything that's already wet/goopinous and strongly flavored is what I'm saying
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:30 PM on December 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

Meatloaf too. Really Anything that cooks for a while, uses a few herbs and spices and incorporates a handful of other ingredients.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:42 PM on December 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Bolognese, or just cook it into a tomato sauce and eat over pasta.
posted by Dashy at 6:24 PM on December 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

There's a recall out on beef from around those dates - I'd check that before eating.
posted by leslies at 6:31 PM on December 5, 2018 [6 favorites]

I'm kind of a snob about frozen meat, but those grocery store trays aren't truly airtight (note that they sometimes leak or are wet, compared to vacuum sealed meat) and oxidation and odor absorption can do pretty bad things to flavor and texture. (So does freezing meat at home, versus buying flash frozen meat when you want to stock your freezer with protein).

I'm not saying you can't eat it, but those would be my personal reasons for making my chili sans carne. No judgement if the chili is bomb.
posted by Juliet Banana at 6:40 PM on December 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Make Sloppy Joes. Fry up the beef, saute some onions, add barbecue sauce.
posted by theora55 at 6:51 PM on December 5, 2018

If it's nasty, you should be able to tell from the smell when you fry it up. If it doesn't smell good, it won't taste good. If it's just surface frost and smells good, it'll be fine.
posted by kate4914 at 8:09 PM on December 5, 2018

I have cooked with meat way older with visible freezer burn. With mince you don't even notice and with other meats the only thing I have ever noticed is a slight texture change.
posted by kadia_a at 10:31 PM on December 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: What you should do is finely chop up some raw bacon and mix it into it to boost flavour and moisture. (I always do this for meatballs. Makes an incredible difference!). Add in some caramelized minced onion, couple cloves of garlic, some spices, an egg, maybe a panade.... You have the makings of some tasty slow cooker meatballs!
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 5:43 AM on December 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

> Or should I just chuck it?

At this age, it probably goes by "Charles".
posted by sourcequench at 2:45 PM on December 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: I doused it with a jar of Bulgogi marinade, added a few chopped shallots and potatoes and 4 chopped strips of bacon, and threw it in the crock pot overnight. I had to skim off a lot of bacon fat (next time I'll trim off the fattiest parts of the bacon first). Anyway, it became a fatty salty sweet Korean sloppy joe type thingie, we ate it on toast, and it was goddamn delicious. Thanks!

I also totally forgot to check if it was recalled, but I didn't died, so either it was ok or I'm goddamn invincible; possibly both.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:50 PM on January 7, 2019