Why does my frozen chicken shed water when it's defrosted?
March 22, 2022 4:04 PM Subscribe
Why does my frozen, cubed rotisserie chicken drop water when it defrosts? More details inside...
I use rotisserie chickens as a lunch staple. I strip the meat, and make portioned packages which I then freeze in ordinary sandwich bags from which almost all air has been evacuated. All of this meat is great when I use it, except for the white meat that is at the end of the batch, usually at this point about three weeks old. That last ten ounce package almost always has a significant amount of its moisture separated out. The flavor isn't really changed, but the consistency is decidedly inferior. Defrost methods make no difference in this result (I've tried many different variations). I would like this not to happen, but online search hasn't really helped, or my use of google sucks—I don't know which at this point.
Can I prevent this? Please note that I'm not interested in acquiring a food sealer, and the sequence of use isn't really alterable, meaning I'm always going to have that last package of white meat at the end of the cycle. Thanks in advance for all who answer.
I use rotisserie chickens as a lunch staple. I strip the meat, and make portioned packages which I then freeze in ordinary sandwich bags from which almost all air has been evacuated. All of this meat is great when I use it, except for the white meat that is at the end of the batch, usually at this point about three weeks old. That last ten ounce package almost always has a significant amount of its moisture separated out. The flavor isn't really changed, but the consistency is decidedly inferior. Defrost methods make no difference in this result (I've tried many different variations). I would like this not to happen, but online search hasn't really helped, or my use of google sucks—I don't know which at this point.
Can I prevent this? Please note that I'm not interested in acquiring a food sealer, and the sequence of use isn't really alterable, meaning I'm always going to have that last package of white meat at the end of the cycle. Thanks in advance for all who answer.
White meat contains more water than dark meat. When meat cooks the fibers shrink and squeeze out water. Lastly water expands as it freezes, so as ice crystals form they will further break down the cell walls of the meat. Then as the meat defrosts, the water will seep out of those busted cell walls. Apparently if you can control the speed of freezing you may be able to limit the size of the ice crystals and thus the overall moisture loss (see that first link), but I doubt that's something you can really control in a home freezer.
posted by fedward at 4:31 PM on March 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by fedward at 4:31 PM on March 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
In addition to the moisture loss due to freezing when you put the chicken in the fridge and thawing when you remove it, if you're putting these in an auto-defrost / frost-free freezer, which is pretty much any fridge-freezer, the quality of the meat will degrade further over time as a small amount of moisture is pulled out of it every defrost cycle when the air in the freezer warms up to 0C. This moisture ends up as frost in the bag.
If you don't want to seal in a vacuum bag, would you consider packaging it with some liquid? Chicken frozen in a little bit of stock or gravy will not have this problem, as the meat will be protected by the ice surrounding it. Even a little bit of liquid will make a significant difference. Otherwise, squishing the meat together as best as possible to reduce surface area will help to some degree.
posted by ssg at 4:56 PM on March 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
If you don't want to seal in a vacuum bag, would you consider packaging it with some liquid? Chicken frozen in a little bit of stock or gravy will not have this problem, as the meat will be protected by the ice surrounding it. Even a little bit of liquid will make a significant difference. Otherwise, squishing the meat together as best as possible to reduce surface area will help to some degree.
posted by ssg at 4:56 PM on March 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
Response by poster: These are great answers, and will help immensely. Thanks again to all who answered.
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 7:26 PM on March 22, 2022
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 7:26 PM on March 22, 2022
You might also try heavier freezer bags. I find they have less air leakage and protect whatever I freeze better than thin sandwich bags.
I tend to put whatever food I'm freezing in thin zip-lock bags, evacuating as much air as possible, and then put this into quart-size freezer bags, also evacuating as much air as possible. This allows me to toss out only the sandwich bag and reuse the freezer bag, which is a small thing but does reduce plastic waste at least somewhat. I think there is less freezer burn, too, which addresses your actual question.
posted by citygirl at 8:13 PM on March 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
I tend to put whatever food I'm freezing in thin zip-lock bags, evacuating as much air as possible, and then put this into quart-size freezer bags, also evacuating as much air as possible. This allows me to toss out only the sandwich bag and reuse the freezer bag, which is a small thing but does reduce plastic waste at least somewhat. I think there is less freezer burn, too, which addresses your actual question.
posted by citygirl at 8:13 PM on March 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
You could also try keeping your frozen chicken bags packed into your freezer as surrounded as you can get them with bags of frozen veg. If freezer air that's regularly cycling between deep freeze temperature and defrost temperature can't ever come into direct contact with your sandwich bags, the frozen stuff surrounding them will keep them closer to deep freeze temperature on average, and that should slow down the sublimation by a fair bit.
Frozen vegetable texture is a fair bit more robust than frozen meat texture because plant cells have cell walls and meat cells don't.
posted by flabdablet at 3:34 AM on March 23, 2022
Frozen vegetable texture is a fair bit more robust than frozen meat texture because plant cells have cell walls and meat cells don't.
posted by flabdablet at 3:34 AM on March 23, 2022
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Akin to Frost-Free Freezers And Sublimation | A Moment of Science - Indiana Public Media .
You need very consistent very cold to minimize the occasional bit of water escaping from the frozen meat just due to random molecule of water not at absolute zero occasionally getting bumped around enough to fly free from the meat. Not sure if you can really prevent it without something like a big chest freezer for longer term storage. Just opening the door of your freezer every day is enough to allow enough warm air to flow in and cause just a bit more water to sublimate out of the meat and into the bag.
Freezer Burn: Why It Happens and Tips to Prevent It
What Is Freezer Burn and How Do You Prevent It? | Allrecipes
posted by zengargoyle at 4:25 PM on March 22, 2022 [1 favorite]