To refreeze or to refrigerate?

Question

Due to my busy schedule, I've started preparing all my meals on Sunday and cooking one a day for the rest of the week. It's generally defrosted chicken or meat.

Is it better for me to refreeze the meals (without cooking and with new liquid introduced) or to keep it in the refrigerator?

Asked by chama

Answer

TLDR; If you defrosted the chicken in the fridge, go ahead and refreeze it. If you thawed it on the counter, cook it, then freeze it.

I was always taught: DO NOT REFREEZE uncooked meat!

But, I did a search and found this somewhat contradictory statement from a reliable source:

"Refreezing Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods. If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion. Freeze leftovers within 3-4 days. Do not refreeze any foods left outside the refrigerator longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F.

If you purchase previously frozen meat, poultry or fish at a retail store, you can refreeze if it has been handled properly."

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Focus_On_Freezing/index.asp

There's also this: How long will uncooked chicken keep in the fridge?

Which says 1-2 days for raw chicken in the fridge.

Answered by Chris Cudmore

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Why isn't it safe to eat raw chicken?

Question

Why is safe to eat some raw or undercooked meats like beef and fish (assuming you're careful), but not chicken? I know that there are bacteria in chicken, but are they in all chicken, or just so many that the only safe thing to do is assume they're all bad? If not, is there any way to get non-dangerous chicken (for say -- chicken sushi)?

Answer

You can have raw chicken in restaurants in Japan - it's delicious. Depending on where you live there may be better or worse food safety standards, but there is nothing poisonous about raw chicken itself.

By the way, sushi is a dish with vinegary rice. The raw-meat dish is Sashimi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashimi.

A picture of chicken sashimi

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Is it safe to use the same cooking utensils for raw and cooked meat?

Question

So, being new to cooking, I tried cooking a pan-seared ribeye steak for the first time recently. I'm just getting new cooking utensils, and the idea of flipping the steak is something I'm not sure about.

Last time, I used the same utensil the whole way through. I know, many are likely cringing at the thought. But I was afraid of over-cooking so I was as attentive as possible to the steak.

I'm wondering if this is "safe". I'm guessing most will say it is not, and that's fine. I'd like to do better if it's not safe. I bought a pair of tongs since then (I was using a spatula to flip before!) but I still only have one pair. So, should I be placing the steak in the pan with the spatula, flipping with the tongs, and removing it from the pan with...something else?

Is it safe enough to use the tongs, and rinse them each time they touch meat before it's finished? Should I be scrubbing them with soap each time? Should I simply stick to different utensils? (In which case I might just stop cooking--I don't have that many utensils, don't plan on buying more for this purpose, and quite frankly I don't wish to clean so many utensils when I'm finished cooking)

I know there are other topics, but they haven't been quite as specific as the questions I'm asking here, so I hope I can get a good response on the subject.

Answer

Most chefs will use there fingers to put the meat into the pan, then wash their hands. Turning and lifting out, some will use a spatula, with the utensil touching only the cooked, bottom side of the meat, not the top. Thus only needing to wash the utensil at the end of cooking. I have seen some chefs use tongs, though I can't comment on their practice.

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How safe is steak tartare?

Question

How safe is steak tartare?

What can I do when preparing it make sure it is safe to eat?

Answer

Butchered meat is generally sterile except on its exterior. (That doesn't mean parasite- or botulism-free, but it's a start.)

Get the best quality you can from a source you trust. Keep it at as low a temperature as possible, and don't expose it to warm air for more than the few minutes it takes to prepare.

Cut with a clean knife on a clean surface. Put it right back into the fridge at a very low temp.

Salt and acid, if you use them in your sauce, will provide some anti-bacterial benefits, but this is not foolproof.

People all over the world eat raw meat, but it's best to start with small amounts and see how your system handles it. If you're a child/pregnant/old/sick, it's much less of a good idea.

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Is it safe to eat smoked bacon without grilling?

Question

The reason I ask this is due to the fact nothing on the bacon packaging indicates it can or cannot be eaten 'raw' and in general eating raw meat is a bad idea.

Answer

In such a case, for any food item, ask yourself a question: In a 19th century household, would it have been kept in the cellar, or eaten immediately?

For bacon, it is common knowledge (or at least I think everybody knows it) that it was kept in a cellar for long time. So this is definitely not a food which perishes too quickly. You can eat it raw. (In fact, I often do when I need a quick sandwich). It can be a bit tough to tear apart with your teeth, so pre-cut it.

The reason for this is that bacon is cured meat. There are two reasons not to eat raw meat: taste and food safety. Taste is individual, some people are OK with the taste and eat raw meat as long as they can find a source of meat fresh enough (think sashimi, carpaccio, steak tartare). Food safety is not a problem with bacon. The process of turning pork to bacon includes salt and smoke. Both of these kill bacteria, create an environment which is not hospitable to new colonization (dry, salty), and give the meat a new flavor which is better than the raw meat.

If you are now asking yourself why we are bothering with the fridge for bacon and other ex-"cellar foods" at all, there is still a reason. First, most of us don't have a convenient cellar at 12° - 15°C, and not only is the bacon's life shortened if kept at usual kitchen temperatures, it also doesn't taste too good. It is just greasy. Second, you seldom get dry bacon at the supermarket; even if the curing process doesn't include brining, bacon is often aged much less than in old times, and then packed in vacuum, so it doesn't get really dry on the outside. So bacteria could very well start growing on it outside of the freezer. Inside the freezer, it keeps much longer than raw meat, and is certainly OK for consumption without frying. I guess that the popularity of fried bacon is mainly due to taste reasons.

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