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Freezing Comp Meats

SCSmoke

SCSmoke

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Do any of you guys purchase your meats well in advance and freeze them? I have been always getting them the week of a comp. Recently I began to think that I could get them when they go on sale. Also I could pick out the best rack of spares each time I am at the market. Thanks!
 
Yup, I'm planning on getting my briskets for the season here soon, $2.55/Lb. Trying to get them before the price jumps up.
 
yes, briskets love it, if anything it's better.


I never had much luck with pork on the other hand,,,,
 
I trim my chicken in advance and freeze it. Less stress the week before contest. I know of a team that placed first in chicken at Lake Havasu this past January using chicken trimmed then frozen. Scored a 179.4286.
 
We buy by the case, age the briskets and then freeze. We seldom freeze butts unless we have no choice but honestly it doesn't seem to make much difference. We try to never freeze ribs or chicken.
 
This is all very interesting! I always use fresh, because I've heard that freezing the meat messes with the connective tissue somehow? Oh well, you learn something new every day.
 
To freeze any meat, you get the best result when the temperature goes from just above freezing to below freezing as quickly as possible. For briskets, I try to sit items in a container of ice water for a few hours and then drop in the deep freeze. It's also recommended to take all your meat that you want to freeze, put it in a cooler, drop in some dry ice, and shake. That'll freeze it really quckly.

Also, the thing that causes freezer burn is the cold air coming into contact with the meat. Best to freeze in the cryovac or re vacuume to reduce the likelihood of this.

dmp
 
Hot Wachulas said:
Ive always had spongy brisket when I freeze. Is there a trick I'm missing?
Click to expand...

"Secrets"
Buy good beef... Cryovac... freeze quickly (ice water bath helps)... defrost and wet age in refrigerator for several weeks...

Our brisket placed top 10 in 3 out of the 5 KCBS/RMBBQA contests we competed in last year. Just out of top 10 in the other 2 if I remember correctly...

Toad
 
I freeze chicken and briskets for comps...I like to trim my chicken maybe a week to a week and a half before comps...less stress the week of a comp..
 
We actually finished top ten with frozen brisket in 3 out of 6 comps... (I know exactly what we did in Loveland & Florence to keep us out of the top 10... It wasn't the briskets fault, it was mine)

Colorado Barbecue Challenge - Frisco, CO
7th out of 64 teams

Rocky Mountain Freedom Festival - Castle Rock, CO
2nd out of 39 teams

Loveland Loves Barbecue - Loveland, CO
13th out of 53 teams

Krystal 93 BBQ at the Summit - Dillon, CO
13th out of 62 teams

Smokin Brew BBQ – Parker, CO
7th out of 42 teams

Kick in the Butt BBQ Competition - Florence, CO
15th out of 37 teams

Toad
 
Golden Toad BBQ said:
"Secrets"
Buy good beef... Cryovac... freeze quickly (ice water bath helps)... defrost and wet age in refrigerator for several weeks...

Our brisket placed top 10 in 3 out of the 5 KCBS/RMBBQA contests we competed in last year. Just out of top 10 in the other 2 if I remember correctly...

Toad
Click to expand...

That might be the problem with the spongy. I would wet age, then freeze, then thaw and cook in a day or 2.
I will try freezing, thawing then aging. Ive had good success with just the wet aging, just not the freezing part. Thanks for the help.
 
Hot Wachulas said:
That might be the problem with the spongy. I would wet age, then freeze, then thaw and cook in a day or 2.
I will try freezing, thawing then aging. Ive had good success with just the wet aging, just not the freezing part. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

Maybe that's it, who knows? I've never tried wet aging prior to freezing??? So I have no idea how it would turn out.

But freezing it as close to it's original state, then defrosting and wet aging right before using the beef seems to make sense to me... But I'm no expert!

Toad
 
I thought that you could wet age for 50 days then freeze and should not have a problem if put in a below zero freezer that did not defrost like your kitchen freezer
 
Big George's BBQ said:
I thought that you could wet age for 50 days then freeze and should not have a problem if put in a below zero freezer that did not defrost like your kitchen freezer
Click to expand...

Don't know??? I've just always done it the other way and it has worked well for me...

By the way, I do freeze in a large "packed" chest freezer at 20 below...

Toad
 
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