sudsandswine
Quintessential Chatty Farker
I have the need to ship two packer briskets that I plan to cook a few states away. They'll be frozen and then placed in Styrofoam coolers with dry ice for shipment.
My question is this - I want to maintain as much quality after a freeze then reheat as possible. I've always felt that if I slice a brisket to eat the day of, then put the rest that didn't get eaten back in the fridge, it's never quite the same after that, probably due to the amount of juices lost from slicing.
For these I was considering cooking whole and then refrigerating whole as well before they get vacuum sealed and put in the freezer. I was wondering if slicing them while cold, after they've been in the fridge for a while and they're cold with solid fat/juices, would help reduce some of the quality loss after a first reheat. Or maybe I should just go ahead and slice while warm and quickly portion/vacuum seal instead?
I don't really want to leave it on the recipient to carve the brisket up, nor would it be easy to reheat an entire brisket....plus I think I can get better stacking in the cooler to remove some air and keep them cold longer if they're semi portioned into big vacuum bags. I just thought if I sliced them while cold I could minimize moisture loss and it'd reheat better...probably fairly difficult to cut when cold though.
Thoughts?
My question is this - I want to maintain as much quality after a freeze then reheat as possible. I've always felt that if I slice a brisket to eat the day of, then put the rest that didn't get eaten back in the fridge, it's never quite the same after that, probably due to the amount of juices lost from slicing.
For these I was considering cooking whole and then refrigerating whole as well before they get vacuum sealed and put in the freezer. I was wondering if slicing them while cold, after they've been in the fridge for a while and they're cold with solid fat/juices, would help reduce some of the quality loss after a first reheat. Or maybe I should just go ahead and slice while warm and quickly portion/vacuum seal instead?
I don't really want to leave it on the recipient to carve the brisket up, nor would it be easy to reheat an entire brisket....plus I think I can get better stacking in the cooler to remove some air and keep them cold longer if they're semi portioned into big vacuum bags. I just thought if I sliced them while cold I could minimize moisture loss and it'd reheat better...probably fairly difficult to cut when cold though.
Thoughts?
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