[Sca-cooks] IQF? was Re: red currents

[Huette von Ahrens]

Thank you, Adamantius!  I had never heard of that process before.  Could you expand a bit on how you can achieve this? Especially for those home cooks, like me? 

Many years ago, I decided to do 'a dish full of snow' for 300+ banqueters.  I didn't want to have to purchase and prepare 300+ apples, so I decided to use strawberries instead.  I carefully froze 300+ strawberries on cookie sheets and they looked so perfect in their frozen state.  However, the day of the banquet, as I was defrosting them, they collapsed into mush before my disparing eyes.  So I changed the 'dish full of snow' to strawberry mousse, which, though not period, at least was extremely popular.

If I had done that water bath method, would that have kept the strawberries from becoming mush, or was that decision doomed from the beginning?

Huette


--- On Sun, 7/19/09, Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius <adamantius1 at verizon.net> wrote:

> From: Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius <adamantius1 at verizon.net>
> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] IQF? was Re:  red currents
> To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
> Date: Sunday, July 19, 2009, 5:27 AM
> 
> It usually stands for Individually Quick Frozen. Normally
> the term is used for delicate things like shrimp and some
> fruits, and involves dipping each piece into a mechanically
> agitated, super-cooled water "glaze" (so it's cold enough to
> be frozen, but is not able to build up crystals and solidify
> normally until you allow it to happen).
> 
> The ice-glazed items can then be packed and kept frozen in
> more traditional fashion.
> 
> Home cooks sometimes use the expression when referring to
> freezing items on a cookie sheet, with or without a water
> dip before freezing, and then removing the frozen items from
> the sheet for repacking. It produces less wear and tear on
> the frozen items, and you don't find yourself trying to pry
> the berries or shrimp, or whatever, apart with a butter
> knife or a screwdriver.
> 
> Adamantius
>