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

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jul 19, 2009, at 5:12 PM, Huette von Ahrens wrote:

> 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?

Well, what I'm talking about is really an industrial process. There  
are probably gas compressors and funky chemicals involved, normally.  
The dipping in water method might help somewhat, but it's still rather  
a far cry from what's done with raw shrimp, say.

> 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.

Sounds like you made a 17th century strawberry fool. ;-)
>
> 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

Sometimes there's no really practical way to freeze things and not  
have them undergo some structural change. Strawberries have a lot of  
water in them, and it expands as it freezes, which tends to mess up  
cell walls. There are chemicals you can use to limit the damage, and  
it helps to freeze things really quickly, also to limit the damage,  
but it's hard to completely prevent it in some foods.

I'm not sure to what extent a water dip before freezing would have  
improved the finished product, assuming no chemical additives to the  
water. As I say, for some things, freezing just isn't going to be good  
for it. I'd almost want to suggest a light blanching in simple syrup  
before freezing might be best (and still not perfect).

Adamantius






"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter