[Sca-cooks] Vacuum food savers

[Stefan li Rous]

Adamantius replied to me with:

On Nov 3, 2009, at 3:20 AM, Stefan li Rous wrote:
I've heard that these keep frozen food from getting freezer burn
since the machine removes most of the air from the bag before
sealing it. But is there some advantage to using these bags and/or
this machine for marinating and curing of meat over say, just a zip
lock bag? Or is this a matter of wanting to both marinate the meat
and freeze it, and the ease of simply doing that in the same bag?

<<< It appears that the marinade or cure penetrates the food faster and
more completely in the almost-vacuum. Basically air is pulled out of
the food and replaced by liquid. In the case of a dry curing rub with
a lot of salt and/or sugar in it, it pulls moisture out of the food,
creates a brine, which then surrounds and penetrates the food. >>>

Thank you. I guess there is an advantage of using this machine for  
marinating. Do you have to worry about the marinating liquid being  
sucked into the vacuum machine? Or do you use only a dry cure?

------
What is this "salt-cod fiskeboller"?

<<< Balls ["boller"] of finely-ground salt cod, soaked to desalt  
(usually
they're made out of whatever fish ["fiske"] is fresh and cheap),
usually a starch like mashed potato, breadcrumbs or flour, cream and
egg or egg white, and seasonings. Poached, baked or fried. The same
mixture baked or steamed in larger masses is called fiskepudding.
Common seafood staple and school cafeteria item in Scandinavia,
supposedly. >>>

Interesting. Do you start with whole salt cod? Or do buy already  
ground up fish? Or something already processed further? Sounds like an  
even cheaper fish dish than fish sticks and a way to use less popular  
fish.  But this is the first I've heard of it. I wonder as we use up  
the world's fish stocks whether this kind of food will become more  
common.

Stefan
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THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****