Please Taste This In Your Minds Eye

You're braver than I!

Using year old shellfish....

They'll be food safe in my opinion, though they won't taste particularly special nor have their proper texture.

More heat will probably help. Hot sauce, sriracha,  something like that.

For kicks, look into conpoy, Chinese dried scallops. Fun seasoning and keep a long time....

Looks kinda cajun/creole ish. Drop carrots and add brown roux?

Honestly, the recipe looks good, but one year old frozen scallops, thawed, cooked and frozen again? Doesn't sound like much of a treat to me. I'll pass on tasting it - even with my mind's eye!

Quote:

Originally Posted by phatch 

They'll be food safe in my opinion, though they won't taste particularly special nor have their proper texture.

 

I thought it wasn't safe to re-freeze defrosted food.  Does cooking it and then refreezing make it safe?  I thought there was something about the cells being broken down. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by siduri 

I thought it wasn't safe to re-freeze defrosted food.  Does cooking it and then refreezing make it safe?  I thought there was something about the cells being broken down. 

The cells do tear both when thawing and when freezing, more or less depending on how your thaw and how you freeze, but as far as I know that does not present any safety issue, just transforms food into rubber. 

The health issue is the time your food spends in the danger zone, which accumulates: time in danger zone before freezing+time in danger zone before cooking+time in danger zone after cooking and during cooling+time in danger zone after thawing etc.... so the more you thaw/freeze again, the more the bacteria multiply. 

As far as refreezing. In actuality you are not because it is not in the same state and you have cooked it after first freeze, so you are now freezing a different product.

As far as the dish itself it looks and sounds fine. Only problem I see is when mom reheats. The scallops will tend to toughen because keep in mind you are cooking or heating them twice.

Frozen food manufactures allow and compansate for this in their reheating directions, therefore so should you.

Recipe looks interesting BUT why don't you forget about that year-old seafood - sounds like a health risk to me!  How about buying some fresh ones and getting a neighbour or friend to be your taste buds after cooking? It's better to be safe that sorry - especially like you wouldn't be around.

SimplyCook, whatever would make you think there's a health risk involved?

Long-frozen foods, especially delicate ones like shellfish, can suffer quality losses. But that's not a health issue. With properly frozen food there is no safety problem at all. You will never find a food scientist who claims otherwise.  

Health concerns with frozen foods stem from the method of defrosting, not the fact of freezing. Far too many people will remove something from the freezer, then toss it in the sink to defrost overnight. That practice can be dangerous, because it puts the food in the so-called danger zone, where bacteria can multiply.

Although the recipe sounds quite good I'm glad I'm not your Mother.  Frozen seaffod that is then to be refrozen?  Sounds awful, wouldn't she be better off with some frozen tv dinners?  Don't mean to be judgemental but come on, we're foodies here.  Scallops are not an exciting food, they don't have a particularly stong flavor, they just take well to whatever you're cooking them with.  What is special about scallops though is the texture - and you lose that when you freeze and then refreeze.

Boxes of frozen products are left out in supermarkets daily until they are put away, thats why many time when you purchase and bring them home you will see a layer of ice on the product. It has been smi thawed and refrozen.

I buy frozen seafood here all the time.  Just make sure you see the tag fresh frozen.

Sure, fresh off the boat is the best way to buy seafood. However, not all of us live on the coast or have access to the freshest fish.  Sometimes frozen is the only choice.

If the fish is frozen, then thawed, then cooked, then cooled and frozen again, it is indeed a different beastie.  As long as it it is properly thawed in the fridge then reheated briefly I don't believe it wouold be a problem.  The seafoof may get a tad tough after all these processes, so I would suggest a different protein, i.e. lamb/beef/chicken/pork.  These do benefit from the freezing then rehating rocess, to me.  I find them more tender and flavoursome afterwards.  Plus portioning  is easy peasy :)

To me, it was the length of time the food had been in a freezer.  I don't like frozen food much, anyway - but I'd never keep anything for a year.  If we don't eat it within 6 months (for SOME foods, at the latest!) I chuck it away.

If one looks at the experation or use by date on some foods, its years. In fact this includes frozen foods also. They performed testing in the arctic and buried food stuff in the ground ,dug it up years later and found it good. So I believe if you WRAP  and FREEZE CORRECTLY THAT FOOD STUFFS CAN BE KEPT AT A CONSTANT DEEP FREEZE TEMP. FOR A LONG TIME without worry.

ChefEdb - you may be right, and I bow to your knowledge...

However.....

Still doesn't mean I'd eat delicate fish that had been frozen for a year!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohegirlinaz 

Ishbel, I would love to live closer to markets, as we did in our "past life" and not ever buy frozen foods again, fresh is so much better, but...

One of the reasons my husband had much better health, is that we ate fish at a minimum, every other day.  Never needed to take any fish oil pills, etc...

Now, I probably make us fish once a week. 

Nobody is criticizing your choice to buy frozen seafood, I think we all agree that freezing seafood is a necessity and can be done safely without compromising the integrity of the food.  Most of us are questioning whether seafood that is frozen for a year has maintained it's "freshness" and we all know that refreezing pretty much ruins the food altogether. 

I'm glad I've always lived on the coast.

Sounds good to me, those spices used I always feel I need to add over twice as much as I thought before i can taste them, and you've got only 1/8 tsp and 1/4 tsp... and judging the photo I'd like it much thicker. Maybe healthy was what you're going for, but there's nothing particularly indulging or fulfilling about it (except the pancetta).  I'd either want a gigantic bowl of that, or i'd want some potatoes it in, or maybe served over rice.

Refreezing not only ruins the food, it is downright dangerous.

Refreezing

Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods. If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion. Freeze leftovers within 3-4 days. Do not refreeze any foods left outside the refrigerator longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F.

If you purchase previously frozen meat, poultry or fish at a retail store, you can refreeze if it has been handled properly.

Source: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/focus_on_freezing/index.asp#14

Sorry French Fries I don't agree with what governnment states . Only one way defrosted food should be refrozen and that is if ice crystals are still present. Which means product is semi frozen, this does not help quality of food but at least it is safer then fully thaw and refreeze. To thaw a product then cook it then freeze it, is acceptible. When You purchase in a supermarket most of the fish and some of the meat and poultry have been previously frozen don't believe they label it all.  Most poultry in supermarket is what is called Frosted, which is not frozen and not unfrozen ,its about 30 to 32 f. with ice crystals still formed inside cavity of bird, almost like suspended animation. It is debateable or a grey area to call this fresh or frozen.

I don't think I'll be buying sea food here at all. 

Not like it was in Hawaii, right off the boat, never frozen. 

If those were day boats, then the fish you bought was fresh. If not, frozen fish actually can be fresher.

Here's a typical scenerio:

Fishing boat goes out. Works until it has a full catch---which can be a number of days---putting the fish on ice. When it reaches port the fish is sold to a processor, who spends another day with it. It is then picked up by either a distributor or directly by a retailer. Another day before it goes on sale. So, we're talking about a minimum of 4 days, and as much as a week before you even buy that "fresh" fish. Buying if off the boat (unless as noted above) doesn't make it much fresher. It's been on ice, sure. But for how long?

Compare that to factory fishing. The fish is caught, immediately processed, and flash frozen. Elapsed time: About two hours.

So, as long as the fish is FAS (frozen at sea), and you buy it that way, there are no problems with either safety or quality. If you buy it at the market unfrozen (it should be marked "previously frozen" if that's the case) shy away, as you don't know how long ago it was defrosted, nor the method used (which, often, is to run it under a spray of cold water).

There is one major problem with FAS fish. Often, too often, the package contains random-sized pieces. For instance, I once bought a 1-lb package of cod. Instead of two nice filets, there were five mismatched pieces. As it turns out, no big deal for the recipe I was planning. But if I wanted fish where the presentation mattered that would have been rather disappointing.

The real trick, when buying unfrozen fish, is to learn the rules for determining quality. Whole fish should be clear eyed. Gills should be bright. And there should be no fishy odor. As Emeril always says, "if it smells like fish, go for the lamb!" If filets, chunks, steaks, or otherwise broken down, your senses of smell and touch should be brought to bear. If the seller won't let you smell and touch the fish, skip it. Again, there should be no fishy odor. And the flesh should be firm to the touch, not soft, mushy, or slimy in any way.

Of course, the best way of getting fish is to catch it yourself. But, alas, that's not an option for most of us.

KY  You are 100% correct. Maybe even longer.

    I bought 30 or 40 lbs New England Lobsters  they came packed in ice, some seaweed and newspaper. I got them delivered Friday afternoon on 6th of month. The newspaper date  printed was the previous Monday the 2nd.  Now thats only Boston to Florida.