by Tom Stobart
Now, however, the frozen food business is vast, and even the home freezer is becoming standard equipment. A freezer, though rarely a means of saving money, at least enables people to live better on the same money. It is a boon to the cook who can now have many items, which were previously unobtainable out of season, at least in passable condition if not quite as good as they would be if fresh. In comparison with commercial quick-freezing methods, the slower action of a home freezer is relatively inefficient. However, this should not deter you. If all the proper steps are taken in preparing it, frozen food at least has the same nutritive value as fresh food.
All spoilage organisms and enzyme processes are slowed and finally brought to a standstill if the temperature is lowered sufficiently. A few specialized micro-organisms can grow in Arctic cold, and some moulds can carry on when yeasts and bacteria have given up, but as a general rule 10°C (14°F) halts biological and bio-chemical processes, which is the basis of deep-freeze storage. Snow, ice and natural freezing have always been taken advantage of in northern countries and in areas with snow on the mountains, but modern freezing techniques were impossible until after the invention of mechanical freezers, and were first tried out only in the middle of the 19th century. The first frozen meat came to Britain from Australia around 1880.
The storage temperature in a freezer should be -18°C (0°F). Frozen food does not improve in quality with keeping; the time for which it can be held in a freezer depends on the kind of food. Bought frozen foods are code-marked on the package for their keeping quality. It varies from a week or so to a year, but there is no rule of thumb. Correct preparation and packing are essential when freezing food. Anyone who wants to do it should have one of the many books on the subject. Excellent general guides are Fresh From The Freezer by Marye Cameron-Smith (Penguin) and The Basic Basics Home Freezing Handbook by Carol Bowen (Grub Street).
Vegetables. Use only very fresh, young vegetables. On the whole, those vegetables which are normally cooked freeze well, while salad vegetables with a high water content, such as lettuces, radishes, green and red peppers, and celery, lose their crispness when frozen.
To prepare vegetables, wash, trim and slice them as for cooking, then blanch them. *Blanching is a very important step, as it inactivates the enzymes which are likely to cause deterioration and checks the natural loss of flavour and colour. It also helps to retain vitamins. Blanching times vary from 1½ minutes for peas to 10 minutes for large corn on the cob, but most vegetables need 2-4 minutes.
There are two methods of blanching:
a) Immersion in boiling water. Place a small quantity of the vegetables in a wire basket and immerse them in a pan of boiling water. Bring back to the boil and count the blanching time from the moment the water returns to the boil. Shake the basket to ensure that all the vegetables are blanched. Remove the basket and plunge it into iced water for 1-2 minutes. Drain well, dry the vegetables on kitchen paper and pack.
b) Steam blanching. This is especially good for French green beans, diced turnip and cut kernel corn. The method conserves vitamins and minerals better than immersion in boiling water. Bring 2.5 cm (1 in) of water to the boil in a pan, place the vegetables in a wire basket above water level and cover the pan tightly. Dry the vegetables and pack them in rigid containers or polythene bags, which should be sealed so that they are completely airtight. Always remove the air from polythene bags before sealing.
Frozen vegetables require about half the normal cooking time because they have already been blanched. Most are best cooked, still frozen, in a minimum of lightly salted, boiling water. However, corn on the cob should be completely thawed before cooking. Vegetables will keep for 9-12 months, except onions, which keep for only 2-3 months.
Fruit. Nearly all fruit, except bananas, freezes well. Use fresh and ripe, though not over-ripe, fruit. Do not wash fruit (especially soft fruit, such as strawberries, raspberries, currants, blackberries) as this tends to make it mushy.
Three ways of freezing fruit are as follows:
a) Open freezing is generally best for soft fruit. Spread the fruit on trays and freeze at the lowest possible temperature until it is solid (30-60 minutes). Then place it in rigid containers and seal for storage in the freezer.
b) With sugar. This is suitable for harder fruit, such as gooseberries, rhubarb and citrus fruit. Pack in rigid containers, alternating a layer of fruit with a layer of sugar. Allow 1 cm (½ in) headspace for expansion, seal and freeze.
c) With sugar syrup. This is good for such fruit as pears and peaches, which discolour when peeled, and for fruit salads (do not include banana). An average syrup contains 275 g (10 oz) of sugar to 500 ml (1 pt) of water. Place the sugar and water in a pan, and add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or ¼ teaspoon of ascorbic acid (*vitamin C). Bring the syrup to the boil, stirring occasionally, then simmer for 5 minutes. Leave it to cool before adding the peeled, chopped or sliced fruit. Pack in a rigid container, allowing 1 cm (½ in) headspace. Seal, label and freeze.
Cooked and puréed fruit may be prepared in the usual way, packed in cartons and frozen.
Frozen fruit should be allowed to thaw at room temperature for 3-4 hours, but should not be allowed to become too warm. lt should keep in the freezer for 9-12 months.
Dairy products. Butter, margarine, lard and cheese all freeze very well. You should overwrap the packets in polythene bags before storing them in the freezer. These products should keep for up to 6 months, except soft cheese which will keep for 4 months. Double, clotted and whipped cream can be frozen, but the fat content in single cream is not high enough to allow it to freeze. Adding a tablespoon of sugar per 500 ml (1 pt) of cream helps to increase its storage life. Cream can be frozen in its original container, wrapped in polythene, and will keep for up to 3 months. Frozen yoghurt can be bought. The home-made variety does not freeze very well.
Fish. Prepare fish as for cooking. The fresher it is, the longer will be its storage life. Wrap each fish, fillet or steak in waxed paper or foil and pack in polythene bags. Once frozen, white fish will store for 6-9 months, while oily fish, such as mackerel and trout, will keep for 4 months.
Shellfish. If possible, buy lobster, crab and crayfish live and cook them by plunging them into boiling water for 10-15 minutes. Let them cool, then remove the meat from the shells and claws, pack it into rigid containers, seal and freeze. Prawns and shrimps should preferably be frozen uncooked in their shells but with the heads and tails removed. Wash them in cold salted water before freezing them.
Oysters, clams and scallops are best frozen uncooked. Remove them from their shells, taking care to keep any natural juices. Discard any that have already opened. Pack them in rigid containers with their juices. Fill any headspace with crumpled foil, seal and freeze.
Shellfish does not have the storage life of other fish and will keep for only about 2 months. Shellfish and whole fish should be allowed to thaw in the refrigerator for about 14 hours before cooking. Small fish, fillets and steaks may be cooked while still frozen, allowing extra cooking time.
Poultry and game. Game should be hung before freezing. Game birds and poultry should be plucked and gutted, the head and tail removed, and the insides washed out with cold water. They may be frozen whole or jointed, either way, they should be wrapped in airtight polythene bags. It is not advisable to stuff birds before freezing, as the stuffing will keep for only a month, while the bird can be frozen for up to a year. The liver and giblets may be washed, packed separately and frozen in polythene bags. Birds must be thoroughly thawed overnight in the refrigerator before cooking. Venison should be hung for 5-8 days and then frozen as you would meat.
Hare may be hung for 5-6 days, then skinned and gutted. Freeze it whole or jointed, packed in airtight polythene bags. The blood, which is often required in recipes such as jugged hare, can be frozen in ice-cube moulds. Rabbit, which does not need to be hung, can otherwise be treated in the same way as hare.
Meat. Before freezing meat, remove as much bone as possible,
as it wastes freezer space. Care should be taken when packing meat for freezing, as it is particularly susceptible to ‘freezer burn’. This is unsightly, but not harmful. Wipe joints clean and prepare them as for cooking; wrap them in polythene, seal and freeze.
Prepare stews and casseroles as for cooking and pack in small quantities in polythene bags. Steak, chops and cutlets should be trimmed, separated with pieces of foil and packed in polythene bags for freezing. Prepare offal as if for cooking and pack in small quantities in polythene bags. Sausages and sausage meat should also be packed in polythene bags.
Meat is best thawed overnight in the refrigerator, joints then cook more evenly.
Bread and cakes. Bread, buns and cakes freeze very successfully and can be stored for up to 6 months. Cakes are better frozen before they are iced, as the icing tends to smudge when it is packed. Pack bread and cakes in polythene bags. Wrap sandwiches in foil or plastic film and then in polythene bags.
Pastry. Uncooked pastry freezes very well indeed and will keep for up to 6 months. Shape the pastry into a block, wrap it in plastic film and put into a polythene bag. Cooked pastry, such as flan cases, is very fragile and should be packed carefully in rigid containers.
General tips. The quicker food is frozen the better. If it is frozen slowly, large crystals of ice form in it and rupture the cells. On the other hand, the slower food is thawed the better. Hot or warm food should never be put into a freezer, as this will raise the temperature in the freezer and may cause damage to its other contents. It is sensible to freeze food in small quantities, as this avoids the temptation to refreeze it, which is inadvisable. When labelling packages, always give the date of freezing so that you can be sure that the food has not outlived its freezer life. It is also a good idea to note how many people a packet will serve. When preparing dishes for the freezer, take care not to overcook them, as they will continue to cook when you heat them for use. lt is best to leave most of the seasoning until then as tastes change during freezing. For example, cloves, garlic, pepper and sage become much more pronounced, while salt and onions lose their flavour.
Foods that do not freeze well or should be avoided are hard-boiled eggs (they quickly become tough and rubbery), single and sour cream (as the fat content prevents freezing), bananas (which become black in the cold), mayonnaise and custard (which separate if frozen), and cooked potato (which goes hard and discolours).
If you know in advance that there is going to be a power cut, switch on to ‘fast freeze’ for 4 hours beforehand, having filled any space in the freezer with crumpled newspaper (to help keep the food cold for longer). Do not on any account open the freezer. Cover the top of the freezer with heavy blankets to provide extra insulation. After the power cut has ended, switch on to ‘fast freeze’ again for a further 4 hours and keep the lid firmly shut for at least 6 hours. If you are taken by surprise and have no time to make these preparations, remember that the food will keep for 24 hours if you do not open the freezer.
If the worst comes to the worst and your food thaws, there are a few points to bear in mind. All uncooked vegetables, meat, poultry and fish must be cooked before refreezing. AII ice-cream and puddings made with fresh cream should be eaten immediately or thrown away, as should all pre-cooked dishes. Most fruit can be refrozen, but it will probably lose some of its flavour and colour. Bread and cakes may safely be refrozen.
FRENCH BEAN. See kidney bean.
FROG, ‘que les Anglais nous reprochent de consommer’, says one of my French cookery books sadly (since when have the French been so sensitive to British opinion on food?). It is probable that all frogs are wholesome to eat, although many are too small to bother with, and some no doubt taste better than others. The European Edible frog (Rana esculenta) is found in ponds and streams from southern Sweden to northern Italy and eastwards through Hungary and Romania; there are small colonies, probably introduced, in southern England. It is rather larger than the common frog and usually greenish with black markings. However, frogs vary greatly in colour, so it is useful to know that green frogs such as the European Edible frog do not have the conspicuous black mark behind each eye which is characteristic of brown frogs such as the common frog. The Edible frog is closely related to other species and may be a hybrid between them; they are the larger Marsh frog (R. ridibunda) and the smaller Pool frog (R. lessonae), both of which are edible and have been introduced in southern England. European Edible frogs grow to 12 cm (5 in) for a really big female (they are larger than the males), but American bullfrogs grow to 40 cm (16 in) and in the US there is no inhibition about eating frogs’ legs. There are frog farms, particularly in Florida and Louisiana, and frozen frogs’ legs are also imported from Japan.
It is common to compare frog with chicken – one writer says they taste like ‘smelt with breast of chicken’ – while in Dominica in the Caribbean, the large hill frogs are called ‘mountain chicken’. Dr Livingstone wrote that when cooked the African bullfrog looked ‘exactly like chicken’.
Frogs are eaten all over the world – they can be seen in markets in the Orient – although throughout history the fashion for them has been spasmodic. It seems that they were not favoured by the Romans, but at other periods they have been an expensive luxury. The Revd. J.G.Wood, writing in 1863, described how poachers used to steal frogs from the fenced-off ponds or froggeries around Paris. ‘Poaching was done over the fence, without entering, by a curious mode of angling, something like “bobbing” for eels. They get a very long fishing rod, tie a line of sufficient length to the tip, and at the end of the line they fasten, in place of hook and bait, a simple piece of scarlet cloth. Thus prepared they push the rod over the fence, let the scarlet rag just touch the surface of the water, and shake the rod so as to make the cloth quiver and jump about. The frog, thinking it has found a savoury morsel, leaps at the rag, closes its mouth firmly upon it, and is neatly tossed over the hedge before it can make up its mind to loosen its hold.’
Frogs are at their best in spring. It is usual to eat only the back legs, as there is little meat on the rest of the body, although there are recipes for whole frogs, which are, for example, stuffed with spinach in Italy. Unfortunately, the back legs are often chopped off living frogs and the animals thrown into a waste tub to bleed slowly to death. Most people will buy frogs’ legs already prepared – they are often sold skewered together for cooking en brochette – but if they are fresh, they must be skinned and have the feet cut off.
Frogs’ legs are usually soaked in cold water or milk for an hour to plump the meat before cooking. (Frogs dry out very quickly even when alive, but equally quickly absorb water through the skin when put in damp surroundings.) With frozen frogs’ legs, follow the packagers’ instructions. The simplest way to cook frogs’ legs is to fry them gently in butter for 5 minutes. However, there are many recipes including those for nymphes, a euphemism optimistically used by Escoffier in an effort to overcome British prejudice.
[Frog – French: grenouille German: Frosch Italian: rana Spanish: rana]
FROMAGE DE TÊTE. See brawn.
FRUCTOSE, fruit sugar, laevulose, or levulose is a monosaccharide *sugar that is found in fruit juices, honey and the nectar of flowers, usually with *glucose and *sucrose. When sucrose (cane or beet sugar) is hydrolysed (inverted), the resulting invert sugar contains equal quantities of fructose and glucose. Fructose alone is formed by the hydrolysis of inulin which is found in the roots of composite plants such as chicory and dahlia. Fructose is more soluble in water than glucose and has a much sweeter taste. Like glucose it is fermented by yeasts to form alcohol and carbon dioxide.
FRUIT BRANDY or eau-de-vie. As the name suggests, fruit brandies are distilled from fruit wines. They are usually drunk as aperitifs or Schnapps, but sometimes also as liqueurs. Undoubtedly the most important fruit brandies used in cooking are calvados (from apples) and kirsch (from cherries). However, some of the others may be found in regional recipes and, for this reason, they are listed here.
Barackpá
linka. A Hungarian eau-de-vie made of apricots, usually clear and at most a pale straw colour. Often very strong and, when matured, an excellent spirit with a flavour something between apricots and slivovitz, but distinctive.
Calvados. Distilled, fermented apple juice from Calvados, Normandy. Pot stills are used, and the calvados is aged for varying periods. As a drink, a bad calvados (or applejack for that matter) is one of the most excruciating spirits known to man. In cooking, calvados is often used in Norman dishes, with fish, as in truite à Ia normande, with pork, veal or chicken, and of course in the classic version of tripes à Ia mode de Caen. In some recipes, the calvados is ignited and in others not. Calvados gives a special taste to the Norman dishes in which it is used. If calvados is not available, whisky is suggested as the best substitute by Elizabeth David in French Provincial Cooking (Grub Street).
Fraise and Framboise. Made respectively from strawberries and raspberries in Alsace, correctly from wild fruit. Expensive eaux-de-vie, clear and colourless.
Kirsch or Kirschwasser. Distilled from fermented crushed *cherries of types which vary from place to place, kirsch is a spirit of the area which includes Alsace, the Vosges mountains, the part of Switzerland south of Zurich and Basle, as well as the Black Forest in Germany across the Rhine. In French, but not German or Swiss kirsch, a proportion of the kernels are crushed with the fruit, which gives a trace of bitter-almond flavour. To be good, kirsch has to be distilled in pot stills and aged; it is matured in glass, not in the wood, and is said to improve when kept in the bottle. It is much used in cooking, for instance with fruit (e.g. with apricots, or with pineapple in ananas au kirsch) and in creams and cakes. Kirsch is also considered indispensable for cheese fondue, both in the fondue and to drink, and adds great distinction to Alsatian Sauerkraut, to which Elizabeth David in French Provincial Cooking recommends that it should be added as a last touch before serving. Neither kirsch nor the equally colourless maraschino should be confused with the thick and garnet-red cherry brandy, which is made by infusion (like sloe gin).