I Fancy Freezing

BY PEGGY HARVEY

A man I know buys excellent strip steaks from his club, freezes them, and, he told me the other day, is vastly unhappy over the results. I asked him how he wrapped his steaks for the freezer, and he said he didn’t, that he just dumped them in as they came from the club steward. No wonder he was disappointed. Meat loosely wrapped in butcher paper will dry out in the freezer and lose all texture and flavor. I didn’t advise the man to invest in a lot of special freezer trappings, however, but just to wrap his beautiful steaks snugly, one by one, in aluminum foil or Saran Wrap. When he does this, I am sure that he will find his meat every bit as good as it is at the club.

I am not an expert on freezing, and I do not even own a home freezer as such; I merely have a sizable freezing compartment in my refrigerator, and I couldn’t live without it. I use it constantly. Every now and then, when a small ship has come in, I buy a full, thick sirloin steak and cut it into sections: one will be big enough to feed three people, one will do for two, and the rest is cut into individual portions. Some of these portions will weigh about half a pound, which is normal, and some will weigh considerably more, for my eighteenyear-old son. I write the weight of each piece, the date, and a description of the meat (whether there is much fat or bone involved) on a label, place the label on the meat, wrap it tightly in Saran Wrap, and freeze. These steaks could keep for six to twelve months, but we are partial to steak, so they don’t get the chance.

About once a month I freeze hamburgers. I flatten four pounds of good lean ground round steak on a table, two pounds at a time. (My kitchen table isn’t big enough to flatten it all at once.) I pat it about half an inch thick and straighten the edges. With a spatula, I cut it into squares the size of a slice of bread, wrap each slice thoroughly in wax paper, and freeze. For cooking, the hamburgers are thawed just enough so that the paper can be removed; then they are seasoned, and while still quite frozen, sautéed in butter. Three minutes on a side is sufficient for rare meat, and about five for gray. The fact that they are cooked while still frozen inside gives these hamburgers extra moisture. Some people like to achieve this by mixing crushed ice with freshly ground meat. This way is simpler, there is no lastminute fuss, and the resulting hamburgers are really specia

Herbs can be frozen, and anyone lucky enough to possess an herb garden can harvest the tarragon, dill, rosemary, and marjoram when the first frost is threatening. Wrap small amounts of each herb separately in aluminum foil, tie a label around them, and put them in the freezer. The herbs do not look their best when thawed, but they taste gardenfresh and are much better than dried herbs. City dwellers should keep their eyes peeled, and when fresh herbs appear on the market, as they do occasionally, they should buy them greedily and freeze them.

My son eats spaghetti, but I do not. I curb my waistline while he gives his free rein. As everyone knows, spaghetti sauce made with meat must cook for a long time. Therefore, it must be made in fairly large quantities. I make enough for four hungry people and freeze it in four plastic containers. When clamors for spaghetti arise, it is ready in short order. Barbecue sauce, which we share, also demands long, slow cooking. I make this in double quantity, freezing the rest against the next batch of spareribs.

Sometimes I get extremely ambitious and make croissants. These, too, must be made in quantity, since for some reason you cannot bake with a quarter of a yeast cake. I have never understood why, but you can’t. I freeze the croissants uncooked, wrapped separately, and bring them to room temperature before baking. Even after a long stay in the freezer, they are as good as ever.

Most of the things that can be done, and usually are, with leftover chicken or turkey are pretty uninteresting. Even a well-seasoned hash leaves me cold, so I make chicken rolls. The chicken or turkey meat is finely minced, mixed with a light cream sauce, rolled in thin pastry, gilded with egg yolk, and baked. I always make more of these than needed, and an extra amount of the mushroom sauce which goes with them. The sauce is frozen in small containers with two securely wrapped chicken rolls on top of each portion of sauce. A fine supper is ready to be heated up, and one which smacks not at all of having been made with leftovers.

Without a freezer I would be at a loss to know what to do with those packages found inside all fowl. For those who like gravy or make lots of soup, there is no problem. My family has never waxed enthusiastic about nice hot gravy, and we seldom have soup, so I freeze. I freeze the livers of chickens, turkeys, ducks, and game birds for future chickenliver omelets or pâté maison; the rest of the giblets, plus the necks and wing tips, I freeze separately for the infrequent soup or for stock.

Whether your family is small or large, always make more than enough stew, ragout, or any dish containing meat, fish, or fowl. Boeuf Bourguignon or plain American beef stew, bouillabaisse, lobster Newburg, veal paprika, beef stroganoff, lamb stew, or chicken fricassee, among others, all freeze beautifully. It is a comfort to have emergency rations of this sort ready for any occasion.

It is a good idea to have a group of hors d’oeuvres tucked away in the freezer, too. Some of the storebought kinds are not bad, but your own meatballs, meat pastries, or cheese puffs are apt to be better. I’ll share the secret of my favorite hors d’oeuvre. It mystifies all comers, and to make it the freezer is essential. Spread crustless white sandwich bread with cream cheese. Roll up each slice and wrap with bacon, then in wax paper, and freeze. When the time comes, cut each roll into inchlong sections and brown under the broiler. Something happens to the bread and cheese during the freezing period which gives the little tidbits their tantalizing taste.

While we are on the subject of emergencies, no self-respecting kitchen should be without a can of homestyle peaches on the shelf and a box of frozen raspberries in the freezer. Add a touch of kirsch to the thawed and pureed berries; pour them over the drained peaches, and voila!, a perfect dessert.

More and more households are help-less these days, and people who either cannot cook or do not like to, yet still would prefer to dine at home are out of luck. But I have good news for them. In the very near future they will be able not only to dine at home but to serve fine food to guests. All they will have to do is to boil water. A line of international foods is being readied for the market. These dinners are unlike anything now available. The food is packaged in a two-compartment plastic pouch which is quite flat and requires very little storage space in the freezer. In one compartment is the entrée, and in the other, the accompaniment, which is a vegetable, parsleyed rice, Chinese noodles, or potatoes. The entrées range from Yankee pot roast to Hawaiian chicken and include such classics as boeuf Bourguignon, chicken cacciatore, lobster Newburg, shrimp creole, and many others. All the noncooking hostess will have to do is to immerse the pouches of her choice in boiling water for twelve minutes. While they heat, she can mix a salad and make some coffee. Dinner is ready, and it is good. I watched the whole procedure and tasted a half dozen of the finished dishes. The food is prepared under the supervision of an accomplished European chef from the best recipe for each dish, and it looks as attractive as it tastes when it is served. Much as I love to cook, I plan to stock some of this food myself, if only for the fun of being able to offer my guests a choice of several entrées and call them to dinner in fifteen minutes.

To go thoroughly into the matter of frozen desserts would necessitate writing a book, and I have an idea that that has been done. Suffice it to say that many desserts can be frozen and that many more must be. Refrigerator ice cream cannot be compared to that made in a hand freezer or, let’s face it, bought from a good caterer, but frozen mousses and ices are superb. My favorite ice is the Italian Granita di Caffée. For this, strong sweetened espresso coffee is frozen to a mush and served topped with whipped cream spiked with crème de cacao or Tia Maria. If at any time you find yourself with more whipping cream than you need, freeze it unwhipped and without stirring. It comes out in delicate flakes and is delicious on hot fruit.

As a parting thought, if you do not have the kind of refrigerator which automatically drops its nonsticking ice cubes into a container, keeping the container miraculously full at all times, try filling a plastic bag with ice cubes. Twist the open end, and put the bag in the freezer. No longer will you have to endanger your ice bucket by poking in it with an ice pick. The cubes will not stick, and you can remove one, two, or a handful at a time. I do not know who came up with this idea originally. I disclaim all credit, but for my money, it is the greatest invention since the wheel.