Ready broth is a real lifesaver for every housewife. Based on it, you can quickly cook dinner, whether it is soup or gravy for the second courses. Therefore, having tried this method of preparing a semi-finished product, most housewives leave it for themselves: it saves time painfully. It remains to be found out how to freeze the broth so that this method can be adopted.
Perishable product
Real, tasty and fragrant - this is exactly what the broth should be like to make your dishes perfect. It is very difficult to cook soup, borsch, home-made noodles if you have hastily boiled meat and the water in which it was prepared. This broth must be saturated, and this takes time. Therefore, it is best to cook it in a week. That is why the question arises of how to freeze the broth. Otherwise, it will deteriorate very quickly.
Rules for storing broth
In fact, you do not have many options. This rich product is very loved by all kinds of bacteria. In fact, it deteriorates no less quickly than fresh meat. Therefore, choose one of the following methods:
- If you want to keep the vegetable or meat broth warm, you can use a thermos. Pour the broth in a clean thermos and in boiling form. Then it will remain warm and will not go bad until 6 o’clock.
- The finished product is well stored in the refrigerator. Therefore, if you want to cook something from it in the coming days, then you can safely remove the saucepan to an empty shelf. He can stand it for three days easily. After that, you can boil it and use it again without fear for another three days.
- But what if you need to keep it longer than a week? To do this, you just need to cool the fresh broth, pour it into molds and put it in the freezer.
Technological subtleties
Every housewife becomes a culinary practitioner. But there is always something to learn. Therefore, let's look at some tricks that will help you prepare an excellent base for first courses and gravy.
- Before talking about how to freeze a broth, you need to learn how to cook it correctly. To maximize the shelf life, utensils are very important. The one that has the property of oxidizing is not suitable. The best option is glass. You can also use ceramics with a tight lid.
- Sometimes housewives complain that not even a few days have passed since the preparation, and the broth is already sour. To prevent this from happening, you need to cool it as quickly as possible. To do this, you can use a pan with larger diameter cold water.
- If you know how to freeze the broth correctly, then you can safely count on its safety for 6 months. It is most convenient to freeze it in portioned containers with a flat lid.
By following these recommendations, you can be sure that you will get an excellent result.
Correct broth
It is very important that you are sure of the quality of what lies in your refrigerator. Despite the fact that the cooking procedure is not too complicated, there are a number of subtleties that need to be considered. Before you ask yourself how to freeze the broth correctly, you need to prepare a good, high-quality base for the first courses.
Highlights
Best of all is broth coming out of beef. As an economy, many prefer chicken, but such a product is most often used for noodles. Is it possible to freeze broth made from seeds? Yes, they are best used in this way. The base for the soup turns out to be rich, and the pulp can be added already directly during cooking. But it is best to take a bone with meat and freeze the broth along with the pulp. Then it turns out the finished product, which is very convenient to use.
You will need:
- T-bone meat.
- Water.
- Salt, black pepper, bay leaf.
- Slow cooker or convenient pan.
Proportions can be chosen at your discretion, depending on how much you want to get the final product. Professional chefs recommend cooking the broth stronger. At the right time, it can be diluted with water and get the right concentration. Do not be zealous with the addition of spices. You make a universal basis for the first courses, which then can be easily diversified and used for a huge number of recipes.
Cooking steps
The first step is to wash the meat under running water. You do not need to cut it, so your workpiece will come out tastier and more aromatic.
- Put a piece in a pan and pour cold water.
- Put on medium heat and wait for boiling.
- Then reduce the heat and do not forget to remove the foam.
- After about an hour and a half, you need to salt.
- The duration of the preparation depends on the type of meat and the selected piece. Try to cook until the meat begins to lag behind the bone.
- After cooking, you need to remove the meat, and place the pan with the broth in a bowl of cold water.
That's basically it. Now you have the finished product, and you can go directly to the question of how to freeze the broth in the refrigerator.
Tanks for freezing
Here you have several options. You can use disposable or reusable dishes. The first option is more convenient, since freeze bags are cheap and sold in any store.
- Containers with high sides are most often used for freezing. This is useful if you plan to put the broth in a pan without defrosting. On the other hand, if the container is wide, the frozen bar of the broth can be placed sideways in the pan. It is gradually melting.
- If there is no time for defrosting, you can rinse the container with boiling water, then the frozen broth will fall out by itself.
- It is very convenient to use empty plastic mayonnaise buckets.
- To save space, you can use plastic bags. This saves space in the freezer.
Is it possible to freeze the broth in the freezer, if its volume leaves much to be desired? Yes, only for this you need to slightly change the cooking technology. Pour enough water into the pan so that it only covers the meat. In the cooking process, it will still boil, and a concentrated broth will remain. It can be poured into plastic cups. Then just dilute the concentrate to the desired volume.
Chicken bouillon
It sour much faster than all other varieties of meat decoctions, therefore, requires more attention. How to freeze chicken stock? First of all, it needs to be cooked, cooled quickly and must be filtered through sterile gauze folded in half. Before being sent for storage, it should be poured into a glass dish and covered with a glass lid. This will avoid the oxidation process.
You can freeze chicken stock in large quantities. It is great for making soups or homemade noodles. Moreover, delicious sauces are obtained on its basis. A big plus is quick cooking. If the beef needs to be cooked for 2-3 hours, then the chicken will be ready in 40 minutes.
How to store meat broth
The difference is not too big. Beef is boiled longer, and the broth itself is more saturated. The storage temperature in unfrozen form is the same as that of chicken broth, that is, from 4 to 8 degrees. This is easily achieved on the middle shelf of the refrigerator. But the terms are a little longer - he will quite "live" up to 7 days without freezing. But if you are planning a long-term storage in the freezer, it is best to freeze it fresh, immediately after cooking.
How to determine freshness
We have already talked about how much frozen broth is stored. Culinary specialists and technologists call the period of 6 months, but if there were no temperature differences, then it will stay in the freezer much longer. But even the broth stored by all the rules can go bad. Therefore, after defrosting, you must definitely smell it. If the broth is spoiled, you can easily catch a smell that resembles a spoiled egg.
If there is even the slightest suspicion that the base for the soup is spoiled, it must be poured without any regret. It is especially easy to observe such changes if you have thawed the broth and temporarily placed it in the refrigerator. In addition to the unpleasant odor, the appearance of the product can prevent damage to the product. If the broth is cloudy, flakes and sediment appear in it, this should also alert. If the smell has not changed, you can try to boil the broth.
Instead of a conclusion
Having learned how to freeze the broth in the freezer, you certainly will not want to abandon this method. It is very convenient and practical. Moreover, the broth does not have to be stored in containers. After freezing, immerse the container in warm water, shake out the contents and carefully stack in a freezer in a pile. Some housewives prefer to crush ice blocks into cubes.
If the refrigerator has been thawed, it is advisable to boil the broth and freeze it again. The quality of the finished product and the content of nutrients in this case is reduced, but the broth is still suitable for consumption. Judging by the reviews of experienced hostesses, the optimal amount of broth is 2-3 liters. In this case, the product fits easily in the freezer and is consumed quite quickly. Within a month, you can safely eat it even if you cook soups very rarely.