tealboy

I don' t like the way I had the hams processed (1 1/4 inch steaks) and want to have some of them cubed and the rest ground. However, they are frozen and wrapped in freezer paper (since jan 2003). Is it unsafe to defrost the steaks, have them ground or cubed, re-packaged, and then re-frozen?

Obviously, if I had a grinder, I could defrost them, grind the steaks and then eat the venison but I don' t own a grinder or device to cube. I wanted to defrost all of the steaks and have the processor take care of it. Just not sure if i can safely do this and then re-freeze.

Thank you.

dave

JagMagMan

I' ve always heard that it is unsafe to refreeze meat.
I can' t really say that this is based on fact, or it is just an old wives tale???

BOWFANATIC

I believe as long as the meat doesn' t get below a certain temperature it' s alright to re-freeze it. I dont remember what that temperature is but somebody here probably does.

Proff

Tealboy, I have always done all my own butchering and processing myself so I have always read as many articles on it as I can. I have read quite a few articles that say it is fine and completely safe to thaw and refreeze meat up to 3 times. They say to never do it with store bought meat because it has usually been done the maximum times before it reaches you the consumer. But with meat that you have done yourself and know that it has never been thawed and refrozen it is ok. I talked to a friend of my dad' s who is a butcher and said the same thing. So you should be just fine.

jerseyhunter

I agree with Proff. Also you don' t have to defrost the meat entirely to have it ground just bring it down to about 30 degrees. It is also easier and less messy to cut into chunks that will fit into the grinder while still partialy frozen. Years ago I bought my Wife a Kitchen Aid . Who knew I would be using it for making my own burgers and such. A great household investment that will make everyone happy.

revnow1

Tealboy not not a good Idea to defrost then freeze.
Why not just defrost enough meat for your meal and then grind it or cube it then cook it.

bigbulls

It will be fine. You don' t want to do it more than once or twice though.

Our elk last year we cut it into cubes and froze the cubes until we had the time to rent a meat grinder to make hamburger (about 4 months later). We thawed it and ground it up. It was perfectly fine.

Also, the meat that grocery stores gets was frozen as sides of beef or pork before they get them and cut them up or grind it up. Do you think that meat would last as long as it would take to get it from the slaughter house, to the processing facility, to the distributers, to the stores if it wasn' t frozen before being cut into stakes and ground into burger? I doubt it.

2droptine

your looking at a food quality issue here, there really is no food saftey issue as long as you dont let the meat sit above 40 degrees.

Each time you freeze the meat beginning with the first time dehydration takes place causing a loss of both flavor and texture quality of the meat.

Pro-Line

I freeze all my meat for grinding every year, and then just grind a big batch at the end of the season. It turns out OK. There' s no problem " safety-wise" with it.

That said, last year I ground the meat before I froze it, and it turned out better. Much more moist.

jerseyhunter

If you take a look at the last sentence in the above 2 posts from 2droptine and Pro-Line you will see why you should get yourself a grinder. Cabella' s sells them cheap although an electric one would be the way to go. PS this post started stating that you didn' t like the way the hams were cut 1 1/4" thick. Why don' t you partially defrost them as needed and and slice them in halve for steaks. or thin and pound them into cutlets for venison parmesan, minute steaks, pepper steaks or steak sandwiches. or just get a meat tenderizing mallet or make your own and turn them into cubed steaks. Or cut into chunks and turn into, stew meat, shish ka bobs, soup meat, or chilie. There' s plenty to do with good Venison rather than to turn it into ground meat, thats what the scraps are for.