freezer burned fillets...

[Glowgood Jigster]

I don't know if these fillets are freezer burned yet, but while looking for some fillets to photograph last night for a post, I found a couple packages that didn't have a vacume anymore. And the fish inside looked frosted. Are they freezer burned and can they be salvaged? They have been in the freezer for over two months... Could they be smoked and canned to preserve them better? Pickled? I'm willng to try anythng that will keep them edible for a while. My first thought was to brine and smoke them, then can them in a pressure cooker into some pint jars.
Your thoughts?
Thanks, Glowgood

[barn dog]

you can just cut off the part thats freezer burnt when you use them. you can also just reseal them in a new bag.

[catch fillet]

Put filletts in plastic bags fill with water--then freeze,no worry about the burn

[mrwillis]

Freezer bag them, fill it with water, and will be good for quite some time. I just ate some last week that we caught last May and they were perfectly fine, and I know that all the big fillets that were in there were the fish I caught.

[CrappiePappy]

You can also "pre-coat" them with whatever you normally use, then freeze them ... and they don't "burn" then, either.

Frost on them just means the moisture is leaching out of the fillets ... they aren't "freezer burned", yet. Freezer burned fish will turn a dirty white, and the freezer burned meat will be tough.

If you're using a vacuum sealer ... what you may want to do, in the future, is not seal the bag so close to the fillets -- leaving a couple two or three inches of bag past the edge of the meat. Then, if/when you see that the seal is compromised and the bag has taken on some air .... open the sealed end and then re-seal the frozen fillets, in the same bag. The thicker the plastic, that your sealer uses, the more likely it is to stay sealed. The thinner, cheaper plastics, of the cheaper model vacuum sealers, don't hold a seal quite as long .... so leaving a "tag end" section of extra bag will allow you to re-seal, if necessary.

........ cp

[blairarnold]

I put them in a freezer bag, add enough water to cover them and then carefully "burp" out all the air when sealing. I have opened packages 2 or 3 years later that got lost in the freezer and have never had any to freezer burn. They even taste as good as those that have just been in there a month or so. I never have had a vacuum sealer & always wondered how well they work.

[freeflow_23]

I love my vacuum sealer. I don't think I've had any freezer burned fish since I got it. Vacuum sealed fish takes up so much less room in the freezer. No more big blocks of iced fish in the freezer. Takes less time to thaw out too.
Worth every penny. Found my FoodSaver at the thrift store for $3.00!

[horseshoer]

CP got it right about the moisture it sounds like from what you explained. Freezer burn is most noticeable by a combination of the meat yellowing & a wood grain-like appearance.
I use 1 lb plastic coffee cans, fillem 1/3 full of water put the fillets in, top off with extra water if need be. No air gets trapped in, they keep forever, and are stackable and fairly space-efficient in the freezer.

[twojigginjohn]

im with mrwillis, fill the bag with water and freeze em. they will last a year
with no burn. im glad ya found that jig glowgoodjigster

[SidSpice]

I took fillets and put them in a quart sized bag, keeping just the water that was left on the slab from washing it, and then got as much air out of the bag as I could and sealed it closed. Then put the quart bag into a gallon sized freezer ziploc and fill that with enough water to encase the bag inside. You don't have to make an iceberg.

I first tried this method during a trout trip and now use it when I freeze fish. Before, I had always just submerged it in water to freeze. I eat my fish within a year. Freezing it this way has always kept my fish tasting fresh. Might be something to do with not dilluting the natural fish taste with so much water...

I'm not an expert...just thought I would share this option with everyone.

Tight lines!