Hello Everyone,
I have a question that may have been asked but I can't seem to find an answer.
If fish, or any meat for that matter, that has been frozen, thawed out and smoked, can it be refrozen again without any harm?
Any help would be wonderful and thank you in advance.
Stopper
Fly at it, Stopper. I've done it for years with no ill effects at all.(as long as your fish is in good shape to begin with.)
T2
Most of the kippered salmon I do has been previously frozen then thawed, smoked, vacum packed, then refrozen. Like tsquared said no ill affects at all. I see in different fish smoking instructions that freezing the filets first helps firm the fish up prior to smoking. Go for it. I have also done briskets in the same manner.
I agree with tsquared and iceman, never had a problem refreezing either salmon, trout or whitefish. (cod,pollack,haddock). With whitefish I brine the freshly caught fillets in 80% brine for 20-30 minutes, rinse thoroughly then pat dry,freeze and vacuum seal. To my mind this certainly does help firm up the flesh.
The fish can then be defrosted and smoked when I have enough fish for a large batch, I then wrap in foil for 24 hours in the fridge then refreeze and vacuuum pack.
Like tsquared said, the most important thing is to start with a good product in the first place and like iceman said I have also refrozen brisket as well.