Chicken meat chilled and frozen. How and where to store chicken meat? Methods for cooling poultry meat

Storage rules chicken meat practically indistinguishable from the conditions applied to meat products. Keeping it at room temperature for a long time shortens its shelf life, so it is best to put the chicken in the refrigerator before starting the cooking process.

Traditional ways of storing chicken meat:

cooling;
freezing.

In stores, chicken meat is cooled in several ways: air, water and airborne. In the first case, the way to preserve the freshness of meat is cold air, in the second - cold water, in the third - the chicken is first immersed in a low-temperature liquid, and then cooled with air. The principles of such procedures can be carried out at home. Freezing chicken meat after cooling in water is not recommended.

Features of storing chicken meat in a chilled form

Chicken meat can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. If you maintain a constant cooling temperature at around 0 degrees, then the shelf life can be extended to 10-12 days.

Nuances of cooling chicken meat:

in open form, it is better not to store chicken meat and not allow it to come into contact with other food products (chicken is considered a perishable product, if it gets particles of dishes that have already begun to deteriorate, then the meat will become unusable faster than the specified period);
in containers, chicken meat remains fresh for 2 days more than in a bag or cling film (in a container up to 5 days, in cling film - 2-3 days);
if chicken meat is planned to be stored in a bag, then all the air must be released before placing it in the refrigerator;
chicken meat quickly absorbs the smell of other products, so it must be isolated with containers, other containers or cling film;
packaging for storing chicken meat must be moisture resistant and airtight.

Features of storing chicken meat in the freezer

In the freezer, chicken meat can be stored for up to a year at a temperature of -18 to -24 degrees, and at a mark of -5 degrees - only a month. The freezing process is carried out with individual pieces or with a whole chicken, it does not matter. A prerequisite in this case is the creation of appropriate packaging for meat (containers or cling film).

The process of preparing for freezing chicken meat:

it is impossible to wash chicken meat before freezing;
pieces or carcass of chicken should be wiped dry with paper towels;
in the freezer, chicken can be stored in bags (food wrap) or in containers;
foil can be used to pack pieces of chicken meat;
you can freeze the chicken after storing at room temperature for several hours or in the refrigerator for no more than two days, otherwise it is better to cook the meat and not freeze it.

How to extend the shelf life of chicken meat

There are several additional ways to keep chicken meat fresh. For example, if you plan to store chicken in the refrigerator for several days, then ice will help to do this more efficiently. Put the pieces of ice in a bowl, put the meat in them and lightly sprinkle it on top with ice cubes. In the refrigerator, the ice will not melt, and the chicken will stay fresh for several days.

Other additional ways to store chicken meat:

in a towel soaked in vinegar, chicken meat will remain fresh for 5 days;
in a salt and pepper marinade, chicken meat can be stored for 3 days;
You can preserve the freshness of chicken meat using enameled dishes with a lid, the bottom and walls of which are smeared with vinegar (chicken meat is placed in such a container, closed with a lid and stored in the refrigerator).

poultry meat, like protein product Nutrition has become an integral part of our lives. And this is not surprising, because it is cheap and easily accessible to the consumer. Indeed, in Russia at the moment, poultry farming is the fastest growing branch of agriculture.

In any grocery store you can see a wide range of chicken products: whole broiler carcasses, half carcasses, separate legs, wings, breasts, even soup chickens. Meat can be frozen or chilled. In short, products for every taste.

How to choose from all this variety the product that will appeal to you and your stomach? Are all those "horror stories" about modern broiler chickens that scare us true?

First, let's deal with temperature. Which product is better, frozen or chilled? It is logical to assume that it is chilled. Chilled meat will always be fresher than frozen. And these two types of products are interconnected.

Everything that was not sold during the working day in the form of chilled, the next, through the efforts of store employees, can turn into a frozen product. Indeed, frosty, ice-covered meat is difficult to discern and understand whether it was frozen fresh or whether it was frozen after the signs of sunburn appeared.

Another disadvantage of buying a frozen product is buying water at the price of a chicken. Everyone must have seen what interesting shape Frozen broiler carcasses are found. They are like a rugby ball. But the chicken is not such a streamlined shape! This means that a certain amount of water is pumped there (either into the package or directly into the carcass itself).

When the cavities of the carcass and packaging are simply filled with water, this is insulting, but not dangerous to health. But, more often, manufacturers hide their deceit more skillfully and dangerously for the consumer. Special substances are introduced into the meat in various ways, which attract water to themselves. Water accumulates between the muscle fibers and under the skin of the broiler. When cooking such a product, you can notice how the meat becomes too watery and loose, and the skin of the chicken is covered with large bubbles with an unknown liquid.

About manufacturers

Now let's figure out which manufacturer is better to give preference to. First, of course, domestic. And this is not only and not so much to support our agriculture. This is also simple logic. Our farms, as a rule, differ from foreign representatives in their poverty, and therefore they do not have money for expensive hormones for the rapid and excessive growth of poultry muscle mass. Yes, our "birds" are smaller and slimmer, but they are more natural.

Of domestic producers, in turn, preference should be given to local ones, i.e. those enterprises that are located in the immediate vicinity of your locality. In this case, the probability of buying fresh meat increases many times.

Which part of the carcass to buy, or the whole chicken, is up to the hostess herself. We only note that the most useful part of the chicken is the breast. Because it contains the maximum amount of protein and the minimum amount of fat. In second place will be the legs and in the third place will be the wings.

About the latest

Separately, we will say a few words about injections and vaccinations. Broilers are not pricked at all. All vaccinations are in the form of aerosols that the chickens inhale or in the form of drinking water, i.e. the vaccine is mixed with feed and water. Accordingly, there is nothing toxic in such a vaccine, otherwise the one-day-old chicken would simply die.

Another thing is when carcasses of laying hens are sometimes sold on the market. They are usually offered as soup chickens for a fragrant broth. Such chickens have suffered a lot of injections in various parts of their bodies. And the vaccines there are by no means safe, most of them are made on the basis of toxic oils with the addition of mercury and antibiotics. And it would be quite reasonable to refrain from boiling a fragrant broth with mercury vapor and a taste of antibiotics.

Of course, when buying a broiler chicken, you also cannot be completely sure that there will be no antibiotics in the meat. Yes, chickens are not pricked with them, they are fed with them. But still, this option is less dangerous for the consumer, because. when an antibiotic is taken through the mouth, most of it is destroyed in the liver and does not enter the muscle tissue in such a concentration as it would be with intramuscular injection.

For the same reason, buying chicken liver is highly undesirable.

In conclusion, I would like to note. That before you buy poultry meat, carefully look at the packaging, if any. Sometimes, especially on frozen products in the composition (in addition to the poultry meat itself), you can read a lot of interesting things, things that should not be there.

Photo: © Martin Muller | dreamtime.com

Considered a useful product. But, unfortunately, at room temperature, it quickly deteriorates. In this case, you should know the rules for its storage. The article provides information on how to make sure that frozen chicken is cooked correctly and at the same time retains all its beneficial properties.

What are the main ways to store the product at home?

As you know, chicken meat is a dietary food. It contains protein, which is easily digestible, and a considerable amount of important trace elements. In addition, a substance such as carnosine helps to rejuvenate the cells of the human body and restore muscle tissue.

There are two ways to store chicken meat. It can be frozen or chilled in the upper compartments of the refrigerator.

But before you do this, you need to purchase a quality product. This will be discussed in more detail in the next section of the article.

How to choose the right poultry meat?

In order not to miscalculate the choice of frozen chicken, you should follow a few rules when buying.

Check out the product. An unspoiled bird carcass should not have bruises and any scratches. Notice the look of the frozen chicken skin. It should be dry, thin and white.
You should try the product by touch. The carcass should not be slippery and sticky. If so, then it is stale.
When pressing on the chicken carcass, no dents should remain. This property indicates that the product is spoiled.
Try to rub the chicken. With the formation of grayish mucus, you need to refuse to buy it.
Do not purchase a product that is covered with ice. This suggests that it was frozen and watered several times. The quality of such a frozen chicken will be very poor.
The packaging of poultry meat must be airtight and not let in moisture and air.

If you have a choice between frozen and chilled chicken, then choose the second option. It is on this type of product that it is very difficult to hide traces of staleness.

What is the price of frozen chicken?

The cost of a frozen product is much lower than a chilled one. When considering offers on the Internet, it is worth noting that the price of frozen chicken per kilogram varies depending on the amount of product purchased. Some sellers offer wholesale poultry meat from 80 rubles.

It is worth noting that you need to pay attention not to the price, but to the quality of the product, since the latter can be bad for your health.

For chilled poultry meat, the cost starts from 140 rubles per kilogram.

What chicken?

In the freezer, the meat of this bird can be left for a sufficiently long period of time, a maximum of a year. But for this it is necessary that the constant temperature in the refrigeration device reaches 19-26 degrees below zero.

At a temperature of -15 ° C, frozen chicken meat and semi-finished products from it can be stored for about 6 months.

The product will be usable for five months at a temperature in the refrigerator of -10 °C.

Chicken carcasses will not spoil for about two months if they are stored at a temperature of -7 degrees.

Before you send poultry meat to the freezer, you should remember a few rules:

before freezing, the chicken does not need to be washed;
food bags or containers in which the product will be stored must be airtight;
it is impossible to freeze meat that has been on the top shelf of the refrigerator for about two days; also, this should not be done if the chicken has been at room temperature for more than 4 hours.

What are some ways to preserve raw poultry meat?

There are several tips to help keep chicken meat fresh without freezing.

Yes, you can use ice cubes. You need to put them on the product so that they completely cover it. Thanks to this method, meat can be stored for two days.

Also, putting the chicken in a towel soaked in vinegar will keep it fresh for a whole week.

If you rub the meat with salt and pepper, it will keep for about five days.

A good helper in this situation is a marinade, always containing salt and pepper. You need to put chicken in it. Due to this, the product life will increase by a couple of days.

How long can poultry meat prepared in various ways be stored?

The shelf life of such products is very short. You cannot freeze them.

Boiled chicken meat spoils at room temperature after a couple of hours. In the refrigerator, such a product can be stored for only two days. But stewed chicken has a shelf life of five days.

Roasted and smoked meats have about the same shelf life. It is about two days.

Freeze the chicken in small pieces, not the whole carcass. In the latter case, it will be difficult to defrost it. Such a product must be eaten on the same day, and best of all - within a few hours.

What are the methods and secrets of cooking poultry meat?

To serve chicken properly, it must be properly defrosted. To do this, first in the evening put the meat on the upper shelves of the refrigerator. In another way, you need to put the meat in cold water for several hours or put in the microwave, after wrapping in a film. In this process, the carcass must be turned over from time to time for uniform defrosting. After that, you can cook it as planned.

So, to make chicken broth, you can immediately lower the frozen meat into water. Only when boiling is it necessary to remove the foam with a slotted spoon. Then add salt. As soon as the meat is cooked, you should get it and add the rest of the products there.

Alternatively, you can roast the chicken in the oven. To do this, you need a baking sheet with high sides. Cookware with non-stick coating works very well. Then the meat will not be dry. Chicken meat is pre-sprinkled with spices, you can also use a pre-prepared sauce. in this case, you can not wash. After the procedures, the meat is sent to the oven. Cooking time will be about 40 minutes.

For the majority, the common product, which, as a rule, often appears on their tables, is chicken. How useful is this product for our body? What's the difference between chilled and homemade chicken? Learn about it and get answers to these questions will be possible in this article.

What is the composition of chicken meat?

This product is known to many for being dietary due to the high content of proteins and antioxidants. Despite this, it is very low in calories.

In addition, chilled chicken meat has useful substances: iron and phosphorus, potassium and magnesium. They also contain vitamins A, E, C.

Benefits of homemade chicken meat

One of the advantages of this product is its beneficial properties for immunity. Substances contained in chicken allow you to create a kind of barrier that protects against all kinds of negative influences. environment. Scientists have found that those who eat the meat of this bird are less prone to respiratory diseases.

Chicken broth restores strength. Probably, everyone knows firsthand that this particular drink is advised for physical exhaustion.

A rich set of vitamins contained in chicken meat is very useful for metabolic processes in the human body.

Eating this product together with vegetables will improve the functioning of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract.

The B vitamins found in chicken make the skin of the hands, the condition of the nails and hair much better.

One of the most important components in meat is protein. It has a beneficial effect on brain development.

Chicken, unlike other types of meat, is included in the diet of both children and the elderly.

The magnesium contained in the product has a good effect on nervous system generally. Therefore, if you are tormented by insomnia, then it is advised to eat this particular meat.

The acids in the product serve prophylactic from heart attacks. The most useful place for a bird is the breast. It is here that there is more meat, and, accordingly, useful substances and micronutrients.

What harm can be from chicken?

It is worth noting that the benefits of this product are much greater.

So, it is not recommended to eat the skin and dark parts of the chicken. The so-called "shell" should not be eaten, since the most a large number of harmful substances. They accumulated throughout the bird's life. Therefore, before proceeding with the heat treatment of the chicken, you should get rid of its skin.

If the meat is not well processed, they will appear in the large intestine, which can later lead to problems with the digestive organs.

Domestic chicken can be sick with salmonellosis. If it is not boiled or stewed well, serious health problems are possible.

Therefore, you should subject the chicken to a thorough heat treatment, eat it with vegetables and herbs, and, of course, do not eat it in too large quantities.

Shop chicken: what are its benefits and harms?

As a rule, the majority useful properties characteristic of birds that are grown at home. But for people living in the city, they are not quite accessible. Therefore, we go to the store to prepare dinner and buy chilled chickens there, the price of which is not so high, unlike the farmers' product.

Meat is supplied to stores by local poultry farms. There, in order for the birds to gain weight faster, they add various additives and antibiotics to the feed. In this case, consuming such chilled chicken meat, a person himself receives a certain amount of these medicines.

Frequent eating of such chicken can lead to hormonal failure and some diseases.

For men, too much estrogen has a negative effect on potency.

In addition, the benefits and harms of chilled chicken depend on a number of factors:

past bird diseases;
conditions for transporting the product;
keeping birds at the factory;
storage conditions in the supermarket.

How to buy poultry meat?

When buying a product, you need to be careful. So, if the date of the chicken is fresh, and there are bruises on the bag, then it is safe to say that the meat is stale. It has been frozen several times. Good chicken should have a uniform color.

Chilled chicken is usually packaged in plastic bags in stores. Before purchasing, you should unpack and smell it. If the smell of rotten meat is present, it should not be bought. The presence of bruising also indicates that the product is stale.

For chilled chicken, unlike frozen, the price is almost 1.5 times higher. The cost of the first type is an average of 250 rubles per kilogram, the second type of meat can be purchased for 100-120 rubles. But this does not mean that the content of useful substances in them is different. To taste during heat treatment, they will turn out the same if the meat is thawed correctly. To do this, put it on the last shelf of the refrigerator for several hours or lower it into cold water. Then the taste of cooked chilled and frozen chicken will not only be the same, but also juicy.

The presence of a fresh date on meat is not a sign that the product, for example, is today. Vendors resort to peculiar tricks to sell chicken. Therefore, when buying, be careful and look at the color and smell of meat.

Storing Chilled Chicken

This process must be done correctly. Chilled chicken has a shorter shelf life than frozen chicken. It should be in the refrigerator, the temperature of which does not exceed 0 degrees. Usually the shelf life is a day.

Raw poultry meat should not be left at room temperature for more than 20 minutes.

So, chilled chicken can be stored for no more than five days in a refrigerator with a temperature of 0 to +2 degrees. If the conditions in the device where the meat is kept are constant, then this meat can be kept for about 15 days. An important requirement is that the temperature in the refrigerator is always 0 degrees.

In order to keep chicken meat for several days, place it in a bowl and put ice cubes on top. Then all the contents are sent to the refrigerator. The product will not go rotten, but it should be prepared and consumed within 3 days.

In what form do you buy chicken meat more often - chilled or frozen, and what are you guided by when making this choice? Consumer market research clearly shows that the majority of buyers prefer frozen meat. And the choice in favor of chilled occurs only when, in view of certain circumstances (hurry, waiting for guests, “clogged” freezer), buyers are interested in the maximum speed of cooking. Unfortunately, few people know about the health benefits of chilled meat.

Taste qualities and the nutritional value chilled meat is much higher than that of frozen. The thing is that for meat, as well as for vegetables and fruits, there is the concept of "ripening", which comes after the slaughter of an animal, a bird. A period of 2-3 hours changes the stiffness of the muscles, it increases by about a quarter due to the fact that the product stiffens. When purchasing a chicken thigh frozen in this state, we get rather coarse, tough meat, which is much worse absorbed by the body. Having tasted such a chicken, we often sadly decide that it is old. Most likely it's just a quick freeze.

There is also a more gentle way of freezing animal and poultry meat. It is produced no later than 48 hours after slaughter, the freezing temperature is in the region of -30°C and below. But even such meat, after being defrosted by us in home condition is not the best in terms of taste and benefits.

Tender and juicy, fully ripe meat becomes 10 days after slaughter only if it was stored at 0 ° C. This time interval under the given conditions is sufficient for gradual softening of muscle tissues. Such chilled meat is supplied in bulk to various retail outlets, including the best restaurants, where it receives the highest rating from culinary aesthetes who know a lot about meat and can easily appreciate its tenderness and taste. A lot of diets setting recommendations for the right, healthy eating, chicken meat is introduced into the menu as a dietary one, but only chilled rather than frozen poultry meat can rightfully be called such .

Many housewives are impressed by the fact that frozen food can be stored longer. However, during long-term storage of poultry and animal meat in frozen form, when defrosting, you will get a very noticeable loss of meat juice, which will again affect the taste.

Another important fact regarding chilled poultry meat (be it more expensive fillets or wholesale legs): almost all of it comes from a domestic producer, while the share of imported meat in frozen products is quite significant. Why is this unpleasant for the consumer in terms of quality? A long "journey" of the product to our table, during which the risks of defrosting and re-freezing the product cannot be completely excluded. By the way, it is precisely such tests that often make frozen meat on the counter less attractive.

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