Chicken meat is considered a healthy 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 frozen chicken cooked correctly and at the same time retain 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 easy to digest, and a considerable number of important trace elements. In addition, a substance such as carnosine helps 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 must purchase a quality product. This will be discussed in more detail in the next section of the article.
How to choose poultry meat?
In order not to miscalculate with the choice of frozen chicken, several rules should be followed when buying.
- Inspect the product. An unspoiled bird carcass should not have any bruising or any scratches. Pay attention to the skin type of frozen chicken. 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 rubbing the chicken. With the formation of grayish mucus, you need to abandon its purchase.
- Do not buy a product that is covered in ice. This suggests that it was frozen several times and watered with water. The quality of such frozen chicken will be very poor.
- The packaging of poultry meat must be airtight and not leak 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 freshness.
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 from the amount of product purchased. Some sellers offer poultry meat in bulk from 80 rubles.
Consider the price category in grocery stores. So, a chicken carcass can approximately be purchased from 100 rubles per kilogram. It all depends on the supplier.
It is worth noting that attention should not be paid to the price, but to the quality of the product, since the second can adversely affect your health.
In chilled poultry, the cost starts from 140 rubles per kilogram.
What is the shelf life of frozen chicken?
In the freezer, the meat of this bird can be left for a sufficiently long period of time, for a maximum of one 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 suitable for use for five months at a temperature in the refrigerator of -10 ° C.
Chicken carcasses will not deteriorate for about two months if stored at -7 degrees.
Before sending poultry meat to the freezer, you should remember a few rules:
- before freezing, do not wash the chicken;
- food bags or containers in which the product will be stored must be airtight;
- it is impossible to freeze meat that was on the top shelf of the refrigerator for about two days; also do not do this if the chicken has been at room temperature for more than 4 hours.
What are some ways to preserve raw poultry?
There are several tips that will help chicken meat and keep it fresh without freezing.
So, you can use pieces of ice. 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 moistened with vinegar, you will extend its freshness for a whole week.
If you rub the meat with salt and pepper, then it can be stored for about five days.
A good helper in this situation is marinade, always with salt and pepper. You need to put chicken in it. Due to this, the product period will increase by a couple of days.
How long can I store poultry meat, which is cooked in various ways?
The shelf life of such products is very short. They can not be frozen.
Cooked chicken spoils at room temperature after a couple of hours. Such a product can only be stored in the refrigerator for two days. But stewed chicken has an expiration date of five days.
Roasted and smoked meat has approximately the same storage time. It is about two days.
Chicken should be frozen in small pieces, not a whole carcass. In the latter case, it will be difficult to defrost. Such a product must be eaten on the same day, and best of all - within a few hours.
What are the ways and secrets of cooking poultry meat?
To serve the chicken correctly, it needs to be thawed properly. To do this, you should first put the meat on the upper shelves of the refrigerator in the evening. With another method, you need to put the meat in cold water for several hours or put it in the microwave oven, having previously wrapped it in a film. In this process, the carcass must be turned over from time to time to defrost evenly. 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 it is 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.
You can also bake chicken in the oven. To do this, you need a baking sheet with high sides. Very good cookware with non-stick coating. Then the meat will not be dry. Chicken meat is pre-sprinkled with spices, and you can use a pre-prepared sauce. In this case, the frozen product may not be washed. After the procedures, the meat is sent to the oven. Cooking time will be about 40 minutes.