We’re gonna talk about flash freezing Chicken Fried Steak Strips. This is fantastic!
Right after I posted my Chicken Fried Steak Strip recipe last week, I ran into my friend Brenda. Always, after a visit with her I’m usually wishing I would have brought a notebook and pen to take notes. This girl knows stuff. Brenda doesn’t have a blog…so I get to share the stuff I learn from Brenda on mine. Then I get to look smart. Cool. For the record, I have several more “Brenda Tips” for you…most of them involving potatoes. (You’re intrigued aren’t you?) I’ll share them with you as soon as I get a round tuit.
So here’s the tip Brenda shared with me about the Chicken Fried Steak Strips:
When you get cubed steak on sale (or when you buy several packages of cube steak from a farmer, like I do) make them all up into strips at one time, bread them, flash freeze them, then fry them as needed.
I love this tip, but my first question to Brenda was, “WAIT! I can’t thaw and refreeze raw meat, can I?” I mean, that’s what my mama always told me.
Nope, Brenda said. That’s an old wive’s tale. (Hey, are you calling my mama an old wife? Just kidding.) Thawing and refreezing raw meat is okay and it is safe, and Brenda, who’s done it time and again was alive and well and able to stand there in the church foyer telling me about it.
Well, if I’d have known that, I would have been flash freezing these Chicken Fried Steak Strips a long time ago, along with Chicken Strips and Nuggets and Popcorn Chicken. Funny that I never knew WHY it wasn’t safe…I just thought it wasn’t. Makes me wonder what else I’ve been believing to be true that really isn’t. (Is there any chance dusting isn’t necessary? My mama told me it was, but if anyone wants to tell me that it really isn’t important…)
It just so happens that I had a meat order delivered to my door the VERY morning after I had that conversation with Brenda…and it included five packages of cube steak.
Flash Freezing Chicken Fried Steak Strips
I got my big bowl of flour mixture and a big bowl of milk and got very busy making a big mess. See, that’s the point. If you’re going to make a big mess when you’re making these strips, you might as well make a big mess all at once and save yourself the trouble later! Love it!
I cut each cube steak into three pieces then started double and triple dipping.
I laid the breaded strips all out on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper,
then put them in the freezer overnight.
The next morning, I popped them off the cookie sheets and into gallon sized freezer bags. Yay! Now I have five batches of Chicken Fried Steak Strips ready to cook up for quick meals. One mess…five meals! Thanks Brenda!
So, what have you all heard about refreezing raw meat? Am I the last to know this information?
Done it thousands of times! I buy our meat at the grocery store. And the meat comes to the store frozen, then it’s thawed out as it sits in the back in the refrigerator. Then I take it home and 9/10 times I throw it in the freezer for future use.
And, there are times I’ll take it out of the freezer, and put in the fridge to use the next day or day after (when it thaws out) and there are times I change my mind, so it goes back in the freezer! I’ve never had a problem doing this. I follow a rule, all RAW meat MUST be eaten w/in 3 days if it’s been in the refridge, if not it goes in the freezer. (3 days doesn’t incl thawing time lol, but I try and make a decision w/in those 3 days) I’ve done this w/chicken and ground beef, ground turkey, and ground chicken. We don’t eat any game life (deer, lamb etc)
Laura, you are not the only person who thought this about meat. My mother always told me, and I’ve read places, too, that you can’t re-freeze thawed meat. I’m glad to hear it won’t kill me, ha ha.
On the same kind of note, I learned recently that if you have chicken broth in your refrigerator that’s been in there a little past it’s 5-7 day limit, you can boil it, and use it again. I tried this recently, and we didn’t die. I mean, I wouldn’t do it with 23 day old broth, but this was about 8 days old.
Thanks for the tip!
Boiling anything kills the bacteria… that’s why lol
I only keep stock in the fridge for a few days, then I freeze or use it up.
That is so wonderful to hear. I usually end up throwing the meat away, it’s been in there and we’re too busy to cook it. :( Now I feel sick for doing that, knowing I didn’t have to do it.
My mother told me the same thing about meat… but I’m a strong-willed person. I do what *I* want.
It’s only safe if you’re thawing the meat in the fridge. If you thaw it on the counter (never recommended), in cold water, or in the microwave, it’s supposed to be cooked being being refrozen. — This is according to the USDA.
I’m blushing. ;0)
I think the main thing to be mindful of is the internal temp when you cook it… and that’s true whether it’s fresh, thawed, or re-frozen. Gotta kill the germies!
Flash frozen steak fingers (just like flash-frozen meatballs!) are truly the ultimate convenience comfort food! :)
Just came across your website and I am enjoying every minute of it :) Great idea for the steak fingers, I am going to try it with the chicken tenders :)
Good to hear! I’ve got several whole chickens in my freezer and have been debating if I could thaw them, cut them up and then refreeze…so instead of using a whole chicken I could use whatever pieces I wanted to.
Thanks to you (and to Brenda) for the tip! I had always heard that “old wives tale” too.
I thought it had more to do with the quality of the end product than safety. Like the texture might not be so good. Amy from Finer Things both wondered this about hamburger long ago, since ours comes from the meat locker already frozen.
You are certainly not the last! I’ve been wondering if this was true or not lately but hadn’t gotten around to research. We get a LOT of our meat as giant chunks of ice, and sometimes I only need half a roast or something but I either have to cook the whole thing or try to only thaw it part-way, cut it, and then refreeze it (which is okay. As long as the meat still has ice crystals, you can refreeze it.) So it is good to know I can thaw the whole package of chicken, use what I want, and refreeze the rest without worry.
Well, another old wives’ tale blown out the window! :) Thanks for the info.
My kids LOVE to DUST. So they get that job around here. HEHEHE.
You know, I’m beginning to see a pattern here. We are told something is bad for us because one person goes and does something in such a way as to harm themselves, then some law is put into affect like – you can’t drink raw milk, it could kill you or don’t refreeze meat, you’ll get sick. The problem has evolved to such a state that we don’t know how to prepare and eat healthy foods rich in nutrients and probiotics anymore. We now eat dead food that has been injected with all kinds of stuff that wasn’t intended for nourishment. Okay, I’m on my soap box. I’ll get off before I go any further!
Great idea, by the way!
I love this blog and so does 1 of our daughters. The peach cobbler looks yummy. We use a ton of your recipies. Our 10 children like to look at your pics and compare ours. Applesauce bread awesome!!!!
I always enjoy your recipes with pictures. Thanks for sharing and taking a lot of the guess work out of it.
So thankful for your site. I have a bunch of prosciutto in the fridge that I took out of the freezer and now I can put it right back in!! Thanks!
Great tip-
nope, looks like I’m the last to hear! ;-)
I had been told the same thing, but when I took nutrition in college I found out that freezing things actually gets them cold enough to kill most bad bacteria. However, washing something in hot water won’t necessarily do the trick, because the heat needed to sterilize something is greater than what human skin can handle.
I have a really silly question for you. How do you use these from the freezer? Do you thaw them first? What is your prefered method of thawing?
Chicken Fried Steak is my husband’s favorite meal and this looks like a great way to make it less of a mess each time I make it.
Have a blessed day!
I let them, thaw just a bit (although if they are a little frosty still, that’s okay), then cook them in oil as directed in the recipe.
I thaw them on the counter top…I KNOW it’s recommended that we NEVER thaw meat on the counter, but the fridge takes four days and when I need them for lunch, I don’t have four days. In the summer, I’m more careful about it, but in the winter my kitchen is plenty cool.
I love your site. Thanks for your tips when I have more time I will continue to look at it longer thanks for the info.
Blessing
Teri
Wow…I have lots of cubed steak in the freezer and it’s my least favorite! Now I can actually use it and try this recipe!! I don’t have palm shortening but I do have expeller pressed CO, would that work for frying these? Thanks!!
That should work!