Freezer Burn

Anybody got any surefire techniques for preventing freezer burn on your frozen salmon. I bought one of those foodsaver vacuum sealers thinking that would do the trick, but am still seeing freezer burn. Seems like a waste of money now. It says fish should be good for up to a year, but that wasn't the case. I had freezer burn after just a couple months.

I've heard of people freezing fish whole (guts & all) to prevent freezer burn, but I've never had the stomach to try it. Does this really work?

CamoFish

"Help: Will fish for food"

i also have a vacuum packer, but i have not noticed freezer burn. I have fish in the freezer from october salmon season thats still as good as the day i put it in the bags.

The trick is to make sure you dry off the fish with a towel before placing them in the bag.. and make sure the bags are not to big..

you're probably doing somthing wrong....

should work?????

oh another thing you might want to try is.. smoke your fish and then place in vacuum bags and freez... fish comes out really good.. just take a bag out when you want 4-5 pieces of smoked fish YUMMY

also depending on what you use the fish for you might want to try canning some.. we eat alot of soups with salmon, and sandwiches so we can a bunch..

oh when using the vacuum packer i noticed that it helps if you help push the air out while the machine sucks.. you want a tight fit on the fish... usally after it's been in the freezer for a while ( like a week) i'll check to see which bags did not seal up to my standards and eat those first...

OH one other thing.. depeding on your machine there is a switch under the flap for fish and other wet meats.. check that out too..
for fish you want it on the highest setting..

open your lid all the way and look for it..

oh, what kind of freezer do you have..
freezers play a big role in meat preservation

I have had freezer burn with vacuum packed fish due to two causes:
1. The seal original was not good, usually caused by water or slime. Dry the fish, and wipe the mouth of the bag dry before sealing.
2. The bag punctures from harsh handling. Don't throw your frozen fish around, as the bags are fragile when froze.

No more freezer burn after taking care of these two items, and I have fish over one year in the freezer that still looks and tastes great.

For those of you w/o a vacuum packer, try using good quality zip lock bags and fill them with just enough water to cover the meat. Whatever way you do it, you don't want any meat-to-air contact...

Another thing along with all of the tips mentioned here is to freeze your fish over night then dip in water then vacuum pack.Gives it a glaze. Fish isn't the firmest of meats and also the small bones can puncture the bags. with just small enough holes to let air in. I don't have any problems with mine, sometimes I do the glaze trick sometimes I don't.

I've been vacuum packing fish for years, and it all lasts a year or more in the freezer, with no burn.

A couple of things stated above really hold true:

I make sure I pat dry my fillets with a towel just before I bag them, then when I'm vacuuming them, I help work the air out, and move the air towards the edge of the fillets and towards the vacuum nozzle. Home vacuum packers are good, but they're not foolproof like the commercial ones.

I make sure I don't handle the frozen fish all that much. I freeze it solid in my refrigerator freezer, (freezes quicker with the air movement in their) then move it to the deep freeze the next day. I sort them as I put them in the deep freeze, so I won't have to handle them much later on... you will get holes in your bags and get freezer burnt fish if you handle them a bunch.

The Foodsaver bags are thinner than commercial grade bags. If you want to try commercial bags, call PMG Marketing in Seattle, 800-227-3769, or check out their website here.

Professional Marketing Group, Inc.
912 Rainier Ave S
Seattle, WA 98144

-N.

Just get all the water you can off of what ever you are freezing. If you do this you don't need any fancy vacuum sealer or special bags. Just a glad ziplock freezer bag. I'm still eating tasty coho filets from fish i hooked last summer. So i'd say that's about a year. And if you must get all the air out, use lung power. Works just fine.

"The food saver" ......bwahahahaha what a scam. Just my opinion.

One suggestion when freezing is to leave the fish in roast form rather than fillets. This will leave less flesh surface area exposed to the detrimental dry refrigerated air that sucks the moisture out causing freezer burn. Also if you are vacuum sealing, it is easier to get a reliable seal since there are less bones exposed that ultimately create pin hole punctures in the vacuum bags.

I have the fodsaver profesional 11 and swear buy it.I have fish from last season that are just as fresh as when I froze them last fall.

One trick I use is to paretialy freeze the fish..like an hour or so in the freezer before I vacuum pack them.It solves the moisture-seal problem.

You do have to be kind of carefull handling them after they are frozen as the bags can get a little brittle.Just do not toss them around.

Hope this helps