OK...I cooked ribs for the 4th. Problem is, I got 'previously frozen' since they were on sale and I was a little tight on the greenbacks. I cooked those things for 5 hours in my BGE and they looked great, but I have to say they were a little tough. Not bad, but not as good as the ribs I did last year. I guess 'previously frozen' is not such a good thing for ribs?

On frozen ones, I have had some turn out pretty good and some not. Fresh seems to always be better but this is not always possible. In order to save money, I will often buy lots of steaks, ribs, ground beef, etc. at a time for a better price. But I always invariably have to seal and freeze a good amount of it in order to save it. The longer things are frozen, the worse they seem to turn out.

FWIW, I've never noticed a difference with ribs. Steaks yes.

Were they thawed completely before cooking? A lot of meat recipes say to have the meat at room temp before cooking.

I think this was the single easiest but most important thing I learned about cooking. Meat should rest to room temp before cooking and rest again after cooking before cutting. It is amazing how much better meat comes out if you do this.

I recently saw Alton Brown's episode about dry aging steaks in your fridge and think I might try it. Anyone done that?

Here is a bit of info that a person may or may not know. If freezing meats, fish etc.. for longer then 2 to 3 months, you should use a non frost-free freezer. Frost free freezers cause freezer burn in a short amount of time. Normal frost free freezers temps run from -5* to around 10*. When the freezer goes through its automatic defrost cycle to keep it frost free, the temps can rise to right at freezing 32* or above freezing. These temps above freezing can last for 25 to 30 minutes. Most refrigerators/freezers do this 2 times a day depending the model. This causes ice crystals to form in the packaging etc. If you ever took out ice cream that you may have had for a few weeks and when you opened it up you saw a ring around the ice cream and carton and it looked like it melted and refroze, this is caused by the defrost cycle.

In a non frost free freezer such as a chest type, the temps stays stable. The temp will hold well below freezing with very little change. I have heard of many people keeping meat for 1 to 2 years in this type freezer with no freezer burn, and the meat still tastes fresh when packaged right. So if you are a hunter or fisherman or just buy large amounts of meat then you might try a non frost free type freezer. They have them in upright and chest type. Even though you have to manually defrost these types, the new models don't require doing it very often. At my house meat doesn't last long enough to go bad! LOL Hope this info helps

Tim

Thanks for that post Tim. That is some great information.

Thanks everyone! Thanks Tim-- I did not know that about the frost-free, but it makes sense. I have a chest type freezer so I'll keep more stuff in that if I think it may be awhile before I cook it.
thanks again!

Glad to help! Have a great weekend to all.

Tim

Any frozen meat the water in the meat is frozen the meat fiber isn't,
this upsets the moisture content of the meat. Since the water
is separated from the meat tissue itself it changes the texture of the
meat and also the flavor. You will notice this the especially when cooking
previously frozen hamburger.

If you want the best flavor and texture always use fresh not frozen. In my
opinion buy smaller quantities more often and try not to freeze any meat.

Cliffs