# Best way to freeze fresh fish?



## kinglerch (Jun 21, 2018)

I catch a lot of lake fish (bass, catfish, etc) and typically panfry it. What I can't use right away I vacuum seal and freeze. What is the best way to do this?

- seal and freeze raw, thaw and then fry. anything that should be done prior to freezing for a good endproduct?

- fry, let cool a bit, seal and freeze. thaw and reheat like in a toaster oven.

- fry, let fish get cold like in the fridge, then seal and freeze. this is supposed to reduce the moisture and the illeffects of freezing but my guess would be an inferior dry result after thawing and reheating.

any other suggestions?


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## bbqluvtoo (Jun 21, 2018)

clean , fillet and freeze your fish in water - do not vacuum seal - at least this is the best method I have found


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## kinglerch (Jun 21, 2018)

Do you mean put a few cups of water in the freezer bag along with the fillets? I've never tried this.

It would be cool to taste test many methods side by side, but I'll certainly try your method.


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## atomicsmoke (Jun 21, 2018)

Before i bought a vacuum sealer i used to freeze raw/cleaned fish in water. Great results - but takes space.

Since i got the sealer i always vacuum seal fish. If dealing with fillets i freeze it first then vacpack.

For fried fish i prefer to cook it just before eating it. But with our busy lives i make sure i have a few bags of frozen fried fish for a quick weekday meal.


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## bbqluvtoo (Jun 21, 2018)

yes - I would put water into the freezer bag with the fillets and freeze this takes up less room and can be froze flat so stacking is not an issue - otherwise I also have done fish froze in Tupperware and water or milk jugs with the top cut off and filled with water  - these of course take up a lot of freezer space.

I like this method as it takes time to defrost the fish and the fillets stay nice and cold = firm fresh meat prior to breading and frying.

I do have a vacuum sealer and I use it a lot for all types of foods but after trying it on fish I am back to old school as I have done for over 30 years - just my preference - no other reason


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## chef jimmyj (Jun 21, 2018)

Great answers, I would like to add, a deep freezer is preferred to the fridge/freezer.  The faster the fish freeze the less damage there is from ice crystals...JJ


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## daveomak (Jun 21, 2018)

To avoid crushing the fish filets when vac-packing, freeze them on a tray wrapped in plastic wrap, then vac-pack...  Break the seal on the vac-pack BEFORE thawing the filet...


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## 73saint (Jun 21, 2018)

Yep, I will chime in here.  Been freezing my fish since HS.  Fresh clean filets, in water & ziplocks, to the deep freeze!


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## SmokinAl (Jun 21, 2018)

I don't freeze fish, but my buddy is a big fisherman & he always freezes them in water in zip lock bags. I've had them in my freezer for over a year & when thawed out they taste just like they were just caught. We usually have a fish fry with them. They are mostly bluegill & crappie filet's.
Al


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## gmc2003 (Jun 22, 2018)

I'm not that fussy, I just clean, then cut it up according to how I'll be cooking them and vacuum seal it. I haven't had any issues.

Chris


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## SonnyE (Jul 2, 2018)

I have to buy most of my fish, and those are 99.9% of the time frozen.
They are all vacuum sealed, and basically in their own juices with a minimal amount of water. (Salmon, Cod, Flounder)
So I tend to do my other fish the same way. Almost all of my salmon gets smoked, then vacuum sealed and refrozen for use as desired. (most often as Salmon dip/spread)
Right now I'm crabbing up at my daughters home in Washington. I hope to haul home some frozen crab meat.


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## browneyesvictim (Jul 2, 2018)

There is some great advise here. But you don't need the bulk of freezing in a block of water. "Glazing" is a way of protecting frozen fish- even if not vac packed. Freeze the fish first, then dip it in very cold water. A layer of ice will freeze to the outside of the fish. The colder the fish and the colder the water the heavier the glaze. Things can be dipped twice too. You will find a lot of commercial fish processed this way- even crab, which I have found is the ONLY way to preserve that works for crab.


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## zwiller (Jul 2, 2018)

I freeze in water and ziplocks and it seems over time that air makes it's way in the bag despite it looking perfect at first.  What I am doing wrong?  Regular freezer cycling maybe?


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## SonnyE (Jul 2, 2018)

zwiller said:


> I freeze in water and ziplocks and it seems over time that air makes it's way in the bag despite it looking perfect at first.  What I am doing wrong?  Regular freezer cycling maybe?



What comes to mind is the O in the water, Sam.
H2O is one atom of Oxygen. And Oxygen is the prime in Oxidation.
I'm going to give Browneyesvictim's advice a serious shot. I'm going crabbing.


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## zwiller (Jul 2, 2018)

Went lurking at a few fishing local sites and vac sealing is clearly the preferred method nowadays.  Gonna try that next batch.  One method that looks promising is a little bit old school meets new school.  Add fish and a little water to a vac bag but leave open and freeze then vac seal.  I doubt I would ever remember to break sealing first before thawing.


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## daveomak (Jul 2, 2018)

When freezing crab.....  Cook per normal...  shuck all the meat and pack loosely in 1/2 pint or 1 pint jars...  fill the jars with heavy cream and with a knife, remove any air...  Lid and freeze...  leave 1/2" head space in the jars...   We did that for many years...  Thaw with the jar "open top down" in a strainer and let it thaw gradually...   I've eaten 2 year frozen dungeness and it tasted fresh cooked...


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## browneyesvictim (Jul 2, 2018)

SonnyE said:


> I'm going to give Browneyesvictim's advice a serious shot. I'm going crabbing.



Good luck on the crabbing! I've done real good this year. They have been bigger, more plentiful, and the meat in the shell has been fuller than most years.

One disclaimer with freezing the crab: I have only done this so far with CRACKED crab. If its in the shell, supposedly it doesn't work as well, so I have never tried doing it that way. This is all according to a friend/fishing buddy that works in a fish processing plant that got me started doing this. Oh... And DO salt your WATER, and I also like to squeeze a little bit of lemon juice in the water. It adds only marginal flavor, but increases the acidity for a bit of preservation effect.

Please also be mindful that when you initially freeze your fish/crab, you want to do this as quickly as possible. Most home freezers aren't (or can't) get set low enough as well as commercial freezers do. A chest freezer is better than combo/uprights. Put a cookie sheet in your freezer ahead of time. Then, dip the fillets (or crab) in your salted water, Then immediately put it on the cookie sheet and back in the freezer as quickly as possible (less than a minute out at a time.) The chilled wet fish will draw the cold out of the cookie sheet and form an initial glaze in less than 5 minutes. I use a collandar/strainer when flash freezing cracked crab this way.

Inversely when you thaw you want to do this as slowly as possible. And as DaveO pointed out, you do NOT want it thawing under a vacuum so you want to break that seal if you have vac-packed it.


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## dond13 (Jul 14, 2018)

kinglerch said:


> I catch a lot of lake fish (bass, catfish, etc) and typically panfry it. What I can't use right away I vacuum seal and freeze. What is the best way to do this?
> 
> - seal and freeze raw, thaw and then fry. anything that should be done prior to freezing for a good endproduct?
> 
> ...



I fish a lot, and we vacuum seal everything that we want to freeze.  Fillet as usual, rinse well then pat dry with paper towels.  I like to double seal the bags on both ends...just cut bags as normal, seal once, then seal again (have to pull the bag ouy about 1/4" once the sealer triggers) then put fillets in, vacuum seal, then a normal seal again 1/4" past the first one.  I've done this with bass, walleye, pike, trout & salmon.  If it has pin bones you want the skin side of the fillet towards the smooth side of the bag or pin bones will poke holes in the bag occasionally.  I typically put the bagged fish on ice for awhile when I'm travelling, and freeze them when I get home.  If you put them in the freezer right away, just make sure to check them after a few days incase one didn't seal well.  I've had walleye that was 2 years old this way alongside freshly caught, and it was hard to tell them apart after frying.


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## muskyjunky (Jul 20, 2018)

Just ran across this thread, I too have converted to vacuum sealing after decades of freezer bag / water combo.. I cant say we notice a difference in the thawed product either. I like sealing for the simple fact of very clean stacking in the freezer.. Also a tip i was shown on sealing... Don't over stuff the bag with fillets and leave enough room to slide a piece of paper towel where you make your final seal... In other words, a small gap between the fish and paper towel. When sealing, whatever moisture that is drawn out of fillets will hit the towel and absorb, giving a perfect clean seal every time.


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## zachd (Jul 29, 2018)

Vac pac for sure
I only did the block of ice thing before I bought one.
I do what muskyjunky does I just vac packed about 100lbs of salmon and 40lbs of halibut the other week
I have fillets from 2 years ago that are still good as well


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## stillaqua (Aug 3, 2018)

There are a lot of great ideas here, many of them to avoid the two biggest problems with freezing fish. Slow freezing and freezer burn. The slower the fish freezes, the larger the ice crystals that form in the flesh and the more the muscle fibers get pierced and leak when the meat thaws. You end up with a mushy product when it thaws. Freezer burn is the water in the flesh "evaporating" from the meat (it's actually sublimation but the result is the same) often crystallizing on the surface of the fillet or in the bag, basically drying out the fillet.

So you want to freeze the fillets as quickly as possible and then seal them against moisture loss and freezer burn. Use the coldest freezer you have access to (chest at it's lowest temp works best), put heavy aluminum baking sheets in to prechill for half an hour, put a piece of wax or parchment paper on each sheet, and lay your bare naked fillets uncovered on the sheets and freeze for a couple hours. Then spritz them with a little water every 15 minutes or so, flipping them to get a nice ice glaze on all sides of the fillet. The aluminum sheet conducts heat away from the fillets very effectively and speeds up the freezing and the ice glaze protects very effectively against freezer burn. Once well glazed and frozen, you can vacuum seal or simply store in freezer bags. My family owned a H&F lodge and that's how we processed our clients catch in upright freezers until my Dad invested in a small flash freezer and gave me back some of my teenage evenings freezing our clients fish.


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## dond13 (Aug 3, 2018)

Stillaqua...that is an intersting technique.  I imagine that is similar to what comercial processors do (pre-chill & flash freeze).  One thing I neglected to mention in the way we handle fish is that the freshly vacuum sealed fillets are typically in a cooler full of ice & water for awhile before freezing.  Your description explains why our fish keeps so well, since it is already as cold as it can get without freezing  before going into the deep freeze, it would freeze very quickly once it hits the chest.  I never thought about it that way but it makes perfect sense.  Thanks for sharing your expertise.


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## daveomak (Aug 3, 2018)

Another way to freeze your fish _faster_ is to put a container of saturated salt water (23.3% salt/water) in the freezer... It's temperature will get to ~-6F, if your freezer is that cold...  the dunk the vac-packed fish in that solution for a rapid freeze..
you can even dunk the fish in it...  some say adding Karo syrup to the water will add a very nice glaze to the fish to protect it..


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## stillaqua (Aug 4, 2018)

daveomak said:


> Another way to freeze your fish _faster_ is to put a container of saturated salt water (23.3% salt/water) in the freezer... It's temperature will get to ~-6F, if your freezer is that cold... the dunk the vac-packed fish in that solution for a rapid freeze..


A lot of West Coast salmon fishing lodges and commercial fish boats use that method with fancy recirculating brine freezers. Before he bought the commercial flash freezer, my Dad tried filling a small old chest freezer half full of brine, ran some couplings and hoses through the sides and used a gas water pump to recirculate the water. Worked great at first until everything outside the freezer iced up, the hoses cracked and the brine leaked out all over the shed, freezing everything it touched. Guess who got to clean it up?


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## MeatSkull (Aug 4, 2018)

Use non chlorinated water, ie distilled. Makes a difference.


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