Can Beef Filet Be Frozen Without Losing Quality?

[BigBlueMouse]

I've frozen many meats, but my a butcher once told me that freezing beef filet alters the taste/texture aspect.

Does anyone have any recommendations on this subject?

[Psiguyy]

The only things I know of that benefit from being frozen are things like ice and ice cream. Most everything else suffers varying degrees as a result of being frozen.

I've frozen tenderloin in the past and never noticed anything overtly bad happening to it. It certainly was not ruined.

[LMJ]

Beef survives freezing quite well. I've had frozen steaks with big hunks of tenderloin in them, and they were delicious when thawed and cooked.

On the other hand, for what you'd pay for tenderloin, I'd think you'd want every bit of your quality.

[BigBlueMouse]

Originally Posted by LMJ

On the other hand, for what you'd pay for tenderloin, I'd think you'd want every bit of your quality.

I agree, but since I'm a single person, I'd like to buy the whole tenderloin and be able to freeze parts of it, rather than having tenderloin for dinner 4 nights in a row.

I don't want to be at the mercy of buying portions at the store. There's nothing better than having the whole tenderloin to trim and portion yourself.

Thanks for the tips, and I don't mean beef tips. 8)

[pst1can]

I have frozen all types of beef including tenderloins and have had no adverse results.....sounds like he wants you to shop more often...and in shop. The only way I know that your beef would be less than desirable is if you try to "speed" thaw the meat. :D

[masteraznchefjr]

i've frozen my beef all sorts for awhile since cosco always gives me a lot at one time. It works for me cause everytime i cook them it turns out the same as if i didn't freeze em.

[marmalady]

I have two TLs in the freezer right now - a new grocery store opened up and had Angus tenderloins on sale for $5.99/lb!!!

Working at different catering outfits, there were always frozen TL in the freezer - they would bulk buy them on sale, and we always had 'em on hand - for aps, or main courses. I never saw any appreciable difference in the quality after thawing. We did freeze 'em whole, tho , so not sure if the fat protected the meat somewhat.

Oh - and my French guy I worked for always froze the scraps when we did trim them out - that's what he used for his 'beouf bourgninon' (sp?)

[scott123]

Freezing = impairment. The water in the cell walls expands and busts them open. As the meat thaws the water seeps out/is lost.

The impairment isn't hugely discernable, but it does occur. Frozen meat won't be as moist as if it hadn't been frozen.

[Otter]

I freeze a lot of meats, but I try not to freeze tenderloin. Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems sorta mushy in texture after freezing. If I don't like the individual pieces I see in the case (often don't) , I ask my butcher to cut me some special. He brings out a few tenderloins and asks me which one I want cut - as a result, I get the meat I want cut to the thickness I want. We have it that night, when it's at its freshest.

[Lifter]

I'd argue that you can freeze it and thaw it and re-freeze it, and it would indeed take an "epicure" to determine the difference in a double blind taste test...(mind, it could only be refrozen once after it was thawed)

Many of us haven't had the training to understand which steak is a "good one" versus which one comes from the "wrong section", and its indeed an issue of inches!

Cooking methods can also make tenderloin "mushy"...lower cooking temp, over-marination, for instance...

Coming from the Cdn Prairies, and having done some long service with the Army, I've frozen parts of my body that I don't want to discuss, but fortunately, it never broke any cell walls, but I'm neither a steer nor suffering from what would inevitably happen if what scott123 suggests was a point in fact...so I don't quite see the point...

None of us can REALLY tell if the meat we buy has not been "previously frozen", and if it has, we have no reason to fear freezing it again...and eating it after...