Question about frozen LING: HELP

[Faithfully Fishing]

First thanks for the many recipes. I can't wait to try some of them.

I noticed that when I froze some ling that they thaw in a spongy like texture.

If I drain them and fry them up they are ok to eat. If I try to bake them they are like a dry sponge. YUCKS. :mad:

Any suggestions on freezing ling. I have some in the freezer that I don't want to waste, but I don't want to fry either.

I really wanted to try Mom's secret ling cake recipe. Can i still boil them to save them or what?

HELP with the ling............:confused:

[tropics]

First thanks for the many recipes. I can't wait to try some of them.

I noticed that when I froze some ling that they thaw in a spongy like texture.

If I drain them and fry them up they are ok to eat. If I try to bake them they are like a dry sponge. YUCKS. :mad:

Any suggestions on freezing ling. I have some in the freezer that I don't want to waste, but I don't want to fry either.

I really wanted to try Mom's secret ling cake recipe. Can i still boil them to save them or what?

HELP with the ling............:confused:0

Faithfully Fishing Ling should be frozen using a food saver system vacuum seal it,it will stay fresh for months.

[Faithfully Fishing]

Thanks Richie, Any way to save it at this point?

[snafu313]

Mom's secret ling cake recipe should be fine, but at this point, unless somebody has a better idea, its probably the only thing you can use it for.

Ling are notorious for not freezing well. As tropics mentioned, if you vacuum seal them they will stay fresh, don't know why that is, but it does work.

[Faithfully Fishing]

Thanks guys,

I made the cake mixture last night! The ling defrosted as expected, they were a spongy mess. i boiled them for about 10 minutes and chopped them up. the texture was much better after boiling.

I added some salmon to the recipe and made cake balls which I refridgerated
to cook today.

The taste was real good, so I am looking forward to dinner tonight.:D .

[Earthquake]

I won't assume that everyone knows this and/or agrees, but I believe you should never rinse the ling before you freeze it. Not with salt water, fresh water, or fire water.

I don't have a vacuum sealer, but I do this with ling: Pat the filets dry and spread them on a cookie sheet on wax paper in a single layer so there's space between the filets. Put them in the freezer overnight - uncovered is fine. Next day they are frozen hard, so pack them in a ziplock. For thawing - they should be able to be separated from each other while still frozen - so take them out and spread them on a wax paper cookie tray for a few hours to a day to thaw.

Mom's recipie is great with them. I do think the flavor is better when you start with fresh fish - they seem drier with that recipe when the fish have been frozen, so more wet stuff might help the finished product....

[frugalfisherman]

Fry ling fresh when you catch them. Put on cookie sheets not touching in freezer until frozen solid. Place in plastic bags and freeze. To reheat place frozen in very hot oven[500+] or toaster oven until very hot. DO NOT MICROWAVE. 90% as good as when first done. Good quick lunch sandwich.

[Faithfully Fishing]

Thanks guys, I'll try both ways. I don't really want to invest in a vaccumm sealer!

The cakes were really good last night by the way!

Faith :D

[ALS Mako]

freezing fish cause the water in the flesh to expand, breaking the cell walls. vacuum sealers help but you can still get that "spongy" texture. the best way to freeze fish is what the commercial guys do and blast freeze with liquid nitrogen. water in the flesh of the fish freezes too fast to have a chance to expand. well, not everyone has access to LN. so here is what i do. i rinse, actually soak the clean fillets in heavy salted water. say, 10 to 15 minutes. pat dry the fish real well- the paper towel companies love me. then i vacuum seal them. after you vacuum seal place in a freezer that is not over loaded. the quicker the flesh freezes the less damage there will be. just tring to share alittle info

[crabcake]

You can also use frozen ling for chowder and in a seafood tomato sauce over pasta. Let me know if you need more info.

[duranautic al]

best way to protect the flesh of ling for any extended period of time...egg and breadcrumb your fresh fillets ,place on cookie sheet in freezer for a couple hours or overnight,then just put em in a freezer bag and you can take out what you need when you want.if you want to vacuum seal em just make sure ther frozen overnight so they don't stick together...bake em ,fry em..whatever...increases there freezer life 10fold...honest...this is coming from a man that would eat ling over any other finfish

[shresearchdude]

An alternative to vacuuming the air out is to force the air out. After putting the fillets in freezer bag close all but a small corner. Get a bucket of water(cold) and submerge the bag until all the air is forced out and seal before you get water in there. I tend to put some saltwater in the bag before I dunk the bag-that way the only thing in contact with the fish fillets is saltwater or the sides of the bag. It works.

[GregV]

My experience vacuum sealing ling is that the meat is so moist, the vacuum pulls large quantities of moisture out making it difficult to get a good seal on the bag. To solve this, I lay the fillets out and freeze them first, then vacuum seal.
John's suggestion of using a pot of water to squeeze the air out of the bag also works well if you don't have a vacuum sealer.

[shrimpman steve]

go to any supermarket, for 10 bucks you can buy the reynolds vacume sealing system. works great for the money.