Horns and legs, or how to properly organize the storage of meat by-products

By-products have a shorter shelf life than meat.

This is due to the looser structure of the product and its higher humidity.

How to properly organize the storage of different types of offal at home is described in this article.

What are they, their classification

Internal (offal, liver) and some external (ears, udders, hooves) parts of the carcass of farm animals. High-quality offal, having a low cost, can have high nutritional value.

Based on their nutritional and culinary value, by-products are divided into two categories. Category 1 includes:

• language;
• liver;
• kidneys;
• heart;
• brain;
• diaphragm;
• beef tripe;
• beef udder;
• beef and lamb tails.

Category 2 includes parts of carcasses that have low nutritional value:

• lungs;
• stomach;
• ears;
• pork tail;
• kaltyk (part of the trachea);
• lips;
• hooves with lower leg;
• genitals, testicles.

This variety is commonly used as:

• additive to sausage mince,
• pie filling,
• for making beer snacks (smoked ears),
• jellied meat and preparation of specific national dishes.

Recommended deadlines, according to GOST

The shelf life of products depends on the quality of raw materials and compliance with meat processing rules.After cutting the carcass, by-products intended for further culinary processing are thoroughly cleaned of films, residual muscle fibers, and fat.

After cleaning, the by-products must be cooled for 3-4 hours at a temperature of 0 +4 degrees. At enterprises, tripe is laid out on metal (stainless steel) baking sheets in one layer.

At home:

1. Enameled.
2. Glass.
3. Ceramic wide bowls.

There is no need to cover the tripe with lids or wrap it with film; excess moisture from the meat should evaporate.

For chilled

By-products cooled by the above method, can be stored:

• at a temperature of 0 degrees – up to 3 days;
• at +4 +6 degrees – no more than a day and a half;
• at +10 +12 – up to 12 hours.

At room temperature, a cooled product will not spoil for 3-4 hours. In addition to storage temperature, air humidity also matters.

To prevent chilled tripe from drying out, it is stored at an air humidity of 80%. At home, this indicator is obtained by covering the meat with a damp thin (gauze, calico) cloth.

Frozen

For long-term storage, pre-chilled offal is frozen. The duration depends on the degree of freezing storage:

1. At a temperature of -12 degrees, the tripe remains suitable for further use for 4 months.
2. At -18 degrees – six months.
3. At -25 degrees – up to 10 months.

In a regular refrigerator (temperature from +2 to +6 degrees), frozen offal can be stored for 2 days (until completely defrosted). At room temperature, freezing lasts up to 4 hours.

Conditions

For long-term storage, peeled and chilled offal must be sorted by type (degree of density, culinary purpose):

• language;
• heart and liver;
• brain;
• liver, lungs, trachea, udder - for minced meat and filling for pies;
• tails, hooves, ears - for strong jelly.

Because of the need for pre-soaking to remove bitterness before cooking, the kidneys are stored separately from other tripe.

Before packaging, the offal must be removed from excess moisture by blotting it with a towel or paper napkins. It is convenient to immediately place the meat parts into containers in portions, since re-freezing once-thawed offal is prohibited.

At home, the meat product is packaged:

• in plastic bags (bags with a zip fastener are convenient);
• cling film;
• foil;
• plastic containers with lids.

To simplify the search for the right product in the freezer, experienced housewives put labels in the bags indicating the name of the meat and the date of packaging.

For long-term storage of offal in the freezer you can resort to vacuum packaging. In a vacuum, food retains its freshness, moisture and taste longer. In household appliance stores you can purchase an inexpensive household vacuum cleaner and packages for it.

In addition to freezing, salting offal, canning (boiled tripe is poured with fat or melted butter), drying (in a dehydrator or oven) is practiced.

Conclusion

The most convenient and easiest way to store offal at home is to freeze it using vacuum packaging.In such conditions, the food will remain fresh and retain all its beneficial qualities for up to a year.