Frozen Heirloom Tomato Sauce

[Grub]

Hi,

This isn't really a recipe, and traffic volumes are low, so I will pop this in here.

I found a couple of tubs of cooked heirloom tomato sauce in my freezer. I estimate it to be 9 months old. It's sealed in a tupperware container, with a few ice crystals visible on top.

Do you think it's okay to defrost this and use it as the basis for some osso buco and then refreeze the leftovers containing the veal?

There's a lot of the sauce and I may as well make a pile of the osso buco. The sauce was made with skinned and seeded tomatoes, touch of oil and not much else, so I can tweak it any which way.

Thanks, Grub.

[shelleybean]

At first I thought tomatoes would be acidic enough to eat after being frozen for nine months if you just brought the sauce up to a boil. Then, just to be safe, I decided to look in Joanne Weir's You Say Tomato cookbook and the longest she suggests storing frozen sauce is two months. I know that's not what you wanted to hear. Sorry.

[shelleybean]

Okay, I just Googled that and read that it's fine to eat sauce that's been frozen for a year. Maybe the quality isn't what it once was, but apparently it's safe, so enjoy!

[Grub]

Thanks Michele.

I'll go with it. Hopefully it's not freezer burnt and doesn't taste off. I mean, tomato passata in the jar could be two-years old.

[bizzarbazzar]

Read this from recipe link

Normal shelf life for frozen tomato sauce would be 12 months. The colder your freezer is the longer the quality will be good. The self defrost freezers, especially the ones in your fridge are not as good for storage because they cycle on and off, and partially defrost foods each time it does that. It dries foods out and can spoil food. So, part of your storage time is based upon what type of freezer you have it in.

[Mantis]

Grub, I have used whole tomatoes that have been frozen that long and they were fine. You should have no problems. The smell should give you an idea of how good it is.

[Soilsniffer]

I've used frozen homemade heirloom tomato sauce a year and a half later. I'll bet the only quality loss I experienced is the perceived loss. I just know 18 month old sauce is not as good as 3 month old sauce. It's psychological. If you can get past that brain barrier, the sauce will be wonderful.

[gardenmama]

Any age frozen heirloom tomato sauce will be infinitely better than the canned stuff.
Mine usually lasts 6-9 months but I've found a few tubs of 12+ month in the back of the freezer and they tasted just fine.

[Tormato]

I have frozen, uncooked tomatoes last for a year. I do it every year. I would not refreeze anything that I thaw. I'm writin' this, so I must still be alive.

Gary

[Grub]

It was great!

I made slow-cooked lamb shanks in a pot of Italian roasted veg and heirloom tomato sauce, flavoured with lemon thyme, wine, real veal stock, and a touch of caramelised vinegar, with a good few handfuls of Arborio rice thrown in to soak up the excess juice during the cooking process.

Meat fell off the bone, juice was complex, veg were yum, and rice was moreish.

One more tub of the frozen sauce to go then it's on with the 2006-07 season and, hopefully, it'llbe another fine vintage.

Thanks. And the Chardonnay worked well, too.

[Mantis]

Pity you had to ruin good sauce by putting shanks in it

[gardengalrn]

Good GAWLD!!! Why do you people torment me so with such delicious sounding meals?? I'm a decent cook but have never served lamb. Can you even believe it?? What would you compare lamb to? I realize this would be better suited to the conversations thread but since Grub started it... what about carmelized vinegar? Do share secrets, please. I remember eating lamb ONE time in my life and I suspect that my poor mother did not get lamb, but old goat, LOL. It tasted very bad and not something I want to repeat. Please give me a run down. Lori

[Grub]

Lori,

I think lamb might be an acquired taste. It's more earthy, unctious, rich than beef. But a great substitute for the above dish would be veal. Thick cutlets.

(Of course, lambs and small cows are pretty cute and there are issues with how they are raised. But I won't go there.)

Spring lamb is especially delicious. This is the season for it. With the shocking drought, farmers are offloading stock, getting peanuts, yet the retailers charge the same price as ever.

Anyway, it was a meal fit for a Villian. And tonight's, the last of it, will be even better I think long, slow cooking of any meat with a bone in it, in a luscious liquid, will work.

(I bought the caramelised vinegar. It's red-wine vinegar with some sugar, boiled until sweet and slightly acidic. You could substitute balsamic vinegar