Safe Stocks: How much fried fish can be stored in the refrigerator

Not knowing how much fried fish is stored in the refrigerator, it is easy to get food poisoning. This is due to the fact that in the early stages of decomposition, the product looks and smells like fresh, but the amount of toxins in it is already unsafe for the human body. The general rules are as follows: in the main chamber of the refrigerator, cooked fish can be stored for up to 3 days, in the freezer - up to 3 months.

How to store fried fish in the refrigerator?

Depending on the desired shelf life, the fried fish is placed either in the refrigerator or in the freezer.

The selected device should provide this temperature mode:

• from +2 to + 6 ° C - while the freshness of the product is maintained for 36 hours;
• from -18 to -24 ° C - within seven days the loss of taste will be minimal, and the fish will remain usable for up to three months.

It is important to consider the fact that in household refrigerators, the temperature is not always stable. Their chambers are designed so that between the shelves and the products located on them there should be free space for the circulation of cold air. However, housewives often put plates, pans, bags and trays almost close to each other - this leads to a temperature increase of 3-5 degrees, as a result of which food spoils much faster.

Cooling

Before placing the fish in the refrigerator, it is removed from the stove and kept until room temperature is reached. Then they are transferred to plastic or enameled pans with lids and placed on the lower shelf. In the absence of special containers, you can use a plate well wrapped with cling film or tightly rolled aluminum foil.

It is impossible to store fish in a cast-iron pan, even if it was fried there. This metal reacts with food and accelerates the oxidation of omega-3.

Freezing

In catering, food is frozen in a shocked manner, which cannot be done at home. For this reason, fried fish should first be cooled to room temperature, then placed for an hour or two in an ordinary refrigerator compartment, and only then sent to the freezer. This method will ensure even freezing of each piece and better preservation of taste.

It is advisable to freeze the fish by spreading it in special packages in one layer. After it is completely frozen, in order to save space it can be folded into the container more tightly.

Do not leave the product in the freezer in an open container or in an unbound bag, as this leads to a “frost burn” - a rapid loss of moisture, resulting in fish becoming tasteless and unappealing in appearance.

Packing fish before storing

For long-term storage of fried fish, not only the temperature in the refrigerator is important, but also the packaging, since it performs several functions at once:

• Localization of odor. If you put the dish on a plate and put it on the shelf in this form, the rest of the products are saturated with a specific fish aroma. Butter, cheese, fruits, and eggs are particularly susceptible to this effect.
• Protection against microorganisms. No matter how clean the refrigerator may seem, colonies of pathogenic bacteria and molds still live in it. And fatty protein food is an ideal substrate for their reproduction, so fish stored in open containers becomes dangerous to health much faster.
• Moisture retention. The longer the food is in the refrigerator, the more liquid evaporates from it. Consequently, attractive appearance and taste are lost.
• Prevention of foreign objects from entering the product. Insects from poorly washed greens or pieces of other dishes (for example, crumbs from the cake) can get into the dishes where the fish lies, and cause it to become infected or prematurely spoil.

The ideal containers for fried fish are vacuum bags, in them it does not dry out even with a long shelf life in the freezer. In addition, in the airless space, the fat oxidation reaction is very slow, so the product is not bitter.

Sealed containers may be an alternative to such bags. For freezing, you should choose those that can withstand minus temperatures. But the foil, cling film and ordinary plastic bags can only be used for short-term storage in the main chamber of the refrigerator.

Warming up before use

Fish that have been stored in the refrigerator for less than 12 hours at a temperature of +2 to + 6 ° C can be eaten cold if desired. If she spent there longer, she should be warmed up before use - fry in oil for at least two minutes or boil in sauce. The second method is preferable, since the taste of the product is preserved better.

Frozen fried fish must be thawed in the main chamber of the refrigerator and only then heated. Do not re-place the product in the freezer, as this significantly reduces the shelf life and degrades the taste.

It is not recommended to use a microwave for warming up: the fish will acquire a “rubber” consistency.

Keeping the fish in the refrigerator is still better in its raw form (chilled or frozen), using it as necessary for cooking. But if it happened that they fried more pieces than can be eaten at a time, there is nothing wrong with leaving them for later, observing all storage rules and temperature conditions.