The most important tool you have in your kitchen is.... the humble refrigerator/freezer.
Well, maybe not so humble. A Viking or a SubZero is a testament to modern design and technology. But despite the incredible technology, it still has basically 5 zones:
Primary zones:
bottom shelf
middle shelf
top shelf
drawers
door
Each one has some special properties and when you get all your lovelies home from the store you want them to stay fresh and edible until you are ready to use them.
The zones are organized by how cold or how long you want to keep things. If it very perishable, like that pair of never frozen rib eyes, it goes on the lowest shelf. It is also for hygiene, as that package might leak, and you don't want meat juice dripping downward. This is where you defrost that Australian lamb as well, letting it sit overnight in a tray to prevent the spread of bacteria laden juices.
Milk, mayo, eggs, etc go in the middle, they are perishable, but not so touchy as the bottom shelf. In the name of space, you could demote one or more of these down there, but this is rule: don't go up, go down.
Top shelf is for pre-cooked or preserved items, like leftovers, pre-prepped items for dinner, or deli meats and olives. You might have a special drawer for meats and cheese right off the top shelf, feel free to use it or chuck if you need tall space for the middle drawer.
Next there is the veggie drawers, that is what goes in there. Easy. Except see the end for things that don't belong in the fridge at all, a lot of them would end up here.
Finally the door: this is for condiments, alcohol and anything else that is not necessarily needing refrigeration but benefits: jellies, jams, ketchup, soy sauce, balsamic vinegars, butter that needs to soften.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES do you put eggs here! They will be fresher in their original carton on the middle shelf, m'kay? Use the egg rack for a nice game of strip Mancala or something...
One last class of refrigerator items: Ones that don't belong there, but end up there anyway:
Onions: Unless they are diced up.
Potatoes. Makes the starch tough. keep away from onions where you do store them.
Uncut Tomatoes: Makes them mealy. Buy just enough for fresh use, it is worth it.
Honey: Makes it too thick to pour, requiring a no-no: Nuking the honey. Honey is antiseptic and a preservative, it does not need refrigeration.
One last note on the fridge: get rid of those plastic baggies you bagged it in at the supermarket when storing veggies. They don't let the excess moisture escape and that means mold and slime. Ick.
Use the green bags "as seen on TV", change them after 20-30 uses. Or, use Ziplocs, left open with a paper towel separating the layers. I will do a whole section on storing things, don't worry, but this is the basics.
The freezer is much the same, but only 3 zones: back, front, and door.
The door is just like the fridge door, it takes stuff that does not really mind getting a little unfrozen: butter, frozen juice concentrate, frozen homemade stock, etc. Anything here is going to get exposed to significant temperature swings and a frozen veggie or meat will get freezer burned fast. Expect ice cream soup if you park it in the door area.
The other thing to remember: Freezers don't freeze. They keep things frozen.
That's right, it takes hours and hours for a room temperature food to get frozen to the touch, and the core might take a day. So you have to take that into account if you want to freeze something, like leftovers. Not only does it let get bacteria time to start up, the slow forming ice crystals cause structural damage, bursting cells in meat and plants, plus shredding starch links. Ick.
They need to be right in the top blast zone from the chiller output, single layered and spread out as much as possible. Won't be perfect, but it is a good start at keeping food poisoning at bay.
And in case it needed to be said: Don't refreeze. Freezing slowly damages the food and frozen then thawed is already traumatized in cell walls and starch structures. Refreezing is going to make it mush or paste. Also Ick.
Well, maybe not so humble. A Viking or a SubZero is a testament to modern design and technology. But despite the incredible technology, it still has basically 5 zones:
Primary zones:
bottom shelf
middle shelf
top shelf
drawers
door
Each one has some special properties and when you get all your lovelies home from the store you want them to stay fresh and edible until you are ready to use them.
The zones are organized by how cold or how long you want to keep things. If it very perishable, like that pair of never frozen rib eyes, it goes on the lowest shelf. It is also for hygiene, as that package might leak, and you don't want meat juice dripping downward. This is where you defrost that Australian lamb as well, letting it sit overnight in a tray to prevent the spread of bacteria laden juices.
Milk, mayo, eggs, etc go in the middle, they are perishable, but not so touchy as the bottom shelf. In the name of space, you could demote one or more of these down there, but this is rule: don't go up, go down.
Top shelf is for pre-cooked or preserved items, like leftovers, pre-prepped items for dinner, or deli meats and olives. You might have a special drawer for meats and cheese right off the top shelf, feel free to use it or chuck if you need tall space for the middle drawer.
Next there is the veggie drawers, that is what goes in there. Easy. Except see the end for things that don't belong in the fridge at all, a lot of them would end up here.
Finally the door: this is for condiments, alcohol and anything else that is not necessarily needing refrigeration but benefits: jellies, jams, ketchup, soy sauce, balsamic vinegars, butter that needs to soften.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES do you put eggs here! They will be fresher in their original carton on the middle shelf, m'kay? Use the egg rack for a nice game of strip Mancala or something...
One last class of refrigerator items: Ones that don't belong there, but end up there anyway:
Onions: Unless they are diced up.
Potatoes. Makes the starch tough. keep away from onions where you do store them.
Uncut Tomatoes: Makes them mealy. Buy just enough for fresh use, it is worth it.
Honey: Makes it too thick to pour, requiring a no-no: Nuking the honey. Honey is antiseptic and a preservative, it does not need refrigeration.
One last note on the fridge: get rid of those plastic baggies you bagged it in at the supermarket when storing veggies. They don't let the excess moisture escape and that means mold and slime. Ick.
Use the green bags "as seen on TV", change them after 20-30 uses. Or, use Ziplocs, left open with a paper towel separating the layers. I will do a whole section on storing things, don't worry, but this is the basics.
The freezer is much the same, but only 3 zones: back, front, and door.
The door is just like the fridge door, it takes stuff that does not really mind getting a little unfrozen: butter, frozen juice concentrate, frozen homemade stock, etc. Anything here is going to get exposed to significant temperature swings and a frozen veggie or meat will get freezer burned fast. Expect ice cream soup if you park it in the door area.
The other thing to remember: Freezers don't freeze. They keep things frozen.
That's right, it takes hours and hours for a room temperature food to get frozen to the touch, and the core might take a day. So you have to take that into account if you want to freeze something, like leftovers. Not only does it let get bacteria time to start up, the slow forming ice crystals cause structural damage, bursting cells in meat and plants, plus shredding starch links. Ick.
They need to be right in the top blast zone from the chiller output, single layered and spread out as much as possible. Won't be perfect, but it is a good start at keeping food poisoning at bay.
And in case it needed to be said: Don't refreeze. Freezing slowly damages the food and frozen then thawed is already traumatized in cell walls and starch structures. Refreezing is going to make it mush or paste. Also Ick.
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