Saturday, July 28, 2007
Kryogenics
| My stock pile of frozen Krystals has worked out well. However, they only had to last about 12 days in the freezer. Heck I could last 12 days in a freezer. on Monday I return to Krystal Kountry and will be reloading my steamer stockpile. Those are going to have to last longer. So it is finally down to the wire: how shall I protect and store my Krystals long term? There are many options, and I will float them out there. At this point I am making a call for assistance from those of you would have opinions and experience in the field of yummy food preservation. The last batch I had was simply packed (by my mother) into zip top freezer backs, the air squeezed out, and then tossed in the freezer. This worked, but on the 4 reaining Krystals, I can see frost forming, and this the early stages of freezer burn. I have been told double bagging them should prevent this. The ultimate in storage would be to vacuum seal them. I have been looking into that option for a while, but it is now down to the wire. Decision time. Sadly, the folks who make the FoodSaver, replied to my question about running the foodsaver off a car power adapter. Their response was a definite "NO." I suspect they are trying to avoid a lawsuit if my truck battery blows up. Don't you hate butt covering help lines? I once emailed Toyota to ask if I could save gas by lowering my tailgate when I drive on the interstate. I'd run countless tests of my own and found little difference. Their reply was that I should leave the tailgate up for safety. Thanks for NOT answering the question! Idiots. Anyway, I am fairly certain that as long as I get the Krystals from the store and sealed up within a matter of hours it will be OK. In fact that would allow them to cool down. You're not supposed to seal hot foods. I know there are battery powered models out there. But when the company that makes them shows they are sold out that leads me to wonder about the long term stability of the company. Or at least the business sense of those running the company. I think it's business 101 that when you sell out of a product you should make more. Last night I happened to catch an item on Home Shopping Network. (No I don't watch HSN, I just haven't figured out the cable channels up here yet!) The one they had last night was the VacuWare system. A handpump means ultimately portable. The problem was the only thing they showed it sealing were jars (using the special lids) and their special containers. So it's not possible to use other brands bags or containers. That's not so good. I started to investigate the bags, and discovered that the Vacuware website shows they make them but no where does it give you a way to buy them. A little mor diggign last night and I found a review online where the Vacuware folks admitted the bags didn't work well so they were going to redesign them. No help for me there. The problem with the containers is that they tend to be rather bulky. Keeping in mind I may need to have as many as 6 containers of 4 Krystals in the freezer at a time, I need to conserve space as much as possible. All of the containers I have seen are bulky and awkward. Here's the ones from FoodSaver and here's the ones from Seal-A-Meal. You can see the ones from VacuWare at the links above. Bottom line is, none of the containers they provide look to be viable solutions. I contemplated using the jar sealing lids. Courtney pointed out that putting the Krystals into mason jars to store them might be ok until I try to actually get the Krystals out of the jar. Then I'd have a mess. So the jar lid things are out. And that sends me back to the bags. Back when I was plotting my cruise about a year ago, I knew I'd need to take Krystals along for the ride, and started to look into storage methods for them. That was only for 5 days. I am currently facing 30 days of storage, so I have to be a bit more serious. I have known friends with food vacuums for several years, and most of them have had rave reviews. There are a few minor problems but nothing they couldn't deal with. (Apparently when you seal liquids or marinating meat, the vacuum will suck the liquid right out as well.) The biggest problem I see with using the bags is actually one of the biggest selling points for the sealers. You might recall everyone's favorite Informercial guy, Jan, showing how the FoodSaver would crush like 24 cans with it's power. Or lift a bowling ball. Or teach your dog to sit. Or untangle the Christmass tree lights. This radio station's slideshow demonstrates my biggest fear with the bags: The FoodSaver meets Krystals. Here are my proposed solutions: Option 1: Put the Krystals in a container to protect them, and then put the container and the Krystals into the bag to seal. I was guessing a Gladware container might work, so I dug out my last 4 Krystals from the freezer and tried to stuff them in the container. They wouldn't fit. But perhaps if I stuff them in BEFORE they are frozen, and THEN seal them, lastly freezing them. The container would prevent crushing the little cuties. Option 2: While I was shopping for vacuum sealers yesterday I found some cheap, but sturdy plastic bowls at the store for like 50 cents each. I doubt the store would be happy with me bringing in 4 frozen Krystals to test the size of the bowls, so I may just buy them, and if they dont work, take the bowls back. (Wal Mart has an unreal return policy!) The problem I may find is that the Krystals fit the container, but the container will not fit into the bag. Option 3: Freeze the Krystals first, and THEN seal them. When I pulled my last 4 Krystals out of the freezer to see if they'd fit in the Glad container, the Krystals were like tiny little bricks. Seems like if I freeze first, then seal, they wont get crushed. So with that said, I am open to any ideas you may have. If you want to post them as comments, or e-mail them to me, I'd appreciate it. And whoever comes up with the winning suggestion or best peice of advice will certainly get due credit here at Krystal Adventures! This is obviously a big issue for the continued survival of Krystal Thursdays.  |
Comments:
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It was probably my Flash in the Pan blog where you saw the review of Vacuware and the admission from the company that the bags didn't work.
I hadn't heard of Krystal before, but having checked the web site, I'd strongly suggest that you freeze first and vacuum after. If you try to vacuum one of those burgers, the bun will get completely flattened and formed around the patty from the air pressure outside the bag.
An alternative would be to use a vacuum container (I think there are some rectangular ones), pack them in, and then vacuum.
To get the food home, put a small cooler in your car with freezer packs. That should keep the food fine until you can actually pack them away into the freezer.
I hadn't heard of Krystal before, but having checked the web site, I'd strongly suggest that you freeze first and vacuum after. If you try to vacuum one of those burgers, the bun will get completely flattened and formed around the patty from the air pressure outside the bag.
An alternative would be to use a vacuum container (I think there are some rectangular ones), pack them in, and then vacuum.
To get the food home, put a small cooler in your car with freezer packs. That should keep the food fine until you can actually pack them away into the freezer.
Ideally, you would want to get the Krystals before they are cooked. Then freeze. That is hard to do since 90% of the taste comes from the cooking and Krystals only build the Krystal burgers as they are cooking, which is what makes them SOOO YUMMY! So you have only one choice, to purchase freshly made burgers...
As for preservation...I suggest a cooler with hard walls and DRY ICE! Dry ice will help to freeze your precious cargo as YOU GO HOME!
I can get dry ice here in my GRAY, GA grocery store, I assume you can get it up there in burgatory or anywhere you might be if nothing else. :)
Dry ice in the bottom of your cooler and like erik sherman said put your Krystals in there to freeze on the way to your house. Then, once home, grab a 2 gallon ziplock, add about one meal worth of the glorious goodness that you have carefully toted home and try his vacuum technique with the ziplock bag. Repeat as neccesary. Then quickly get them in your freezer so they don't thaw. I susspect that the vaccuming will cause the Krystals to thaw a little...
Trying to help. I hope I gave you an idea or two.
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As for preservation...I suggest a cooler with hard walls and DRY ICE! Dry ice will help to freeze your precious cargo as YOU GO HOME!
I can get dry ice here in my GRAY, GA grocery store, I assume you can get it up there in burgatory or anywhere you might be if nothing else. :)
Dry ice in the bottom of your cooler and like erik sherman said put your Krystals in there to freeze on the way to your house. Then, once home, grab a 2 gallon ziplock, add about one meal worth of the glorious goodness that you have carefully toted home and try his vacuum technique with the ziplock bag. Repeat as neccesary. Then quickly get them in your freezer so they don't thaw. I susspect that the vaccuming will cause the Krystals to thaw a little...
Trying to help. I hope I gave you an idea or two.
# posted by 
: 6:41 PM
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