A neighbor said that minced meat and onions should not be frozen. Why?

It is very convenient to freeze minced meat with onions for future use. Once you spend time on preparation, and within a month you can quickly prepare cutlets, meatballs, cabbage rolls, Bolognese pasta sauce, pies and pies with meat and fish filling. But few people think about how much freezing with onions spoils the taste of meat. Professional chefs advise adding it immediately before cooking. Otherwise, the dish may develop an unpleasant taste and aroma.

Is it possible or not?

It is not advisable to freeze minced meat with onions. It enters into an oxidative reaction with the meat, and the mass quickly disappears. In addition, when frozen, fresh onions lose their structure, characteristic sharpness and aroma. The semi-finished product turns out tasteless, with a “smell” of stale frozen onions.

“But what about dumplings and other store-bought convenience foods?” – many will ask. They also contain onions. In reality this is true. But there are several important “buts”:

• Semi-finished products are not defrosted, but cooked immediately. The mass does not have time to deteriorate.
• Store-bought semi-finished products are frozen quickly and at a low temperature of -18 degrees. In ordinary freezers, the temperature regime is different - only -12 degrees.
• Most semi-finished products contain sauteed onions, which are better preserved and do not oxidize the meat. And industrial minced meat almost always contains preservatives.

What about minced fish and onions?

It is better to freeze absolutely any minced meat in its pure form, without onions. Minced fish is no exception.It itself tolerates freezing worse than meat. After defrosting, the fibers gain a lot of moisture, and the mass loses its already slight stickiness. Cutlets from it turn out dry, crumbly, not juicy.

Professional chefs advise using exclusively fresh minced fish. It is made from fish that has not been frozen and soaked in cream.

Onions add juiciness and a piquant flavor to the minced meat.

If you decide to add onions in advance...

Many people first twist meat or fish with onions and only then think: is it possible to freeze such minced meat? But this situation is not hopeless. Before freezing, make cutlets, dumplings or other semi-finished products from it. Then the taste of the prepared dishes will not be affected. Let us remind you that frozen semi-finished products are prepared without defrosting, over low heat.

If the onion has not yet been added, but you really want to, it is recommended to sauté it first. Pour a little oil into the frying pan and simmer the onion over low heat at 120 degrees for 15 minutes. In this form, it will practically not change its consistency when frozen, and the taste of the dishes will suffer much less.

So, under what conditions can you freeze onions with minced meat:

• Prepare semi-finished products from it that do not require defrosting: dumplings, meatballs, sausages, cutlets, etc.
• Pre-simmer the onion in oil.

Not wanting to bother with cooking, many neglect the rule of adding onions to the minced meat immediately before cooking. It’s much easier to twist meat or fish with it in advance. Often, before freezing, the mass is also salted, peppered, and flavored with milk.But this approach invariably affects the taste of the dishes. Some people don't notice this deterioration. But there really is a difference. We recommend freezing the minced meat according to the technology, and then comparing the taste of cutlets from the “quick” preparation and the correct one. Obviously, the winner will be cutlets in which onions were added shortly before frying, and not before freezing.