Chopping frozen meat?

Kittenkirst

Hi all, looking for advice.

We have a shoulder of pork in the freezer (from organic meat hamper). Just looked at it and realised how big it is (theres two of us usually). Question is can it be chopped in half whilst frozen (without wrecking the new knives we got as our moving in pressie from lovely practical in-laws!)?

Next time we get hamper we will portion up before freezing!

CH27

I wouldn't cut it while frozen.

I'd cook it & then make stuff for the freezer with it ie sweet & sour pork, pork & apple casserole, pork & 3 bean casserole etc.

dizzypink

Hi

I have tried this in the past and you stand a better chance of chopping bits of yourself off rather than the joint:eek:.
I would defrost it when you want to use it, cook and then freeze in manageable portions.
Hope that helps

Dizzy

Pee

My mum had an electric knife with frozen food blades, which worked fine on bread but may or may not have worked with meat and it's not so moneysaving to buy one anyway.. I like the cook and then use left overs suggestion.

cutestkids

Hi

I would cook the whole shoulder then slice it up and freeze the slices into portions, you can make the gravy also and pour this over the slices before you freeze them then the whole lot just needs to be defrosted and reheated as you need it.

shandypants5

I have used a "Clean" hacksaw to chop up frozen joints before now.

Dont try to use ordinary kitchen knives, you my slip or snap a blade and end up injuring yourself.

LondonDreamer

As others have said, I wouldn't try this with a knife. I've accidentally frozen a very large beef joint before dividing before. What I did was defrost and then section it into more reasonable portions. One section for a roast, some for stew, etc. Did a batch cooking session and then froze the resulting meals ready for later.

Kittenkirst

Thanks everyone, I thought that might be the case but thought best to check :0) I'll build it into a wekly meal plan to eeek out the meat for as long as possible (as suggested) :0)

custardy

shandypants5 wrote: »

I have used a "Clean" hacksaw to chop up frozen joints before now.

Dont try to use ordinary kitchen knives, you my slip or snap a blade and end up injuring yourself.

yup a saw is the way to do it

pillion

Kittenkirst Thank-you for this thread. I have exactly the same problem. I was given a fabulous but huge joint of pork by a farmer friend just before Christmas and never thought about cutting it in half before I froze it. I am now defrosting it and anxious not to waste any of it.

cutestkids Thank-you. Freezing slices of it in the gravy sounds an excellent idea and I shall ceryainly do that with some of the pork.

Alison_Funnell

Butchers cut frozen meat on a giant saw whilst wearing chainmail gauntlets - the only sensible way to attempt it if you ask me. I seriously would never even consider cutting any meat joint whilst frozen.