Last Fall (Winter) I was fortunate enough to shoot a couple of elk and with one I took the brisket and made a couple of corned meat roasts.  We already ate one of them and it was not much different then the store bought corned beef.  So, tomorrow Winemaker is planning on cooking up the second one using a different recipe, one that I think Hot Spark uses in the crock pot.  Anyway, she asked if I’d go get it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to thaw.  When I took it out of the freezer I noticed it was only partially frozen!  What the What?  I thought.  It’s been in there since early December, it should not be partially thawed.  And then my mind went directly to the freezer not working.  A quick rush to the freezer to find out everything is just fine.  All the other packages of meat are solid as rocks…wheewww.

Well, I opened up the zip lock bag the corned elk is in and smelled it…smells just like corned beef to me.  So into the fridge it went.

Then thinking something is up, I came to the computer and looked up freezing corned beef.  Sure enough there are a ton of articles on freezing corned meat and most of them say to repackage it out of the brine solution you marinade it in so that the brine does not keep it from freezing.  That is what I did not do.  But the articles also say the meat is pickled anyway and even if it wasn’t in the freezer it will still be good….another wheewww.

So, there you have it….Corned Elk, frozen in the brine you soak it in will last upwards of 6 months in the freezer before you have anything to worry about and a quick check with the USDA boys and girls website, confirms that.

Bears Butt

July 17, 2014