I don't know what happened to my stock.
I don't make beef stock too often, because good beef is so expensive for us. When I do, it mostly gets used right away. But recently (about a month ago?) I had some extra, so I put it in two pint mason jars, put the jars together in a sealed freezer bag with the air sucked out, and put them in the deep freeze. The stock wasn't old when I froze it-- it had been in the fridge about eight hours.
Yesterday I took one jar out, and put it in a pan of warm water to thaw it. When it thawed, it STUNK. Like it smelled bad, bad enough that I had to open the kitchen door to air the room out. It smelled sort of sour and foul.
I've frozen chicken stock that same way, countless times, and thawed it the same way, and it's always been fine.
And I know the stock was fine to start with, because we ate a quart of it the day I made it.
I can't figure out what might have happened to my stock. Probably this is one of life's great mysteries, but I'm hoping to find an answer, because I've got four quarts simmering right now, and I'm terrified to freeze it because what if it spoils again.
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Second question-- this one is really just curiosity. All of the stock recipes I've seen mentioning skimming the scum off the top of the stock, once it is hot. I don't always get scum, but when I do, I've always dutifully skimmed. But what IS that stuff, anyway? DH says he's thinks it's the marrow from the bones, and that I'm skimming away the most nutritious part. Is it just for aesthetics, that skimming-- so it's clear? I don't care if it's clear. Is it okay not to skim?
I don't make beef stock too often, because good beef is so expensive for us. When I do, it mostly gets used right away. But recently (about a month ago?) I had some extra, so I put it in two pint mason jars, put the jars together in a sealed freezer bag with the air sucked out, and put them in the deep freeze. The stock wasn't old when I froze it-- it had been in the fridge about eight hours.
Yesterday I took one jar out, and put it in a pan of warm water to thaw it. When it thawed, it STUNK. Like it smelled bad, bad enough that I had to open the kitchen door to air the room out. It smelled sort of sour and foul.
I've frozen chicken stock that same way, countless times, and thawed it the same way, and it's always been fine.
And I know the stock was fine to start with, because we ate a quart of it the day I made it.
I can't figure out what might have happened to my stock. Probably this is one of life's great mysteries, but I'm hoping to find an answer, because I've got four quarts simmering right now, and I'm terrified to freeze it because what if it spoils again.
******
Second question-- this one is really just curiosity. All of the stock recipes I've seen mentioning skimming the scum off the top of the stock, once it is hot. I don't always get scum, but when I do, I've always dutifully skimmed. But what IS that stuff, anyway? DH says he's thinks it's the marrow from the bones, and that I'm skimming away the most nutritious part. Is it just for aesthetics, that skimming-- so it's clear? I don't care if it's clear. Is it okay not to skim?
