Why I cook with Frozen Vegetables (& you should too)

one of the most annoying things about buying vegetables at the store is that they go bad before you actually get to cook with them however today that all changes in this video we're going to cover three frozen vegetable protocols that you can Implement at home which can not only help you reduce food and vegetable waste but also these will help save you time save you money and reduce decision fatigue not to mention vegetables just make our food taste better a world without garlic and onions is one that I don't want to be in now the big question that I wanted to answer when making this video is how different do frozen vegetables taste compared to fresh ones so I decided to run two different experiments for example in protocol 2 I did a fresh versus Frozen fried rice where all the components other than the leftover rice and the Egg were taken straight from my freezer number one PR soft Bri rice and ultimately you will need to evaluate your own life and consider how best to implement these however for each protocol will follow this outline first what is it secondly why should I implement it three how do I implement it and then fourth common call outs this includes what type of vegetables work best what dishes is this protocol good for and not good for how long did the vegetables last and do I need to change the cooking time or method so let's hop in number one the Frozen aromatic protocol this one can be implemented in several different ways but the basic premise is this freeze prepared aromatic vegetables where they can be used from Frozen as a supporting role in a dish an example would be freezing mepa in an ice cube tray that can be broken off and then tossed in a pan with some oil for a marinara sauce so the natural questions here are what type of aromatics should I use does this work in all types of dishes and how long are these aromatic vegetables going to last we'll get into some more specifics shortly but first let's answer why should I implement it the short answer is aromatics are in almost everything we cook so if you are the person that hates chopping up garlic onions or celery every night this is the protocol for you it's probably the most common way we use vegetables in cooking if you have ever sauteed an onion for literally anything it was probably done to impart the aromatic profile other examples are sweating ginger and garlic paste for Buttered chicken frying garlic and white pepper for pad to you or sautéing carrot celery and onion for a Bolan chopping dicing mincing grating vegetables and then sweating them in some oil or butter is something we do probably 95% of the time that we cook and this protocol has a couple of key benefits First Time Savings like I mentioned using a frozen garlic and ginger paste is going to save you a couple of minutes e night but more importantly for me is it too lowers activation energy getting started cooking is often the hardest part on a week night but by having some frozen aromatics on hand it kind of forces you into action for example this ice cube Chay has three different aromatic mixes that can be used for Indian French or Cajun cuisine and thirdly you can save some vegetable scraps something I do all the time is buy a bag of celery or a knob of Ginger specifically for one recipe I'm making and then it gets limp or goes bad before I use the rest of it however by making a large batch with your leftover Ginger all at once you can eliminate that problem okay so that's the why but like I mentioned there are several different types of vegetables and form factors that can be used here however here are the four basic steps one choose an aromatic vegetable this could be something you use all the time or an aromatic vegetable that you want to save from going bad secondly prepare them dicing mincing or blending your vegetables third freeze them this could be in ice cube trays or just laying them flat in a freezer bag and then fourthly use them add these anytime you need air mantics in a supporting role and I think the easiest way to implement this protocol is with an ice cube tray every culture in cuine typically has an aromatic base that is used in countless dishes and I filled this ice cube tray with three different variations one is garlic and ginger paste this is common in countless Indian dishes and all I did was add a bunch of garlic and ginger to a mortar and pessel grind it up and then transferred it into the tray secondly we have mirp and this is the classic French aromatic base made with carrot celery and onion and for this I just tossed all of the vegetables in the blender so I don't have to worry about without any chopping I added some of that to the ice cube tray and added the leftovers to a freezer bag and laid it flat now to round out this ice cube tray I added the cinjun Holy Trinity so I used a red bell pepper here instead of green but bell pepper onion and celery is the classic base for a lot of Cajun dishes and after freezing them you now have these cubes of Frozen aromatics at your fingertips you could use the Holy Trinity to make a dirty rice sweat the mepa with olive oil for tomato sauce or use the garlic and ginger Cube for your butter chicken so that's the what why and how but let's now hop into some call outs because there are a couple of looming questions related to this protocol but first let's see how different these Frozen aromatics actually taste so for this I made two batches of tomato sauce one with the frozen ice cube of mepa and one with a fresh minced mepa I set a pan over medium heat added a squirt of olive oil followed by the fresh and frozen mirps then I let both of those saute down for a couple of minutes before coming in with 300 G of puree tomatoes and some salt I let those sauces cook down for about 10 minutes then in the last few minutes I sprinkled in some oregano and dry basil before letting that saut down and lastly tossing in a little bit of butter for creaminess now will I actually be able to tell a difference between any of these let's see so I've got two bowls of sauce with the fresh aromatics two bowls with the Frozen aromatics Let's blindfold up take one away and see if we can actually tell a difference take this one away go number one pretty good tomato sauce again pretty good tomato sauce I think those two are the same those didn't really taste any different good tomato sauce all three good tomato sauces very small difference I think one and two were the same and then three is the difference as far as which one's Frozen which one's fresh absolutely no idea so I can see the little cubes of carrot in these two meaning these are the fresh aromatic and these two are the Blended versions was I able to tell the difference yes however I'm not able to say this was fresh and this was frozen they just both taste like really good tomato sauces very slight difference in just how they kind of taste but again the airomatic are being used in a supporting role here what's going to matter a lot more if you think back to the Tomato video is what type of canned tomatoes you actually use how long you cook them what types of other spices or fresh herbs you may add not really the aromatics in a base or supporting role like this however there are a couple of things you definitely need to look out for when you are using aromatics in this way so let's cover call out number one what dishes is this protocol good for and what dishes is it not good for so generally these will be good for dishes where the aromatics are playing a supporting role think your cook down sauces curries broths stews Rices where you are using the aromatics for an overall General lift this is not going to be great for raw uses or where you want the aromatic to be used in a main flavor role for example I wouldn't recommend using froz frozen raw garlic in place of fresh raw garlic for something like a panzanella salad as we learned in the garlic Deep dive but something like the cilantro chicken would be a good use case I also would avoid dishes where you want the texture of the aromatic to be present freezing vegetables will degrade both the flavor and texture over time so if you are wanting to Brown up some onions for a cheese steak I would recommend starting with fresh onions rather than Frozen ones as the texture might be a little weird and Limp so color number two is realistically how long will these last now this will depend on a couple of things such as the type of aromatic vegetable how quickly it was frozen and how tight of a seal the Frozen vegetable has for example a tight vacuum seal will Faire better than a container where freezer burn is more likely and also as we learned in the garlic video as soon as you chop or Minch fresh garlic the allisin is formed and Peaks after just a minute or so so we're going to miss out on that pungent bite that only fresh garlic has but we are still left with plenty of those middle and base notes that it does now I'd love to test one day versus 1 month versus 6 month Frozen ice cube tray one day but generally since we are using these for an aromatic purpose I'd probably try to use them within 3 months or if you are preparing for a holiday party where you'll be cooking a lot I doubt you'll notice much difference in two weeks ahead again it does depend on what you make lastly what type of vegetables should I use for this protocol so here's a long list of aromatic vegetables and a list of common aromatic mixes that you can choose from and what I would do here is pick from some that you know you'll use a lot or maybe you can force yourself to try some new dishes if you make a Holy Trinity that is used in Cajun cuisine and one last observation as we wrap up protocol 1 this ice cube tray is now 12 days old and I'm really surprised just how aromatic and fresh this smells before you actually do any cooking anyway you can definitely see the value in protocol one and I think I'm actually going to use this for Thanksgiving this year just prep a bunch of the airomatic a week ahead of time for the stuffing mashed potatoes things like that however for me outside a special occasion this is not a protocol that I'm going to implement that often why well first most of the aromatic vegetables I keep are pantry and fridge stable for a few weeks like we learned in the garlic video and secondly I kind of find The Chopping and mincing fun maybe I'm just weird like that that being said what I have realized becomes a weak night game changer is when you stack these protocols together and this is exactly what I did with the Frozen fried rice versus fresh fried rice experiment we are about to do as we talk about protocol number two the Frozen prepped vegetable protocol is cooking with vegetables straight from the freezer and then using them as a main component now this can be done in so many different ways examples include air frying frozen french fried adding frozen peas to your pasta roasting a pan of frozen vegetables or making a mixed bag of Frozen veggies for your fried rice but first up why should I implement this well if you struggle with using vegetables for either of these two reasons this is a protocol that you should try one your vegetables always go bad before you can use them or two vegetables just take too long to prep and cook and just like protocol 1 you'll get time savings by batching and also lower your activation energy for example these cooked sweet potatoes I can instantly toss with some oil and roast them so how do you implement it well before doing any work the the absolute easiest way to implement this protocol is to just buy a bag of frozen vegetables for me I literally always have a bag of frozen peas to add to pastas meats or soups for a little bit of extra protein however when it comes to prepping your own here are the basic steps you need one choose and break down your vegetable this does depend on the vegetable but in general you'll want to peel them and cut it down into a smaller shape secondly cook the vegetable such as blanching boiling or frying and this is a very important step when it comes to freezing your own vegetables at home let me explain have you ever read or heard someone say that blanching will lock in the flavor and color of a vegetable well I've always wondered how exactly does that work like what does blanching do from a food science perspective that locks in the flavor and color well as noted in non food and cooking freezing vegetables will cause the plant cells to die and cause two types of damage first up chemical as the water crystallizes enzymes and other reactive molecules in the vegetables are going to concentrate where they begin to react abnormally such as discoloration and change the flavors and the second type of damage is physical this is where the frozen water crystals puncture the cell walls and membranes in the vegetable so when that frozen food is thwn the fluids lick out of the cells and this physical damage causes the food to lose its crispness becoming limp and wet when it's cooked after freezing and we'll actually see this come into play shortly in the fried rice in similar terms the chemical damage causes the flavor to degrade and the physical damage causes the texture to degrade however we can limit this damage by two means first up is freezing the vegetable as low as possible as fast as possible in a commercial setting this is often done at negative 40° F and the items are individually Frozen which is going to be denoted by iqf on the package of frozen vegetables that you buy however our home freezers are typically around 0° F and are nowhere near as efficient so we are wen't going to be able to achieve that same effect freezing and vegetables raw and this is where we turn to the second way that we can limit damage which is to cooking the vegetable typically this is done by blanching frying or boiling them which begs the question how does cooking limit the chemical and physical damage in a vegetable from a chemical perspective the heat causes most of the enzymes to become completely inactive so discoloration will no longer occur and secondly from a physical perspective the cell walls are essentially being pre- soften and burst and are going to expel that water for example if you boil or fry a french fry and then freeze it water is going to be expelled via that cooking process so it has less water than a potato stick that was frozen raw and this is why people say that blanching locks in the color or texture of a vegetable a raw vegetable that is then Frozen will rapidly change through physical and chemical damage however a cooked then Frozen vegetable will change much less because we have either inactivated the enzymes or changed its cell walls to more stable physical state for example a cooked sweet potato isn't going to change much when it's frozen compared to its fresh counterpart now step three is freeze them like we mentioned here are the best practices when it comes to freezing first freezes fast as possible you can do this by breaking it down into a smaller size after cooking laying them flat on a baking sheet instead of a big pile and then secondly you want to vacuum seal or remove as much air as you can from your freezer bag and lastly step four use them for this protocol one of my favorite things to make at home is vegetables for roasting so for this I washed two Japanese sweet potato and Cho them into chunks then I set a pot of water on the boil with a big handful of salt and toss them in and this process is going to par cook the potatoes which will transform some of those starches into sugar and also prevent that enzymatic Browning when we freeze them after 10 minutes I strain the potatoes added them to a baking sheet and then toss them into the freezer and once Frozen I toss these into a bag where I have these portions that I can pull out for roasting soups or curries and actually I'll be using these for protocol 3 this is one of the best but simplest side dishes that is some of that Japanese cooked sweet potato tossed it with olive oil garlic powder and some oregano one of the best sides you could possibly make in about 10 minutes for this protocol though I wanted to test fresh versus Frozen rice for this I made a batch of chicken fried rice with all the fresh components versus all Frozen components other than the the leftover rice and beaten egg so for this I have some frozen carrots onions and peas that I chopped up and tossed them into a bag and I actually did it without blanching them first because I was curious how much water would expel if I didn't blanch the onions and carrots for a minute first next I have some thinly sliced chicken breast just like from my frozen meat video and lastly I have that Frozen ginger garlic Cube from protocol 1 for each fried rice I cooked the egg separately and set that aside next I added some oil and sauteed the aromatics followed that with the vegetables and chicken along with some salt and soy sauce and after cooking the chicken through I tossed in the rice and egg back in and let everything fry up lastly I finished the seasoning with more soy sauce and some white pepper both look quite good but will I be able to taste the difference let's see before we get to the taste test let me tell you about my favorite carbon steel walk that I use to make this fried rice from today's sponsor made it I've had this carbon steel walk for over 3 years at this point and it can handle everything from deep frying boiling noodles or like today some fried rice and made in designs professional quality cookware that is used in multiple Michelin three star restaurants and the entire carbon steel collection is perfect for home Cooks carbon steel is kind of like a hybrid of cast iron and stainless steel it Heats quickly it's light to maneuver and gives you incredible heat control whether you were using the walk the frying pan roasting pan or one of my other favorites the carbon steel griddle so if you want to check out made in cookware and save on your order head to the link in my description and thank you again for sponsoring this video now let's answer can you actually taste a difference between fresh and frozen fried rice so I've got two bowls of the fresh fried rice two bowls of the Frozen have some interesting observations while it was actually cooking with them I'll talk about shortly but let's blindfold up take one of these away and see if there is a significant difference in taste take this one off [Music] all right number one pre solid fried rice number two one and two both solid very very similar three also really good I'm lost on this one I I thought I would be able to tell a lot easier not due to the flavor but due to the texture so I'm going to just guess but I think one and two are the same this was my first gut and then three is different all three very good though no was not so I actually messed these up this is the Frozen uh fried rice and then these two were the fresh fried Rices but I thought I would actually be able to tell a difference pretty easily here because while I was cooking them I noticed two key observations one was that the Frozen fren vegetables actually let off more water when I went ahead and cooked them right away compared to the fresh ones so because of that I thought it would be a little bit more moisture and watery but that actually turned out to not really be the case then the second observation I had was that I was able to get better Browning on the fried rice with the Frozen components if you look closely there's all these little specks of where the chicken kind of stuck to the pan where the aromatics stuck to the pan like the garlic and ginger and those onions because they were frozen they kind of stuck to the pan Which the fried rice is actually kind of a good thing however because it releases more water that is also kind of a bad thing so you kind of have to be able to balance those things where it may matter more or less for example if these were just throwing these in a curry we wouldn't really care about this at all because the flavor of the curry it's a wet dish anyway it's really going to carry it but yeah this was very very interesting I thought there would be a bigger difference here than there actually was um but it was pretty hard to tell a difference so with that being said let's go into our call outs for this protocol so while I did find it hard to tell a difference the frozen vegetables that were not blanched definitely did release more water and because of that I needed to make sure to drive off some of that excess moisture when I was cooking with them and this brings us to the call outs when it comes to what type of vegetable should I use in general starchy vegetables are going to work best for this protocol and here's a big list of all of these this includes your potatoes beans corns peas asparagus cauliflower or some broccoli now there may be a couple exceptions here for example a bag of frozen spinach while leafy and watery when fresh will not be good for a salad will still be good for something like cream spinach or a SOG paneer where the spinach loses its CPS texture and water anyway secondly how long do the vegetables last well provided they were cooked or blanched and Frozen well optimal usage is likely within 2 to 3 months however they can be used all the way up to 8 months or even a year especially if they are in a vacuum seal or if it's a vegetable like a frozen french fry that doesn't have a lot of Aroma in it anyway lastly what dishes is this good for really it's going to be up to you I'd stay away from raw use cases but so many more vegetables than you think can be frozen to make your life easier one of mine is vegetable curries or just roasting them and lastly depending on the Frozen vegetable and how you are cooking it it may take more or less time for example sometimes it may be an issue if this is spilling out a lot of water like in a fried rice where you kind of want it a little bit drier but if you using frozen vegetables for a curry as we'll see in this next protocol it's not a big deal at all okay so like I mentioned this is definitely my mosted protocol once you add in The Chopping with the cooking it's going to take a good 10 to 15 minutes on a week night so being able to pull out some veggies for quick roasted vegetables or curries or throwing frozen peas into countless dishes really does make a big difference however protocol 3 could be the easiest of all of these protocol 3 is self-explanatory freezer meals this is any meal that you can make ahead of time and then freeze so all you have to do is just heat it up in the microwave and for this one I just want to call out a couple of dishes that this will be good for but first why should I implement it well if you're the person who never knows what to make on a week night with your vegetables this protocol kind of takes the decision out of your hand because you made it a couple of weeks ago how do you implement it well you just need to pick a recipe and then follow those same Frozen practices from protocol 2 for me I took my frozen sweet potato carrots and cauliflower from protocol 2 and then use them to make a Thai curry to freeze for protocol 3 and having some frozen vegetable curry is a real GameChanger when you're coming back for a trip or have a busy week night because all you have to do is reheat that curry in the microwave maybe add some chicken over your rice and then add on that hot curry this one really feels like a cheat coat it's leftover rice Frozen vegetable curry I grilled up a chicken thigh took me about 10 minutes to throw together and I have this delicious week night meal ready to go and when it comes to these protocols really there's just three things to think about first think about how the freezer is going to affect the texture and flavor of these dishes and secondly really think about how you can stack these you can start with frozen aromatics go to the frozen vegetables protocol too and use them to make a freezer meal kind of like we did here or you could use them bespok and just like toss those vegetables in your air fryer oven for some roasted vegetables and lastly actually use them I wouldn't recommend going and doing all this prep work for all three protocols at once until you've actually tried one or two of them out and make sure that you actually do use them and that they fit for your lifestyle I think these are going to help so many people out but ultimately maybe you like messing around with fresh vegetables and cutting cleaning and all that stuff doesn't really B you so then you don't really need to implement these in the first place because it's not going to probably make the most optimized version of a dish but if you can get 80 to 90% of the way there with a trade-off of you'll actually cook something that night instead of ordering or having to run back to the grocery store or something I think that's the trade-off most of us are willing to take these days but in conclusion that will wrap it up for me in this one I'll leave a link I think we're going to type up these protocols into a little article for you guys so you can kind of read through it and digest it a little bit more and think about how it best fits for your life style but that will wrap it up for me in this one hopefully you guys have enjoyed I will catch you all in the next one peace y'all

Channel: Ethan Chlebowski

Views: 1,277,853

Keywords: Ethan Chlebowski, how to cook frozen vegetables, frozen veggies, frozen vegetables, healthy eating, frozen vegetables recipe, freezing vegetables, frozen vegetables vs fresh, frozen vegetables stir fry, frozen vegetables air fryer, frozen vegetables in oven, frozen vegetables fried rice, how to cook frozen vegetables on stove, how to cook frozen vegetables in air fryer, frozen food, frozen vegetables microwave

Id: XlndcLo3j7I

Length: 24min 39sec (1479 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 12 2023