Chicken is a very popular and widespread product among Russians, which is bought often, is prepared quite varied, and is also considered a budget ingredient for soups and broths that can replace expensive meat. But how to store a chicken if a large bird is purchased or purchased for future use?
Instructions
Step 1
In principle, chicken meat is a source of many useful micronutrients, but it is rather difficult to talk about the benefits of consuming modern broilers, which grow at an accelerated time. But if you take this fact as a rule, you need to attend to the correct storage of the bird so that it retains its juiciness, nutritional value and taste.
Step 2
If you bought a large chicken and want to keep a part for at least a couple of days, then you need to put this part in a refrigerator, placed in cellophane, a plastic container, a glass container with a lid, or in a vacuum package. So it can be stored for several days, while the best methods are still considered to be the placement of the chicken carcass in a vacuum package and in a food-grade plastic container, which is slightly larger in volume. The rest of the space in such a container is best covered with ice.
Step 3
At the same time, the optimal temperature for storing chicken is considered to be a range of 0-4 degrees Celsius and a humidity of 80-95%. This temperature will properly cool the bird, freeze it gradually and evenly, without uneven icing. Increasing this range to 15-18 degrees Celsius will lead to very rapid deterioration of the product, literally in 10 hours.
Step 4
The GOST adopted in Russia regulates the storage time of poultry, depending on the temperature conditions in which it is placed. If in the freezer from -8 to -5 degrees - 2-3 months, from -8 to -14 - 3-5 months, from -14 to -18 - 6-8 months and in the range from -18 to - 24 degrees Celsius - up to 12 months. In the refrigerator: in the range from +7 to +10 degrees - 8-24 hours, from +4 to +7 - 1-1.5 days, from 0 degrees to +4 - up to 3 days, and in the range from - 2 and up to 0 degrees Celsius - up to 4 days.
Step 5
These standards are quite general, since the shelf life of chicken meat also depends on the freshness of the purchased product, the moisture level already in the package and, oddly enough, on the method of cutting the carcass. It is known that boneless chicken lasts much better and longer than uncut poultry.
Step 6
If you decide to store the chicken in the freezer, then you need to carry out simple but mandatory preparatory measures. So, the carcass must be well wrapped in a tight plastic bag, and even better to tie a knot on it. It will save the chicken and also the cutting into small pieces, which will be packaged in portions and placed in the freezer.
