How do I reheat previously-cooked frozen sausage?
This probably has an obvious answer I'm missing. To make a long story short, my mother helped us out with an event several months back involving having to serve breakfast to a large number of people including breakfast sausage, a mix of links and patties. Afterwards, as is her habit, she packaged up the leftovers in a plastic bag and handed them over to us. We set them in the chest freezer and frankly forgot about them for some time. We now have about 3-4 lbs of precooked sausage in a single frozen lump. I've tried breaking them off and cooking then in my cast-iron skillet in the mornings, but the patties break apart more than break off of the main mass, and when the patties are just about to turn into hockey pucks, the links are still frozen on the inside.
I'm a bit hesitant to thaw the mass because we'd just be refreezing it again, and my understanding is that it's a bad idea to repeatedly thaw and freeze meat. Is there a better way to handle this that doesn't involve us trying to eat a few pounds of processed meat at once or risk wasting it?
Best Answer
One option: reheat slowly in the microwave and until it is barely unfrozen enough to break apart. Then break it down into meal-sized portions, take the part you want for now and wrap the remaining bits in cellophane so they don't freeze together again. (My advice as a self-judged microwave expert is to heat it up at low power in 3 minute increments at first, then 2 minute increments. Fairly early, you will find that some parts thaw faster than others. Once this temperature difference becomes apparent, you can wait like 5 minutes in between bouts of heating it up to allow the heat to even out over the lump.)
Given that the freezing and thawing will probably not do anything good for the texture, you might consider breaking the sausage up and adding it to something like sawmill gravy or strata (or just scrambled eggs) where you won't be eating it in large chunks.
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Can I reheat cooked sausages from frozen?
Yes to both! I cook sausages then re heat with no probs. I've also done lasagne day before too. also, if you assemble the lasagne and then leave it overnight it will need much less cooking on the day as the pasta sheets will have absorbed the juices making them go soft.How do you reheat frozen sausage?
Place the frozen sausages on a microwave-safe plate. If the sausages are stuck together, briefly run them under cold tap water until they come apart. Put the plate in your microwave oven and select the defrost setting. Let your sausages cook in the microwave for three to five minutes or until fully thawed.Can you reheat already cooked sausages?
The sooner you reheat the sausages, the better they'll taste. Try to reheat them with a day or so of cooking them. You don't have to reheat sausages separately. If you want to use them with a dish such as scrambled eggs or a pasta dish, you can chop them up and heat them with the dish.How do you reheat cooked sausages?
Cooked Sausage only needs to be re-heated, since it was cooked thoroughly during processing. Be sure to reheat thoroughly. Steam: Remove pan of boiling water from heat and add sausage. Cover the pan and let it stand 10-15 minutes.How To Cook Sausages - Boil n Burn Method - Super Results - Sausage Recipe
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Answer 2
I would do my best to break off a good-sized lump, and defrost that in the fridge (which might take a couple of days but the outer parts should be usable before that). Then plan on eating that over a few days. If you pick a time when you've got more mouths to feed for at least one meal, that will alleviate the boredom. Chunks of cooked sausage can be used up in a casserole with lots of veg, where they won't be so similar to eating sausages.
I wouldn't mess about with microwaving as that seems like a recipe for getting some parts warm while the rest is still frozen, and sitting warm isn't good (that's when the bad things breed). It would probably be better to defrost the whole lot in the fridge and refreeze some, rather than warming. The texture of sausage shouldn't suffer too much, unlike pieces of meat.
You've learnt a lesson by the sound of things: freeze in manageable portions.
Answer 3
Despite what you may have heard, multiple thawings and refreezings are safe, as long as the cumulative time spent at over 4 Celsius stays within the 2 hour limit. Also, the quality loss in thawing ground and cooked meat is much less pronounced than the quality loss in refreezing something like a steak.
So, I would defrost the whole lump in a bowl in the fridge (to avoid entering the danger zone at 4 C). Then repackage in single portions and freeze again. Then defrost single pieces as needed. It's not as great as it would have been if single-frozen from the beginning, but it is the best you can do now, and will still be quite good in quality.
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