We're all familiar with Saran Wrap - that's the brand - or plastic film wrap. This stuff is at once amazing and incredibly frustrating to manage. What I'm sharing here may not be a surprise to some, but it's a couple of discoveries I've made as I've flummoxed my way around our kitchen improving my culinary skills while trying not to kill my wife, Gale, and myself with salmonella, or worse; is there a worse?
I expect we have all tossed celery, onion, or other veggies in the crisper drawer, intending to use them in the next day or two. We remember them four days later only to find this semi-slimy and maybe foul smelling mess that we toss away and forces us to wipe out the crisper drawer. It's plastic wrap to the rescue.
We all know you can wrap stuff, including your fingers and a hand in plastic wrap, but done properly, it will preserve food much longer than it would last otherwise. I learned the proper way to use it watching sushi chefs. I love sushi, especially sashimi - Gale, not so much. She read the story of someone eating raw fish and getting a parasite in their digestive tract. Maybe that's where RFK Jr. got his brain worm. 🪱😂 I keep telling her to be sure to chew carefully so any parasite can't survive before you swallow.
Oxygen is a necessity of life, yet it is the evil that spoils food and wine. Oxidation and temperature encourage the growth of all sorts of strange bacteria. Shut off the oxygen supply and you usually clear the breeding ground. If you had a vacuum chamber that could pull a near perfect vacuum, you could potentially store food for decades, maybe. The key with the plastic film is to get as much air out as possible.
Lay the produce or meat, or whatever as flat as possible on a piece of film. Pull on the film to remove any wrinkles under the food. Take one side of the file and pull it over the food, again tightly and push on the edges to get the air out. Repeat that process on all for side of the food so that it is completely enclosed in the film with all possible air expelled.
I have kept half an onion in the fridge for over a week with no deterioration using this method. I have kept celery fresh and crisp for a week this way. And, if you're wanting to freeze meat or produce, use this process to eliminate air (causes freezer burn) and if you have one, then vacuum seal in a bag. I have kept meat in the freezer for up to a year this way and there are no ice crystals or freezer burn.
Tanoshinde! (Enjoy!)
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