Preserving Your Qurbani Meat The Right Way

Every year, the question of how to handle the meat of sacrificed animals, be it from a cow, sheep or goat, for Qurban Bayram, aka Eid al-Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice, comes to the forefront once again. And every year, we see people making the same mistakes over and over again, from outright ruining the freshly cut meat to making it harmful for human health. Here are some points to keep in mind when preparing and cooking your meat

Let. It. Rest.

As tempting as it is to directly throw your meat onto a grill or a barbeque or marinate them in their own fat there to be braised, there is something major that many forget: rigor mortis. You might have heard of (or read about) this term in a police drama or a murder-mystery novel when they find a corpse. It basically means that the meat toughens or stiffens (rigor) after death (mortis). This stiffness might be good for chopping up the pieces you want to keep in the freezer but it is not the smartest idea to eat it in that state. Aside from making your stomach hurt, the taste will not be quite right.

So how long should you wait?

Preferably you should wait 24 hours to eat the meat, but there are, of course, many factors that go into this estimate, such as the animal itself and the temperature outside. But as it is customary to eat the sacrificial meat on the days of Eid, a minimum of 12 hours should be allotted. For the impatient who might not think this is necessary, I just want to point to the fact that butcher shops let their meat rest for at least 24 hours in a cool and airy place before doing anything with it. They are the professionals, so we should be heeding their advice.

Make sure to section off your meat and let them rest before putting them in the freezer.

How should I store it?

The animal has been sacrificed and everyone has gotten their cut. Now what?

Firstly, the meat needs to cool down on its own and preferably in an airy environment. So putting your meat into a bowl or on a tray and spreading it as thin as possible to allow it to cool off is essential. Once it has gotten to room temperature, you should keep the meat in a cold place – a fridge, of course, is the best option. Depending on how you want to use your meat, you can cut and arrange the pieces, put them in freezer-safe bags or containers and put them away. One important thing to note here is that you should avoid using something too thin to wrap the meat when placing it in the freezer. If the covering or bag is too thin or is not of the right material, you will be left with freezer burn, which will show up on the meat as grayish spots. It is actually safe to eat, but if you do not know where the grayness came from, you might end up throwing it away. The only problem with these gray patches is that they will dry out the meat and not offer a pleasant dining experience.

Once the meat is out of the freezer and has thawed, you cannot put it back into the freezer again, so make sure you only take out what you need. It is also noteworthy that if the meat has remnants of dust or soil on it, depending on where it was cut, you will want to cut those parts away and avoid washing it. The washing of meat is problematic in itself as the bacteria nestled in the dirt can get into the meat and contaminate it. Again, bacteria love warmth and moistness, so avoid washing it and save yourself from sickness.

How should I cook it?

Once the meat has rested for ample time, feel free to prepare it in the way you like (braise it, roast it, boil it) but keep in mind that you want to avoid cross-contamination while using a cutting board. The board you use for the meat should not be the same one you use to cut up your vegetables – which you should definitely be included in your Bayram menu, one way or the other.

When you want to barbeque the meat, you will want to be careful and not place it too close to the actual fire. Let it cook, not turn to charcoal by burning. Eating burnt meat is also cancerous, and let’s be honest: Who wants to eat tough, dry chunks of meat anyway?

Don’t forget the bones

Once all the meat has been processed, cut the bones down to a size small enough to fit into a pot and boil them for a bit. Once the broth is done boiling, turn the stove off and let the pot cool. Pour the bone broth into smaller freezer-safe containers, and there you have yourself one of the most potent and vitamin-rich broths that can be saved for later and added to any kind of dish.

Hassle free tips for a festive Eid

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1. Make smaller packets of 1 kg meat.
2. Label them properly: Paya, Biryani, Kunna, BBQ, Steak, Korma, Qeema, etc
3. Flatten the meat or minced meat. This way the meat defrost much quicker and it takes less space.
4. Always write the inventory with their position in the freezer so it’s much efficient!!
5. Lay out all the pieces of meat to dry under the fan for a few hours, and then store them. This is a trick used by butchers which will ensure less smell in the freezer. Make sure the weather is good, and their is ventilation otherwise meat can spoil. Plus don’t lay out the meat on newspaper but on cloth.
6. Buy a pack of plastic bags or ziplock bags (the small ones), portions out the meat and then writes with a permanent black marker the usage of the meat. That includes writing who it is for, and what portion of meat it is. So let’s say writing relative, maid, driver or even meal names.
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7. Freeze the meat in small portions,in small ziplock bags.
8. Boil some meat. You can keep boiled meat in refrigerator for two days. It will save the freezer space.
9. To remove smell from Qurbani meat: Boil some water in a pot. Add 1 tsp vinegar and cleaned meat. Cook for two minutes in boiling water and strain. It will remove the smell from qurbani meat. Then you can freeze it and cook it whenever you want.
10. Clean the fat from meat before freezing, try to freeze boneless meat as bones occupy high space; make labelled packets of meat or use boxes to freeze them. Marinate barbecue items then freeze. Put meat in the freezer according  to the sequence you want to cook.
11. Do not freeze unsealed packets. It will dry the meat and ruin the texture.
12. Do not freeze oversize cuts of meat, meat with fats, big bones because it takes large space and everybody already have stored Paya on Bakra Eid.
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13. Boil beef bones with ginger garlic paste. then discard the bones,and freeze thick yukhni or stock.
14. Wash boneless meat and make minced meat by using chopper machine or food processor. Now you can make kachay qeemay Kay kabab or marinate beef mince. You can also freeze marinated beef mince.
15. Cut beef undercut into strips. Wash and strain on a strainer. Freeze in tightly sealed zip lock bags. It can be used in many quick recipes.

How long frozen meat can be used?

Meat that is frozen can be kept and used within 3 to 4 months,if it has been properly freezed in small portion and did not defrosted. And if the freezer door does not open often and there is no problem of load shedding, then the meat can be kept for around 6 months. Once the meat comes out of the freezer and the ice starts to melt, the germs will start to thrive on it. So this meat should be used as soon as possible. Meat once taken out of the freezer should not be kept in it again.