remove liquid water from the muscle fluids,
the increasing concentration of salts and trace
metals promotes the oxidation of unsaturated
fats, and rancid flavors accumulate. This
inexorable process means that quality declines
noticeably for fresh fish and poultry after only
a few months in the freezer, for pork after
about six months, for lamb and veal after
about nine months, and for beef after about a
year. The flavors of ground meats, cured
meats, and cooked meats deteriorate even
faster.
Freezer Burn A last side effect of freezing is
freezer burn, that familiar brownish-white
discoloration of the meat surface that
develops after some weeks or months of
storage. This is caused by water “sublimation”
— the equivalent of evaporation at below-
freezing temperatures — from ice crystals at
the meat surface into the dry freezer air. The
departure of the water leaves tiny cavities in