Re-Freezing Salmon

[Stephen Shafer]

I pulled some salmon out of my freezer and thawed it in some hot water so I could marinate it (the pieces were sealed inside plastic bags), how bad of an idea would it be to reseal the fish with my FoodSaver and refreeze it?

[duonyte]

Refreezing food that has been safely thawed is not a health problem - it's more of a quality issue. The problem here is that you thawed it in hot water which makes one worry that it might have become warm and thus susceptible to bacterial growth. If you refrigerated it promptly, tn I would go ahead and refreeze. Otherwise I would just cook it - even unmarinated - and use it for salmon cakes or something that cooked salmon is good for.

[SarasotaCook]

Definitely NO from me. First I NEVER thaw anything in HOT water. I also use cold water, you would be surprised; it thaws almost just as quick. If it thawed in the fridge; you could refreeze, but then texture would be compromised, as already mentioned.

Cook immediately after thawing something in warm or especially hot water. You don't want to take a chance and get sick.

Why not just poach it, or bake it, then refreeze. You could use those for salmon cakes, croquettes; or even make a salmon salad spread.

[Zurie]

Well, there are a few "what did you do?" questions here.

It's too long ago to answer this, really. But did you use hot water, or do you mean warm water?

I do not think anything like bacterial growth can happen with fish defrosted in warm water, in sealed bags. Why would it?

The salmon would have been perfectly safe, but I also think the quality would have been affected if you re-froze it.

I wonder what you decided to do.