How do you cut frozen meat?

[watervole]

 We were given part of a pig for Xmas.  We're wanting to cut it into smaller pieces as there's half a dozen meals in it, but how can we cut it up without defrosting it?

any suggestions?

Comments

[linda_joyce]

With a saw, get yourself a new one as cheaply as possible and treat the meat like a piece of wood. You can't butcher frozen meat you can only cut it into smaller lumps. The only other suggestion is ask your local butcher for suggestions, always supposing you have a local independent butcher.

[rpdom]

With a big hacksaw, using a coarse blade. Make sure the blade and saw are clean of oil first, and as sterile as possible (pour boiling water over them and dry). Clean again afterwards, of course.

But as others have said (here, and on LJ) - ask your local friendly butcher for advice.

[pensnest]

Chainsaw! Was my first thought. But. Um. Possibly not the best idea.

[feng_shui_house]

There are specialty kitchen knives meant for cutting frozen food/meat. There's a wide variety of them, depending on the size of the job.

For me (since I live alone and can block up the fridge for as long as I like) it's actually easier to let a large frozen item *begin* to thaw in the refrigerator (check it once a day to see when it's got cuttable portions) and cut away the firm, but not rock hard, outer parts until you have as much as you want for the current project, and then return the still safely frozen rest of it to the freezer. Provided it never thaws, this is perfectly safe.

[lonemagpie.livejournal.com]

With a jigsaw. Seriously, that's what they do in the meat industry.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

Not a jigsaw, but a hacksaw. They do sell special meat ones, but you could probably buy a sterile meat hacksaw blade to fit a standard carpenter's hacksaw frame.

Either that or a heavy duty meat cleaver.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

Could you pop into a butchers and ask if they could do it for you?

[decemberleaf.livejournal.com]

For years I've had a small (9" long) "Frozen Food Saw." Easy to store, and very handy, all this time.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I am not sure. Well, I know that there are special saws for these cases but ... without much ado, I would go to the cellar, put a clean cardboard on my log where I cut wood - and with a big care, I would cut it into pieces. Or - it is possible to let it de-frost mildly and then you can divide the muscles nicely. As far as i know, there is no harm done to meat.