I will show my other interesting silicone molds for freezing food.
This is one of my favorite and often demanded silicone molds. Form for 8 cubes. The bartenders call him
whiskey ice cube... There are special glasses with a thick square bottom for whiskey, and that's what this form is for. But the volume and size of the cubes turned out to be just ideal for freezing portions of the cube.
The size of the cube is 5 x 5 cm, 5 cm deep, the bottom is slightly narrowed for easy shaking out. The size of the mold is 19 x 10.5 cm. In the form of 8 cubes. Each cube has a volume of 125 ml. 125 ml x 8 cubes = 1000ml = 1 liter! This 8-seater mold holds 1 liter! Match for size perception. The side of the cube is slightly longer than the match.
The bottom of the form, you can see a slightly beveled bottom, this is done for ease of shaking out. A form with frozen contents must be bent along all the lines of the partitions against the edge of the table, and then the cubes will easily leave the form.
Here on the scales is a portioned frozen cube of ready-made pea puree. It remains only to heat it in the microwave and the puree acquires its usual plasticity.
Delicious pea puree as a side dish for main courses has become a frequent guest on my table precisely due to the acquisition of this wonderful shape. The weight of the finished puree is from 115 to 125 grams, this is how high you fill the cube. In Shtebe, I cook soaked peas for 20 minutes beforehand, less often chickpeas or mung bean. In butter I simmer onions until transparent. I crush the cooled, lowered onion in oil in a bowl of a small blender into a homogeneous homogeneous mixture. I add this mixture to mashed peas, broken by a blender's foot. Salt to your taste and hot and warm I lay out into shape cubes. I immediately cook 2 liters of pea puree in two forms, I get exactly 16 portioned cubes. In the refrigerator, the finished puree does not lose its taste even after 2 months in the freezer. You can't guess at all whether a cube of puree lay in the freezer for a day or 2 months, absolutely the same taste. What else I want to say about peas. By experience, I found out that peas are very different from peas! Here you buy peas from one manufacturer - wonderful, tasty, puree directly melts on the tongue, and another time you take peas, so from it immediately some unpleasant aftertaste does not melt on the tongue, but is felt by some micro lumps, although outwardly both look the packs do not differ from each other. I buy split peas, they are less common with an unpleasant aftertaste. Therefore, taught by experience, first I take one pack of peas. I soak it overnight and cook it during the day. If the peas are of excellent quality, then with this label I again rush to this store and buy 3-4 packs at once. By the way, the cheapest peas for 28 rubles are very often of super fine quality. Why is pea puree so honored? Yes, legumes are the champions in magnesium content, which we all are sorely lacking. Magnesium is needed for the nervous system so that there are no spasms and muscle cramps and, in general, is useful for all nervous natures in our difficult time, and just properly cooked pea puree is very tasty! And how much magnesium preparations cost in a pharmacy - hundreds of rubles! Here is a non-trivial ready-made garnish for the "Guest on the doorstep".
Editing the message, because I completely forgot that the 8-seater form is extremely convenient for portion freezing of already boiled mushrooms as a semi-finished product. I am getting better. I constantly send such mushroom cubes to my daughter for mushroom soups, mushroom hodgepodge and any other mushroom dishes.
So, I sang an ode to my favorite pea puree, now I will say that I freeze in these 8-seater tins. And I also freeze the ready-made stewed cabbage, the taste does not change at all! And also - I really like using these cubes for jellied meat. Specially I cook a thick (not salty!) Jellied meat. On the bottom of the cubes, I evenly spread the torn meat, then fill it with thick jellied meat. Here I need to serve jellied meat for the hot potatoes this evening. This means that in the morning I took out as many portioned cubes as I need. I throw all these frozen cubes into a stainless ladle, add water (after all, the jellied meat was specially cooked thick - to save space in the freezer) and dissolve the cubes over low heat until they become liquid. Cool to room temperature, salt to taste and add garlic. I pour the jellied meat into the ice cream cones (I serve the jellied meat in stainless ice cream molds, like in a cafe), put it in the refrigerator and by the evening the jelly is ready.
Frozen jellied meat preparations are stored in the freezer without losing taste for up to 45 days.
About the rational layout and storage of these cubes. Unfortunately, no Tetropakov packing form fits the size of these cubes, so I put the cubes on cubes in a bag and just keep them in a block of cubes. I have two whiskey ice cube trays. Just right! No more, no less. You can place 2 liters of volume, we rarely cook more. These forms are sold on Ali, I have been using them for the third year already.
My experience with freezing in large whiskey cubes:
boiled mushrooms
stewed cabbage-stewed peppers (when defrosting, they give off liquid, so stir before serving)
pea puree, (any legumes - bean puree, chickpea puree, mung bean puree.)
portioned jellied meat (for subsequent secondary gelation after melting over low heat with the addition of water)
chopped tomatoes, puréed tomatoes after blanching, chopped peppers, tomato paste
various pureed berries
any pureed fruit
chopped carrots
chopped root celery
ready-made stew or liver from under the Steba pressure cooker.
I also have other, smaller ice cube trays. For 18 small cubes. They are also on Ali. The size of the mold is 19.5 x 10.5 cm.The depth of the mold is 2.5 cm.The cube itself is 2.5 x 2.5 cm in size, 2.5 cm deep.
Here the cube lies in a square of matches. This is my duck fat from homemade duck for addition to broths. And the bag in the photo contains many cubes of duck fat.
The shape itself is very flexible, see the photo, which makes it very easy to shake out the cubes.
Here is the ratio of the sizes of different cubes from different silicone molds. Each one is good for certain tasks.
This is the most correct and convenient form for freezing ice cubes. But this is not enough for us, we also need versatility, but the use of this form is very limited - for ice, portion freezing of rare animal fats, such as duck or goose, and even for meat-spicy cubes when I make chopped purple basil in melted butter for the taste and aroma of dishes. I have 5 such forms, over time I came to the conclusion that 2 molds are enough, but after buying functional and extremely convenient silicone honeycomb molds, it is quite possible to do without these forms at all, honeycombs will completely replace them.
And here are two new additional photos: I conclude my review with another very flexible mold, probably it will be of interest to home confectioners for making medium-sized chocolate bars. I buy thinly sliced waffles at the store, dip them in melted chocolate, then roll them in chopped toasted nuts (peanuts or almonds) and stuff the molds into the cells. It turns out long wafer bars in chocolate and nuts. But I'm not a pastry chef at all, that's why it's so simple and unpretentious.
The bottom of this very flexible shape.
Here is my review and my practice of using my silicone forms. I will be glad to discuss it and hope that perhaps you will add storage options for other products that I have not yet thought of.